I really hope that you can I've me a little advice. I've googled myself into a stupor and can't quite piece all the facts together. We moved to Germany 2 years ago and I struggle a bit understanding the lingo relating to tortoise care.

We are getting ready to home 4 one year old greek tortoises. They come from a trusted teacher at my daughters school. The care of tortoises does seem to differ here and theres lots of conflicting and confusing advice. All shops suggest glass vivariums though we feel this is completely wrong. We bought a 160x75cm rabbit cage and will use the plastic basin section. We don't know at the moment if the tortoises have hibernated though I guess not. As they are so young, only lived indoors so far and it's very cold here at night....is it practical to keep them indoors mainly and take them to an outdoor enclosure when it's warm? Or does the moving stress them too much. How old should they be ideally to start living outdoors. Also, regarding lights....as the room they will be in has natural daylight, do we just need a UVA/UVB light that also provides the necessary heat? And, how long should this be on?

We are planning to ask what substrate they are used to at the moment and what their diet is just so that at least some factors are similar in the early days.

So sorry if these questions are silly? If there's anything else I should know for the early days, I'd be very grateful.

Many thanjs

Hi,
May I ask what species of tortoise you have please?
If you look on the left there is a section "The Tortoise", click this and you'll find "Care sheets". There is a care sheets for the most common species which will hopefully help?
If not please advise us what species you keep and we'll be able to help from there.

HTH
Kindest Regards
Darren

Hi Darren. Thank you very much for your reply. All we know is that the tortoises are greek so guessing that your graeca care sheet might be right. Great info on all of your care sheets. Just another confusing point....my husband went out on a mission today to buy some basic no additive compost and play sand to make the substrate mix. On the way he went to a pet shop and I think he might have been sold the wrong thing as much advice here in Germany is very dubious or maybe I'm over thinking things. He came home with a few blocks of Plantation Soil described as Tropical Terrarium Substrate made by Exo Terra. Plus, a 20 liter bag of Jungle Bedding by Lucky Reptile - again, for tropical terrariums. The shop bloke told him there's no such thing as basic compost without any fertilizer or other added chemicals. As my husband isn't familiar with gardening, he believed him. The pet shop also sold him a big sack of what looks like pea sized gravel to mix with the substrate. This really looks too small to me and I'm sure I've read that tiny pieces can cause choking.

Are any of these items really suitable? We could exchange them or get a refund. We just want to do the right thing. Many thanks in anticipation

Hi,
You're very welcome:-)
I would go to a DIY store and buy a bag of sterilised topsoil. I would be inclined to take the lot back. In the wild they basically live in soil. You only really need to add playsand if the soil is of high clay content.

HTH
Darren

Thank you once again Darren. I think we will take everything back. The UK care advice really does seem to make more sense. It seems like all tortoises here are treated as tropical. Just to help me try to find the right kind of substrate here.....which uk brands and description would be most suitable? This info will help me to translate properly to find the right thing. Sterilised topsoil doesnt really work. What size of gravel is safest?

All the best and happy Easter

I wouldn't use gravel at all, just soil. Here's the one we use here:-

http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=648091&c_3=3%7Ccat_26026182%7CCompost%2C+Fertilisers+and+Bark%7C14268141&c_2=2%7Ccat_16849255%7CGardening%7C26026182&c_1=1%7Ccategory_root%7CGarden+and+Outdoors%7C16849255&c_4=4%7Ccat_14268141%7CCompost%7C14268146&_$ja=kw:homebase+top+soil|cgn:Homebase+top+soil+-+25l%7c%7c%7c%7c25+litre%7c%7c648091|cgid:5951146246|tsid:37719|cn:PPCPM%7c%7cNon+Brand%7c%7cR%26C%7c%7cGarden+world%7c%7cGarden+and+outdoors+%3E+Gardening|cid:227997766|lid:51739922994|mt:Exact|nw:search|crid:23963142526

You can place broken slate under the lamp, it will help the tortoise warm up and also if you have a small tortoise, it helps them to right themselves if they tip over.

You're quite right about petshops thinking all tortoises should be treated as tropical. Most petshops seem to be under the misapprehension that cold blooded animals need to be kept constantly warm, which is why they recommend vivariums. This isn't the case at all as most reptiles need a range of temperatures so they can control their body temperature as they see fit - we shouldn't choose it for them. The difference between reptiles and us (not the only one of course) is that we can raise our body temperature physiologically and reptiles cannot, which is why they need an external heat source to bask when they need to....so simple but very frustrating that they cannot grasp the simplest of concepts:-(

HTH
Darren

Hi Darren

Tanks again for your reply. My husband went to 7 different garden centers today and there's nothing like too soil in bags nor any simple, not fertilized compost. The best he could find was a rural garden place that offered sieved basic topsoil. Do you think this is ok? We can mix it with bagged play sand.

No wonder I've never heard of of tortoise living more than a few years here in Germany. Many people live in flats and lots of advice here sounds very suspect. The great outdoors here is also populated with many birds if prey.....

I really hope that we manage to get our babies to a ripe old age. It won't be for the lack of care or trying our best.

Any more suggestions would be gratefully received. Many thanks

Any Topsoil will do. If you can't buy any in - use plain old garden soil. It's what they live on in the wild:-)

HTH
Darren

Try and obtain it from somewhere where it won't have been contaminated by cats, dogs, pesticides or any natural pollution