Top 10 mistakes

Les White explains the 10 most common mistakes made by inexperienced hobbyists and offers words of wisdom to avoid them.

1. Mixing Species together (disease prevention protocol) 

One of the most common problems seen within the hobby from both novices and experienced keepers alike stems from random captive collections being kept together or housed within very close quarters to each other. This problem is also further exacerbated when there isn’t a sufficient disease prevention protocol in place.

Let me explain.
Tortoises, like all animals, harbour germs; bacteria, virus, parasites and such, which are indigenous to the specific species, or more accurately to the localised region of origin of the species.

Through millennia of evolution the animal will have built up an immune system capable of preventing illness from occurring from its own germs.  And providing the host has a stress-free environment to live in along with access to all of its life-supporting elements (a good diet, access to sun, minerals, vitamins, water, etc) then the chances are it will live a long, happy and healthy life.

However when random tortoise species originating from different geographical locations are artificially forced to live with each other in captive situations their individual immune systems cannot cope with the sudden and dramatic introduction to “foreign germs”.

Very often disease will be the inevitable outcome of such living arrangements.  Not only can this be hugely expensive within large collections in terms of veterinary fees, but also the eventual prognosis can be catastrophically terminal.

The same disease problems can also just as easily occur in completely species-specific compartmentalised collections if care isn’t taken to change clothing and footwear when walking from one species pen to another.

If you think this is a little dramatic, think again, as I’ve witnessed on countless occasions breeders who have lost their entire stock due to carelessness between breeds.

So, in order not to make the same mistakes and endure the same sad outcomes, I would urge any hobbyist wanting to keep more than one species to adopt the following disease prevention protocol, or one day they may wish they had!

• ·       Never mix species together or let them have direct contact with each other.
•         Never use the same feeding / bathing utensils for differing groups, but instead have species-specific ones.
• ·       Always change footwear from walking from one pen to another.
• ·       Always wear disposable latex gloves when handling or feeding, and change the gloves         between each pen.
• ·       Always have an isolated sick bay ready so you can separate any tortoise which maybe showing signs of becoming ill.
• ·       Never keep more than eight tortoises in one pen regardless of them being all of the same species, and no matter how much room they have. As their immune systems cannot cope with numbers larger than eight in a single pen.

2. Incorrect Day Time Temps (and the use of artificial heating)

Its still amazingly common even in this day and age to hear mortally counter-productive “advice”, albeit usually well intended, given out by hobbyists and the pet trade alike, with temperature requirements being one of the most common misconcepted old wives’ tales.

A lot of new tortoise keepers are often told to keep the tortoise in a day time environment of 12 hours of constant heat consisting of a basking source of 35*c and a background temperature of 21 to 25*c. Although there is nothing wrong with this advice per se, it can lead to the new hobbyist thinking these parameters are absolutely set in stone and so will pursue these temperatures to the upmost degree.
A tortoise in the wild endures cloudy days, sunny days, cold days and rainy days, so we should try to mimic this in captivity too.
Tortoises are not biologically programmed to have 12 hours of constant heat every single day, and in fact it would be counterproductive to the animal’s health to artificially enforce it.

In particular excessive heat can lead to digestive problems, accelerated growth rates, shell growth malformation and dehydration. These problems are exaggerated tremendously when heat mats are used.

Under no circumstances should under-substrate heat mats be used for Mediterranean tortoises. A tortoise’s wild behaviour is to dig down into the substrate to cool down when its feeling too hot, so for a captive tortoise to dig down to cool off only to find itself actually warming up will play havoc with its thermoregulation abilities. Under-substrate heat mats also cause gut fauna infestations and dehydration, so avoid them at all costs.

As well as some folk keeping tortoises too hot, the same can be said for keeping tortoises too cold. Generally speaking (and I know I’m stereotyping a little here) it tends to be the older generation of keeper who sometimes still adopts the 1970’s mentality of keeping tortoises solely as “garden pets” regardless of their Northern Hemisphere location.  Tortoises should not simply be left outdoors in all weathers especially in the Northern parts of the UK.
Their immune system will be low, their appetite and ability to digest the necessary dietary requirements will be compromised and generally they’ll be pretty miserable.

So, we know they shouldn’t be kept too cold, and we know they shouldn’t be kept constantly warm, so how should they be kept?

Well here is my rough rule of thumb;

• ·       If its warm enough outside for you to be wearing a t-shirt then the tortoise should be outdoors.
  
• ·       If its cold enough outside for you to have to wear a coat then the tortoise should be indoors and/or have access to basking facilities.
  
• ·       Out of a seven day week allow at least one or two “cold cloudy days” to happen. Either naturally outside, or artificially inside by switching off the lamps.
  
• ·       Never use heat mats, but instead always heat a tortoise from above using lamps.
  
• ·       Allow a basking spot of approximately 30 to 35*c, but allow room for the tortoise to move completely out of the heat.
  
• ·       Background temperature should just be an average room temperature, and not be artificially heated with heat mats.
  
• ·       Don’t bring a tortoise indoors just because of a light rain shower... its normal and natural.

3. Incorrect Night time Temps (and the use of artificial heating)

The newbie tortoise owner who tends to overheat their charges throughout the day are just as likely to overheat them throughout the night too... and its just as critical to get this aspect of care right if the tortoise is to remain healthy.

I’ll stick my neck on the line here and say that it tends to be ill-advice given out by well-intended pet stores who panic owners into purchasing items like heat mats, heat caves, ceramic dull emitter bulbs, etc, for the purpose of providing the tortoise with a night time “cosy & warm bedroom”.

Again, as already mentioned, a tortoise is not genetically programmed to endure round the clock warmth. It has developed through evolution to adapt to the differences between day and night time temperature fluctuations. With some species like Horsfields and Egyptian tortoises for example the difference between day and night is staggering; with virtual desert-like conditions coming in to play.

In captivity the best way to look after any animal is to try to replicate its wild environment. And how many tortoise-fairies have you seen in the wild gathering up all the wild tortoises on an evening and putting them in a warm cave ready for bed time? Nope me neither!

So we shouldn’t fall in to the cycle of creating this behaviour in captivity either.

On a night time everything should be switched off... heat bulbs, uvb lighting, etc.  The tortoise should be allowed to cool right down to night time average room temperatures, or if in the summer outdoor night time temperatures.
This is natural, normal and mimics the wild.

4. Excessive Feeding regimes

As we’ve already discussed, tortoises experience days in the wild which are cloudy, cold, rainy as well as sunny and sometimes scorching hot. Therefore, as cold blooded reptiles, its true to say that a tortoise’s appetite will largely be affected by its climate. On cold days a tortoise may be reluctant to feed, the same on scorching hot days.

In captivity lots of owners don’t build in this climate-feed relationship into their regimes and consequently tend to feed every single day regardless.

Feeding every day is grossly excessive and is totally unnatural.
Furthermore excess feeding creates excess uric acid build up, leading in turn to increased demands on the renal system.
Its therefore not uncommon to see poor postmortemed tortoises displaying huge calcified kidney and bladder stones, which ultimately had led to their early demise.

In addition to increased renal stress, tortoises which are fed too much and too often can also be susceptible to thickened lumpy keratin layers on their shells, spongy bone formation, spinal deformities, walking difficulties, etc.

If you compare a wild tortoises’ carapace (shell) to that of a captive tortoise you’ll almost certainly notice a difference. Wild tortoises display smooth even carapaces, consistent with slow steady growth rates; whilst even the very best kept captive tortoises will have some thickened or slightly lumpy scutes (plates of their shells).
In some extreme cases I’ve seen tortoises which are barely recognisable as their own species such is the severity of malformity of their carapaces.

The good news is that its very easy to get this husbandry right and thus avoiding all of the aforementioned health implications.

So, here is my top feeding regime tip

• ·       Feed only once a day
  
• ·       Feed only as much as the animal can consume within a 5 minute window.
  
• ·       Feed only 5 days a week, allowing two completely non-feeding days, which can be tied in with allowing the “cold cloudy days regime” as mentioned earlier.
  
• ·       Ensure your animals always have access to water for drinking.

 

5. Feeding inappropriate diets

Just as important as the frequency of food on offer is of course the actual diet itself. We all know that a good balanced diet is the key to a long and healthy life in humans, and so the same is for tortoises too.

However, once again its only far too common to see the same mistakes being made time and time again. The most common being;

Too high protein

Poor calcium balance

Addictive foodstuffs

Reliance on shop bought items

Mediterranean tortoises are completely herbivorous; meaning they should only consume plant life, not animal proteins.

Commonly though some people still offer them cat and dog food as they’ve read it somewhere that its meant to be good for them. Or they’ll indulge their pet with left over human dinners, bread and milk, cereal, and all sorts of weird other items.

Like we’ve covered earlier, a healthy captive tortoise is a tortoise whose lifestyle and habits typically mirror that of its wild counterparts. They are obviously never going to come across bread and milk, cat food, or a chicken jalfrezi with fried rice in the wild.

High protein meals, and this also includes less sinister items like peas and beans too, as well as the more obvious culprits like tins of meat, should never be offered. Protein puts an immense strain on the renal system, with the likelihood of bladder and kidney stones increasing tenfold in the process.
Protein also leads to metabolic bone and shell problems in a similar way to how excess feeding does, and therefore consequently should be entirely avoided at all costs!

As well as avoiding feeding items which are high in protein you should also avoid items which have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio.

There is plenty of online information available to people who care to undertake a little research, so I won’t go into too much detail here regarding specific items, but one particular food jumps straight into my mind when I think of this subject and that is.... the banana!!!
The humble banana is probably one of the worst items you could ever give a Mediterranean tortoise as its so calcium to phosphorous negative that if a tortoise consumes a ready supply of this fruit its body has to compensate by stripping calcium from its bones to bind with the phosphorous to remove it from the blood stream. This in turn can lead to brittle bones.

So, instead opt for foods with high calcium to phosphorous ratios. A quick internet search will give you all the information you need on this subject.

Some food items can be quite addictive to tortoises. In fact quite often they will go off all other food items in favour of waiting for their favourites to be given.
It can sometimes lead to a battle of wits between pet and owner as to who will give in first....usually the tortoise; sitting it out until its owner is terrified it will starve to death and gives in to offering its favourite.
This “fussy feeding” behaviour is extremely common amongst captive tortoises (or should I say owners allowing it to happen).
Lets say for example a tortoise gets addicted to cucumber and forfeits everything else in order to be fed only this. Although its owner may feel they’re being kind by giving the animal what it wants, they are of course in reality subjecting it to a slow demise due to malnutrition.

The fussy feeding cycle must be broken by continuing to feed other items and deliberately not feeding cucumber until the tortoise finally gives in and starts eating normally again ... and it will, eventually!
You can also trick a fussy feeder by sprinkling a small amount of its favourite food over its other items, and slowly but surely decreasing the favourite item over a number of weeks until such time its eating all the other items normally.

Another commonly seen habit is that of the owner relying purely on shop-bought items as its easy to get hold of them from the local supermarket, rather than foraging for wild plants and weeds.
However this is also a slippery slope as shop-bought items are usually very poor quality with regards to nutritional value when compared to wild weeds and flowers, and groceries can also become addictive due to their palatable tastes.
There is far more nutrition for a tortoise in a dandelion than a tomato for example, and thus weeds and flowers should make up 90% of the bulk of the diet, with only 10% being shop bought items.

So here are my recommended food stuffs:

·       90% of the diet should be weeds and flowers (a quick internet search will give you recommended plants and weeds)

·       Only 10% should be shop bought

·       Vary the diet as much as is physically possible with a minimum of 10 different items in every feed

·       Supplement each feed with a pinch of a good calcium and vitamin supplement

·       Never feed high protein items, or items which are severely calcium to phosphorous negative.

·       Fruit should be only 1 or 2% of the entire diet, especially acidic fruits.
 

6. Feeding prior to hibernation

The kids TV program Blue Peter had a lot to answer for during the 1970 s and 80s with regards to their annual hibernation advice; Insisting on fattening up a tortoise immediately prior to hibernation and then exacerbating this hugely incorrect advice by suggesting hibernation should also take place in fairly warm surroundings!

Consequently thousands of tortoises died in hibernation every single year due to this kind of advice which was pretty much the norm at that time. Unfortunately the concepts of conservation and captive breeding programs in those days where a decade or two behind, so tortoises were simply wild caught and shipped in to the UK in vast quantities to satisfy the pet trade, or should I say the “death trade”.
This “ten for a penny” culture almost wiped some species entirely off the map.

Of course times have since changed and husbandry for the most part has improved dramatically amongst the hobby.
We should, therefore, all now realise that you should definitely NOT feed a tortoise for several weeks prior to hibernation, don’t we?
Well, if you didn’t know, heres why...

Even a very warm, lively, active tortoise through the heights of mid-summer has a very slow metabolism indeed, with the assimilation of food taking many days from ingestion through to defecation.
But when a tortoise hibernates its metabolism slows down tenfold, almost completely shutting down.

And because the tortoise’s metabolism has virtually shut down any food which it has consumed within a couple of weeks prior to hibernation will remain undigested, instead remaining in situ somewhere in the gastric tract.

The food will inevitably rot, causing bacteria infestations, creation of harmful gasses, bowel abscesses, and often peritonitis (poisoning).
In short your pet would simply rot from the inside. 

Therefore to avoid this horrible situation it is categorically imperative to starve your tortoise prior to hibernation, not “fatten it up”!

The length of starvation should be roughly based upon the overall mass of the animal. The larger the tortoise the more time it takes for food to pass through its system.

So, heres my rough rules of thumb for starving your tortoise prior to hibernating;

1. During the starvation process a tortoise should be offered no food whatsoever.

2. A tortoise does need to be hydrated however, so regular bathing should be maintained during
the starvation process to allow the tortoise to drink and have a full bladder.

3. During the starvation period the tortoise should be kept much cooler, with shorter day time periods, and duller light levels. This will encourage the animal to prepare for its winter slumber.

4. Fully starve the tortoise for a period of time using the following guidelines:

*Tortoises up to 1 year old – 7 to 10 days total starvation.
*Tortoises 1 to 2 years old – 14 days total starvation
*Tortoises 3 to 5 years old -   21 days total starvation
*Tortoises 6 years plus -         28 days total starvation

Once the starvation process is complete you can then place your pet into its hibernation quarters.


 

7.  Incorrect hibernation temperature

In addition to offering food prior to hibernating one of the other very common killers is when owners hibernate their pets in temperatures either too warm or too cold.

In the wild a tortoise will choose a spot to dig down into the earth, deep enough whereby outside temperature fluctuations have minimal effect. The desired constant temperature it will try to achieve is around 4 or 5*c.

In captivity we need to offer the same.

If you hibernate your tortoise in a poorly insulated box, perhaps in the loft or in a wooden garden shed for example, a small amount of sunshine can easily raise the temperatures above 10*c.

At 10*c the tortoise’s metabolism will start to fire up again, releasing glycogen stored in the liver. This glycogen is flushed into the bloodstream to provide the tortoise with a kick-start to wake it up, allowing it to start to bask, and start eating again in the spring time after a lengthy hibernation period.

 However, this energy source is of no use to the tortoise when you are trying to hibernate it in the middle of winter.  And if this glycogen release happens several times throughout its hibernation, due to constantly fluctuating temperatures, it will have none of this resource left when it actually needs it; at the spring-time wake-up! 

An emaciated tortoise without being able to rely on its glycogen reserves when it awakes from hibernation is often a tortoise which will sadly demise.

It is therefore imperative to ensure hibernating temperatures are below 10*c.

Of course its also imperative to have a tight control at the other end of the temperature spectrum too.

A tortoise which is allowed to encounter temperatures below 3*c can run the risk of freezing.  Certainly temperatures of less than 1*c should absolutely be avoided. Even very short time exposure which doesn’t result in death can still inflict lasting damage to the organs.

I have seen blind tortoises due to the moisture in their eyes being exposed to freezing temperatures. Its not very pleasant!

So, you know to keep the temperature above freezing, and you know to keep the temperature below 10*c.
And you also know that 4 or 5*c is ideal for the most restful non-problematic brumation. 

So how this is all best achieved?

The answer is simple – use a domestic refrigerator.

There are many detailed articles to be found on the internet covering fridge-method hibernation, along  with plenty of publications too
 ( I’ve wrote several over the last couple of years ) so I won’t cover this topic again here, but believe me once you’ve “fridged” you won’t go back to garden sheds ever again! 


 

8.  Not allowing hibernation to occur at all!

The techniques surrounding successful hibernation of reptiles can often be quite daunting to newcomers of the hobby, and so its forgivable for some to think that it may just be better not to bother at all; Sadly though they would be gravely mistaken.

Reptiles have evolved over millions of years to cope with changing climates and seasons. They’ve adapted to thrive in all manner of hostile environments and conditions and are one of the most successful and longest lived creatures on our planet.

What they experience and are adapted to, in nature, we should always try to replicate in captivity too. If a Horsfield tortoise hibernates in the winter for several months and aestivates in the summer for several weeks, then why shouldn’t we offer them this in captivity?  We should not try to deliberately prevent something happening to our charges in captivity if they are accustomed to it happening in the wild.

In fact Mediterranean tortoises NEED to hibernate. They are not biologically programmed to remain active, basking and eating, 365 days a year. To artificially force this upon them would significantly increase their annual food intake, which in turn will dramatically increase all of the problems associated with this behaviour which I covered in point 4 of the first part of this article (August edition);

Exaggerated growth rates, deformed shells and spines, walking difficulties, kidney and bladder stones, etc, all of which are associated to excess feeding. 

Furthermore without a winter rest period fertility rates drop too. Males in particular suffer with compromised sperm counts if they’re not allowed to successfully hibernate.

Therefore, for the welfare of the animal, it is absolutely imperative to allow them to hibernate.



9.  Oiling and painting tortoises’ shells!

Again I seem to recall Blue Peter advising this phenomenon of “oiling up” sometime back when I was a kid in the 1970s. (For those who know me ; yes I was only a kid back then, I’ve just weathered a little more than most).

Why it was ever thought a good thing to rub a little olive oil over your pet now seems rather baffling at best, but this was extremely commonplace back in the day.
More worryingly however is the fact this practice still lingers today amongst a few “old-school owners” of 1970s pets which have somehow managed to hang on to life through to the present day.

I kind of understood how people painted the shells of their beloved reptilian friends, as they were often adorned with the owners address details incase the said animal wandered off up the street, as it usually ensured a speedy reunitement of pet and owner.  However oiling the shells I think was primarily undertaken purely because the result was simply pleasing to the eye.  I wonder if thats how Turtlewax decided on its brand name?!

Anyway, for those of you who still know somebody who likes buffing up their tortoise on a Sunday afternoon, or painting go-faster stripes on it, you may want to offer them a little more up to date advice;

A tortoise’s shell and skin has millions of microscopic pores on it. These pores soak up radiant heat from the sun, allowing it to bask efficiently and thermoregulate its body temperature correctly.
UVB rays also penetrate through the animals’ skin, reacting with sterols, creating a biological reaction which essentially allows the animal to create vitamin D3, essential for the assimilation of calcium within its diet.
To block or inhibit these pores with oils, paints or otherwise, will greatly hamper the tortoise’s ability to do these things.

Furthermore when a tortoise’s shell has oil applied to it, it can trap bacteria underneath. Consequently this can lead to shell rot.



10.   The four “P”’s   – pets, ponds, predators, poisons!

A tortoise which otherwise may be very well cared for in terms of its general husbandry, such as being fed the correct diet, having correct temperature control, undertaking great hibernation methods, etc, can unfortunately be morbidly let down by some very basic environmental faux pas!

The first one – other household pets;
If I could have a pound for every time I’ve heard an upset owner say “my dog is usually really gentle with him” often after it had just ripped gaping holes straight through its shell, I’d be a rich man. Well actually I’d have around £14 but I’m sure you get the point!

Dogs and tortoises don’t mix. And shouldn’t be allowed to mix, Not unless you want to be another statistic.

The second one – ponds

Seems obvious right? But again I’ve heard lots of horror stories over the years relating to drowned tortoises, when a simple mesh guard, which would have taken all of a half an hour to install, would have saved a life.

Thirdly – predators

No i’m not talking dreadlock-wearing aliens on a quest to hunt Arnold Schwarzenegger, but instead the more terrestrial kind; foxes, cats, birds, rats; All of which are capable of making an easy meal out of a small tortoise.
So, keep young small tortoises under predator proof meshing.

Fourthly - poisons

Although a tortoise is hardly likely to succumb to deliberate poisoning, nor even less likely to intoxicate itself drinking household products, there is a real and significant danger from the humble garden plant!

Whilst its true to say that in most cases tortoises instinctively seem to know which plants to avoid, I’m a firm believer in not leaving anything to chance.
Some plants are extremely toxic to tortoises, and typically it tends to be ones which grow from bulbs like daffodils or tulips for example.

If you witness your tortoise eating a bulb, or a plant grown from a bulb, within a short period of time you may notice symptoms of poisoning.
The symptoms I have witnessed from bulb-eating include; complete lethargy, extended limp limbs and neck, and mucus from the nose and mouth.

In these cases I have personally found the best treatment, is to cool the tortoise right down to slow down its metabolism. And leave it alone.  It may take several days for the poison to be eventually flushed out.
This is probably counterintuitive as you’d think it would be best keeping it warm, trying to feed it, etc, but in the case of poisoning I’ve always seen much more favourable results when the tortoise is placed in a cool place and simply left alone.
I believe the slower metabolism negates some of the potency of the toxins which would otherwise be digested quicker and flushed into the bloodstream faster.

But as with everything in life prevention is always better than cure. Therefore I would suggest you remove any bulb-growing plants from within reach of your pet.