Purchasing your tortoise is one of the most important factors in its survival. We ask all of our potential customers to, please, research the animal you intend on purchasing BEFORE you buy it. Always have its enclosure set up and supplies on hand BEFORE you bring it home. Here is a basic checklist to follow when making the purchase to give you a heads up on its health. We know that you can’t always be present during the selection of your tortoise due to Internet sales, so make sure that you are buying from a reputable breeder. Ask questions on how they are kept and what their feeding regime is. Ask what type of lighting is being used and what, if any, dietary minerals are being supplemented and how often. Ask to see pictures of the exact tortoise that you will be receiving and when it was approximately hatched. In the event that you can purchase your tortoise in person, here are a few more things that you can look for. The shell of your new tortoise should be firm to hard. All newborns will have a certain amount of “flex” to their shells but they should not be overly soft. Make sure that the area around the yolk sac on the plastron is well healed and is not moist or has any discharge coming from it. The animal should have clear eyes and they should both open. Watch for gaping or discharge from the nose or mouth. This is a sign of an upper respiratory disease and all specimens in that container should be avoided. The most important thing is to ask questions. If the person you are buying from can’t answer your questions, I would think twice about the purchase. Although you take all these precautions, the fact remains that this is a living animal and could always have an underlying problem that is not easily seen. Please quarantine all new animals before introduction to your existing collection.

First in the rearing of your hatchling is the habitat in which it will be placed. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a clean environment. All bedding materials should be changed on a weekly basis. The tank or enclosure should be disinfected with each cleaning and we recommend using a mixture of 2% Chlorhexidine and water at a rate of 2 oz. Chlorhexidine to 30 oz of water mixed in a spray bottle. The chlorhexadine can be purchased at any veterinarian clinic and at some internet supply houses. This mixture will disinfect the surfaces of the enclosure and most importantly will not harm your hatchling. This mixture may also be used as a disinfectant for cuts and abrasions that may occur on your tortoise through its life. Each tortoise species has specific needs for bedding and other environmental needs that will be covered in individual species descriptions.

All tortoises need a clean and fresh source of water available at all times. We use a vitamin and electrolyte supplement once weekly added to the water in either their drinking source or the soaking container. All baby tortoises are very susceptible to dehydration and should be soaked in a container at least twice weekly. This is a very good time to add calcium and vitamins to the water as most tortoises will drink as soon as they are placed in the water. The soaking will help with two major issues in a baby tortoises life. Those are hydration and the stimulation to defecate and clean out the digestive tract. The water should be at room temperature and no deeper than ¼ – ½ inches in depth. They should be allowed to soak for approximately one hour. Please keep a good watch over your babies to insure that they do not tip over and drown.

The calcium demand for a newly hatched tortoise is considerable and it is very easy for deficiencies to happen in the first few months of their lives. Babies that get “soft shell” a form of osteodystrophy, are almost always caused by too much dietary proteins and not enough dietary minerals. It is very important to balance this and to add a calcium and mineral supplement to their food source at least three times weekly to help prevent “soft shell” and other carapace deformities from occurring.

We never mix species in one enclosure. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first reason is that most species require different environmental needs. There is not a “one enclosure fits all” category. The second reason is disease control. Most species have built up immunities to certain diseases that are found in their environment. When a different species is introduced, you run the risk of spreading a disease that the other species does not have any immunity to and vise versa. We also recommend that all new animals be quarantined from your existing population for at least 30 days to ensure that they are healthy and will not spread any disease to your established animals.

Lighting and heat are of major importance to your hatchling. Proper levels of UVA/UVB are essential in the proper growth of your tortoise and metabolism of calcium. Remember that all tortoises are cold-blooded animals and need a heat source and a cooling area in their enclosure so that they can thermoregulate their body temperature. They need to be able to reach optimum temperature to increase their metabolism and to ensure the proper digestion of their food . We have found the power sun bulbs work very well for heating and some UVA/UVB output. We also use coil type UV bulbs to ensure that our hatchlings are receiving proper amounts of UVA/UVB light waves. The strip lights do not give off enough to make a significant difference. Again, different species have different optimum temperature ranges and different UVA/UVB ranges.

We hope that this will help you in the basic care of your new baby tortoise. These are all techniques that we use with great success . Good luck with your new pet.

One of the most important things to consider is what type of turtle you are interested in getting. There are many different species being bred in captivity by private breeders which gives you hundreds of choices. When deciding on a species make sure you do some research on the feeding and size that the animal will grow to. Turtles will not stay small if kept in a small habitat. This is an old wives tale that has been used by many unscrupulous dealers into fooling people to buy that cute baby turtle. All that you will accomplish ending your pets life prematurely. To keep your overall cost down you will want to get a habitat that will accommodate your turtle for its entire life. The animal will be happier and healthier in a proper sized set up. Never use the small turtle bowls that are sometimes seen a pet stores. These are called “death bowls” by breeders and are totally inadequate to keep any turtle in.

                                    Water quality is very important to all turtles. Do research to find out the proper pH and temperature for the turtle you are getting. Make sure that your water is aerated and has the proper sized filter to handle the load that a pet turtle will create. We use canister type biological filters for all of our hatchlings and adults. The size of the canister will depend on the amount of water being filtered and the number of turtles that will live in that habitat . One way to cut down on the load in your tank is to feed your turtle in a separate container such as a Rubbermaid container. This will keep all uneaten food from fouling your water . Here is a hint on filtration: if the water stinks, it’s not an adequate filter. Biological filtration is by far the most effective means of cleaning your water. Inside the filter bacteria will grow and it will consume all the waste that is filtered through it. It may take up to two weeks for your filter to “cycle through” and become efficient in cleaning your water. Your water may cloud up for the first week or so and then should become crystal clear if the filter is of adequate size. The filters are usually cleaned once a month by squeezing out the filter material on top and rinsing the solid waste off. Water changes can be done periodically but try not to change all of the water unless necessary. A complete change could kill off all of your beneficial bacteria and cause the filter to have to recycle .

                                    Make sure you find out the optimum water temperatures needed for the species you are keeping .Most often room temperature will suffice however there are certain species which may require colder or warmer water temperatures. Many dealers sell chillers that will cool the water as it passes through the unit . These should be used on cold water species only. We use titanium submersible heaters with built in thermostats to heat all of our tanks during the winter months with great success . Make sure that the heater is completely submersed so that no turtle can climb on it above the water surface as this could cause a burn and possibly death of your turtle.

                                    With the exception of a very few species most turtles need to bask in the sun to warm up their body temperatures and to get the much needed uva/uvb rays they need to metabolize calcium and there dietary proteins . All species should have a dry area to crawl out of the water on. This is where you should place a heat bulb and uva/uvb bulb. The basking area should reach temperatures of 85 degrees to 90 degrees . You will find that some species will lay there all day long. Basking helps to control many diseases such as upper respiratory disease and fungal infestations which are the two leading killers of baby turtles. A good uv bulb should also be used and we would suggest a coil type florescent bulb in the 10.0 range. This bulb should be no farther away from the basking platform than 12 inches as after that only minimal if any uva/uvb rays will be available to the turtle. Heat lamps should be placed safely above the basking platform and will depend on the wattage of the bulb as to how far away it should be. We place all of our lighting on automatic timers that are set to be on for 10 hours daily in the fall and winter and 12 hours on in the spring and summer.

                                    The best way to insure you and your turtle many happy years together is to do your research ahead of the purchase. There are many good books on the market as well as the Internet and many breeders that are available to answer your questions. Ask the person you are purchasing from how they have kept them and what their current diet is. Beware if these simple questions can not be answered. Check your turtle over closely and make sure that it has both eyes open and seems alert. Make sure that the plastron and yolk sac area are healed and clear of any discharge. Gasping or stretching its neck out with open mouth are bad signs. Fungal infections will usually show up as white cotton like substance on the feet , head or legs. Shell infections will look pitted or raw . In the event that you are purchasing via Internet website make sure it is from a reputable breeder or dealer. Some breeders may send you pictures via email of the exact animal you are trying to purchase. It doesn’t hurt to ask them. Some may be too busy to do this for you but many would be more than happy to send you pictures. Good luck with your new pet!

Written By: Greg Martin

www.martinsworldexotics.com