As I sit in my backyard enjoying the flowers and the songbirds, something steps on my toes: something heavy and very hard. It’s Pearl, my 35-pound leopard tortoise. As Pearl tries to climb up my leg, I hand her a rose blossom; after all, that’s what she wants. I’ve had Pearl since she was a hatchling, and she’s a bit spoiled. Pearl, who has beautiful cream-yellow coloring with black splotches, is bright, alert, vigorous, and healthy. (I’m especially proud of her being healthy because many people have a difficult time keeping leopard tortoises in good health.)

My addiction to turtles and tortoises began over 20 years ago when my husband and I adopted two desert tortoises. We soon became involved in turtle and tortoise adoption, joined several herpetological societies (groups of reptile and amphibian hobbyists) and turtle and tortoise clubs — things just seemed to escalate from there. We’ve discovered a lot over the years, and this book is a result of that education, giving you all the information you need to choose the right turtle or tortoise and keep him healthy and happy.

About This Book

In our turtle and tortoise rescue work, my husband and I took in many chelonians (turtles and tortoises) who had been cared for improperly — either kept in incorrect environmental conditions or fed an incorrect diet. We found that many people simply didn’t know how to care for their turtles or tortoises or had been given the wrong instructions as to how to care for them.

If you’re a beginning turtle and tortoise keeper, this book will get you started right. You can find out what you need to know to house, feed, care for your chelonian, and much, much more. You can even discover how to find a reptile veterinarian.

If you’re more expert at keeping turtles and tortoises, you may find some of this information rather basic. But in these pages, you can still pick up some new ideas. As you probably already know, keeping reptiles is an ever-changing experience!

You can read this book cover to cover, but you don’t have to use it that way. Instead, feel free to use this book as a reference. If you want to know something about a particular topic, go straight to that chapter for the information you need.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, I made some foolish assumptions about you, dear reader:

• You may be considering buying a turtle or tortoise but don’t know what species would be the right pet for you.
• You may be considering buying a turtle or tortoise but aren’t quite sure what care he may need — you want to know what it will take to keep your pet healthy.
• You already have a turtle or tortoise (or two or three) and want to know more about caring for your pets.
• You found a turtle or tortoise wandering through the neighborhood or crossing the street and want to know more about the animal you found.
• You are a pet professional and want to get the lowdown on our shelled friends.
• Your kids have been bugging you for a turtle, and you want to know what you would be getting into prior to saying yes or no.

How This Book Is Organized

I’ve organized this book into five distinct parts, plus some appendixes. This section gives you the lowdown on what you can find in each part of this book.

Where to Go from Here

If you’re thinking about getting a turtle or tortoise and need all the information you can get, start at the beginning of this book and work your way through it. If you have a turtle or tortoise and are confused by some of the conflicting advice you’ve seen or read, read carefully through the specific chapters that answer your questions. If you’re a turtle and tortoise owner already and you need to research a few different subjects, go for it! Take a peek at the index or table of contents and then start wherever you want.

IN THIS PART …

Do you enjoy the unusual? Do you treasure the different and unique? Do you like causing a reaction? If you answer “Yes!” to these questions, you probably enjoy different pets, too. Not the average Joe Dog or Miss Kitty for you!

If you enjoy the different and unusual, a turtle or tortoise may just be the right pet for you. However, you need to think about some things before you go shopping.

The four chapters in this part can answer all your questions. What are turtles and tortoises? What can you expect from a turtle as a pet? What does turtle ownership require of you? How much time does turtle ownership require? What type of turtle or tortoise is right for you? Where can you buy your new pet? And much, much more.

Treasuring the Unusual

Most tortoise owners seem to enjoy the fact that their pets are different. Obviously, your tortoise won’t chase a tennis ball like Fido will, but that’s okay because your tortoise is different. Because turtles and tortoises came in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors from an assortment of environments, there’s something for everyone willing to care for them.

• The Spix’s snake-necked turtle (Platemys spixii) is from eastern Brazil and has a black plastron, a long, heavily armored neck (complete with spikes), and a face that looks like a fish’s.
• The big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) has such a large head — out of proportion to the rest of its body — that it can’t retract its head fully into its shell. The big-headed turtle also has powerful jaws and has been known to bite.
• Side-neck turtles have exceptionally long necks; a few have necks as long as the rest of their bodies. The matamata (Chelus fimbriatus) has a long neck and a long nose that it uses as a snorkel. The matamata eats whole fish, using its powerful neck to help reach, grab, and subdue its prey.
• Box turtles don’t vary much in size or physical conformation, but their colors can be quite striking. Some have yellow or red spots, stripes, or patterns on the skin and yellow or gold patterns on their shells. Red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans), western painted turtles (Chrysemys picta belli), and eastern painted turtles (Chrysemys picta picta) can be quite colorful and striking.

If you enjoy and treasure the unusual, you can find a turtle or tortoise that will strike your fancy.

Make sure that you don’t choose a turtle or tortoise entirely for its looks, markings, or body conformation. Many turtles or tortoises require special conditions or care. You need to understand what this particular species requires before you add it to your family. See Part 2 for information on many species of turtles and tortoises.

Battling Extinction

Over the centuries, turtles and tortoises have evolved on every continent except Antarctica. Temperate or tropical climates are most popular, with southern North America, South America, Africa, southern Europe, and Asia being home to the most numerous species.

Although turtles and tortoises have flourished for millions of years, their future survival is not so certain. Many species have been wiped out or threatened with extinction because they have been used as food sources, or their eggs are routinely dug up and eaten.

Habitat destruction has threatened many species. Many South American tropical turtles and tortoises have been killed during the destruction of rainforests. In North America, gopher tortoises in the south and desert tortoises in the west are finding it harder and harder to survive as more people move into their territories. The situation is no different in Africa, Europe, or Asia.

In many parts of the world, warfare is killing turtles and tortoises. Landmines blow up tortoises as well as people. Tanks and heavy vehicles crush tortoises and collapse burrows. Vegetation necessary for survival is destroyed. During times of famine, a heavy tortoise is food for the hungry.

Future survival may be based on humankind’s ability to step in and change what’s happening now in many parts of the world. If sections of land can be set aside as preserves and protected from poaching, some species may be able to survive. Captive breeding populations may also hold hope for the future. Some species breed quite well in captivity, and the offspring of these turtles and tortoises may prevent some species from disappearing entirely.

Captive breeding can serve another purpose: to provide the pet-owning public with a source of animals already adapted to captivity. When wild-caught turtles and tortoises are captured, transported, and then sold to pet owners, the animals are traumatized. They have been removed from their natural habitat, stored somewhere (during which time they were probably not fed, or at least not properly fed), shipped one, two, or even three times, and then held again at the pet store or animal dealer’s facility. When the unsuspecting pet owner brings home this traumatized turtle or tortoise, the chelonian may or may not adapt to its new home. As a result, say many experts, fully 90 percent of wild-caught chelonians die within their first year of captivity.

However, when chelonians are bred in captivity, they grow up exposed to people, the foods normally fed in captivity, and captive conditions. These turtles may feel some stress at shipping and during changes in their environment, but after they’re sold, they are then re-exposed to what are, to them, normal captive conditions. They experience far less stress and thus have a greater chance for survival. Captive breeding also produces more animals for the pet market, reducing the need for animals to be caught in the wild. If more people request captive-bred animals and refuse to buy wild-caught animals, there will be again less need to capture chelonians in the wild.

The tortoises on the Galapagos Islands are a good example of the good that captive breeding can do. By the late 1960s, the number of Galapagos Islands tortoises was decreasing rapidly. Harvesting by sailors took a great many tortoises, but the introduction of feral cats, goats, rats, dogs, and other predators was decimating entire clutches (litters, with all eggs laid at one time) of eggs as well as any hatchlings that managed to finish incubation. The future looked bleak.

However, the Charles Darwin Research Station was built on Santa Cruz Island, and the remaining 14 Hood Island tortoises — all that remained of that subspecies — were relocated to the station. In 1971, the first eggs were incubated. Young hatchlings (of Hood Islands tortoises and other island subspecies) were head-started — fed regularly and grown to a size that can survive most predators — and then relocated to their ancestors’ islands. Although some Galapagos subspecies are still decreasing in number, others are now thriving thanks to captive breeding.

The African spur-thigh tortoise, commonly called a sulcata (Geochelone sulcata), was rarely found in the pet trade as little as 20 years ago. Today, breeders have successfully raised generations of these large, friendly, and active tortoises. Although their survival in the wild in question, these tortoises will survive in captivity.

Making a Difference by Preserving Turtles and Tortoises

When I adopted those two desert tortoises many years ago, I did so because I knew that they were threatened in their native habitat (in this case, the Mojave Desert of California). I was doing something to help, and I felt good about that.

In today’s society, we feel a little helpless sometimes. With so many problems in the world, we can do so little to change things. Sure, we can recycle. We can conserve gas. We can build a compost pile in the backyard. We can try to raise our kids right so that they don’t contribute to the problems of our world. But even while I was doing those things, I often asked myself, “Isn’t there something else I can do?”

By myself, I can’t save a rainforest or prevent a highway from going through delicate desert lands. But by taking in those two misplaced, threatened tortoises, incubating their eggs, and raising their babies, I actually felt like I was doing something real to save a threatened species.

Since then, my husband and I have concentrated on five threatened species: two from North America, one from Eurasia, and two from Africa. We have had breeding success with two species and have enjoyed watching the babies grow and develop. The individuals from the three species that have not yet bred are still young but are healthy, active, and showing breeding behaviors, so we’re anticipating the day when they, too, reproduce.

I can’t think of much of anything that’s more exciting than watching a baby turtle or tortoise break open its shell. A perfect miniature of the adult, complete with tiny little toenails, a baby turtle or tortoise from a threatened species is hope for the future. Chapter 21 shares more information about breeding.