Devon Tortoise Group

[Levi]

Originally Posted by NATURALIS

I agree its only one persons opinion , the only part i do agree with is they should be outside 24/7 this time of year.

I now bring Dotty in at night. I would much prefer to leave her out but after Lisa had her tortoises stolen I just couldn't sleep at night knowing Dotty was all alone in the garden. Neither of us are happy about it but I think it is for the best.

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by stells

I don't... we actually had a frost the other morning. This year has been pretty poor with the weather so far in this area... today and yesterday have been the only sunny days in the last few weeks... with the rest of the time being very dull... wet and cold. Once the weather is more stable then i will leave them 24/7.

Still getting frost here in the mornings too at times including this morning. Not sure if it was on the ground in the enclosure but the cars were white with frost. I put the torts out on a daily basis until risk of night frost is gone

[NATURALIS]

Mine all go into greenhouses at night so the frost isn't an issue for me.

[Kirkie]

TBH, don't feel disheartened. Pretty much everything you were told is inaccurate. I've had about 50 tortoise/ turtle eggs laid this year, every single one in an indoor enclosure. (males kept with females as I've found this helps with the fertility of the eggs somewhat ). *A female is looking for heat and a spot to lay, once they're in the mood I doubt they give a rats about being indoors. On that point, if my tortoises had been out 24/7 at this time of year, this year, I doubt I'd have had any eggs and some pretty miserable tortoises. Go by the weather not the calendar. I put mine out for the first time this year yesterday. Wild med tortoises would have *been up weeks, months ago but thats no reason to put mine outdoors because I can't replicate the weather they're having in my garden over here. I can by keeping them indoors.*

Security is becoming a big factor for me in bringing animals in overnight. More so than the need for them to remain in one place. They just seem to take indoors/outdoors as an extension of their home range. It doesn't throw them every morning when I put them out. They head straight for where they know the sun will hit in a few minutes.

It's when utterly implausable and easily refuteable statements are spewed out like this that I get *wound up. It seems your preacher has pieced themselves together a skewed version of some pretty basic husbandry issues and techniques into some nightmare scenario. Its about time people realised that tortoises are pretty much much dependent on heat and the last few summers we've had have been devoid of heat. The "outside at all costs" *brigade don't seem to understand that constant low temperatures, year after year are impacting the tortoise into a long slow decline. *Not enough body mass gained, low immunity, little by little that'll build up to something massive. I can provide better temperatures, better UVB exposure indoors than most British summer days.

So carry on doing what you want to do, I think your insticts are spot on.

[TBH123]

Thanks Kirkie, means a lot!

I do my best by my tortoises. I only have three so a lot of my time is devoted to my little trio!

I do understand that everyone has different ways of doing things and not everyone likes the same idea lol

With the laying thing....the majority of pics i have seen on here of laying females have taken place indoors!

The amount of things that they came up with, that can wrong with a tortoise was astonishing!! If everyone was as worried and hell-bent on the things that CAN go wrong then no-one would keep the amount of tortoises they do!

I have to say i do feel a lot better about things. Its weird how i dont personally know people on here but you have made me feel a heck of a lot better! Thanks to each and evryone one of you!

Much love!

[Kirkie]

Another one for the collection, one of my Hermanns laying on an indoor nest site the other week.



Had another girl lay in that spot last night. After spending the day pacing round outdoors digging test holes. Hmmmm.

[Alan1]

It was so bad last summer that mine were only out overnight on 4 nights. Other days when they were put out when the sun came out it was really cold when the sun went away again and the torts buried themselves or hid in their pots and didn't come out again so they were better off inside. 3 years ago we had a good week at the end of May and the rest of the summer was wet. 2 years ago we had a great month, the whole of June was hot then rain for the rest of summer. 1 year ago we had an unusually hot April then cold and wet for the rest of summer. This year we've had a hot 2 weeks in March and a hot few days just now but going by recent years that could mean a cold wet summer

[Geomyda]

Originally Posted by TBH123

Hi.

I have to say im a tad disheartened at the min

I was speaking to a member of the Devon tortoise trust recently and honestly they have made me feel so bad about my tortoise keeping!

They didnt stop going on about all the bad things that could happen and just generally made me feel really crap about everything. They kept going on about
egg-binding
The 'fact' females WILL NOT lay indoors?
Im feeding them too much?
I MUST have them outdoors 24 hours a day at this time of year
I HAVE to hibernate and it is extremly selfish of me not to!
If i have them inside they need no heat on at all
My female is far too oversived for her age (she was resced at this size)
Males and females musnt be kept together
And they really tried to scare me by telling me 'tortoise horror stories' and how much everything costs and how ill they get and emergency operations....

etc etc! I think you get the idea!

Has anyone else had any troubles with them or any tortoise organisation? Seems like anything i say or do, just isnt correct in their eyes!

I have to say, over the last couple of days i have considered just jacking it all in and giving up cos they made me feel worthless I mean they've made me feel like i cannot look after/ provide for my pets! Feel sick everytime i think about it! :/

having visited the Devon Tortoise Group at their regular meeting held near Exeter I would say, that they are a very well organised regional group with an extensive membership in that region.Meetings, that I attended and presented on various Chelonia related topics have always been incredibly well attended with 50/100 members in the audience. Their experience, is generally very good and a large number of hobby breeders, with years of practical knowledge provides a great source of assistance to newer members of the Tortoise keeping fraternity.
From memory, they also produce an excellent regular newsletter which links current topics and provides a forum for their members to stay "in touch".
Whilst I regret, the sense you express from recent contact I would encourage attendance to their regular meetings and maybe a better balance and understanding of mutual requirements can be found?

[Catwoman63]

Originally Posted by caledonia

It was so bad last summer that mine were only out overnight on 4 nights. Other days when they were put out when the sun came out it was really cold when the sun went away again and the torts buried themselves or hid in their pots and didn't come out again so they were better off inside. 3 years ago we had a good week at the end of May and the rest of the summer was wet. 2 years ago we had a great month, the whole of June was hot then rain for the rest of summer. 1 year ago we had an unusually hot April then cold and wet for the rest of summer. This year we've had a hot 2 weeks in March and a hot few days just now but going by recent years that could mean a cold wet summer

Blimey Alan, did you note the warm days on your calender year after year, i wouldnt remember when it was warm or hot over the years......unless you got a brilliant memory....i havent lol x

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by Catwoman63

Blimey Alan, did you note the warm days on your calender year after year, i wouldnt remember when it was warm or hot over the years......unless you got a brilliant memory....i havent lol x

It's pretty easy I think when you have torts to remember when the good spells of weather were because they were so few plus I also keep records of my bulbs and how much UVB they are producing so I'm inadvertently keeping track (roughly at least) of how many days they have not been used which is only about 10 days in the last 20 months. There have been more days when they were used only part of the day.

I have a great memory but unfortunately it doesn't work