tortoises have evolved to thrive in hot,
places where vegetation is often sparse particularly in summer. Typically they
live on south-facing hillsides, sleeping at night under rocks and thorny bushes.
the morning they emerge to bask
in the sun until they are warm enough to become active then they trundle off for
snipping off flowers and leaves as they go. By late morning the sun is high in
the sky and they return to their scrapes to pass the hot part of the day in siesta
mode, often emerging again in the late afternoon for an evening
and so on throughout the spring and early summer months, their peak feeding
period. By midsummer it is very hot and there is little to eat and they may dig
themselves in for a period of aestivation.
the late summer and autumn
they begin to wind
eating less and finally stopping altogether. They remain awake with some
activity until they have emptied
their guts over a period of weeks then dig themselves underground for hibernation
through the cold months, typically late November/December through to mid March.
The first warm days of spring bring them up again, emerging from the ground like so many mud-pies to bask and take their first feed of the year. Adults soon begin mating and the hills resound with the sound of clashing shells.
The females dig their nests and lay their eggs in May and June. The summer sun incubates the eggs and the babies emerge from the ground around September.
eggs and hatchlings
are predated by foxes, hedgehogs and birds, but those which do survive live an
identical lifestyle to the adults, totally independently, though very
secretively, within a day or so of hatching. Typically around 10
years old they become sexually
mating and producing fertile eggs for the next generation. They can live for many
at least 90, probably a good few more.
This 'scraping a living' from the land seems a hard lifestyle to us but evolution has 'designed' them to fit this niche. Any attempt to 'improve' on this is likely to result in unnaturally rapid growth with consequent health problems.
By its nature an English garden existence is a false improvement on the wild environment in that it is much 'cushier', food is more lush and plentiful, they don't have to walk about to search for it, and feeding activity can last throughout the day as it is not always hot enough to warrant a long siesta. Hence more food + less exercise = unhealthy overgrowth. At the same time, our season is short and often broken up by dull and cool weather which is all very unnatural for a creature from Mediterranean climes - and the keeper's instinct is to compensate by even more feeding. In an adult tortoise this won't really hurt providing the diet is a correct one of a variety of wild and cultivated plants of the type eaten in the wild. However in a baby tortoise, overfeeding will give rise to over-rapid growth causing peaking of the scutes and weakening of the underlying bone.
Therefore we must improve on the
captive environment in a different way by lengthening the season at
either end and imitating the sunny and sparse conditions of the wild, whilst
providing shelter from the sun, cold and predators and a correct diet in terms
of both content and quantity together with a natural and varied environment.
these basic requirements and provided the babies are not subjected to stress in
the form of careless handling by children, or attention from cats and dogs,
there is no reason why they should not grow healthily and live a long and happy
So how do you do it? The key to the successful husbandry of any animal is to apply a combination of knowledge of its wild lifestyle and a degree of ingenuity!
Well, to see how I do it at least, go to
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