Turtle/tortoise... I can't make up my mind.

[kittyhazelton]

Ok, so I posted about wanting a turtle, but now I'm thinking that I don't quite have the room for another large fish tank.
A land turtle/tortoise would probably work better for me as I can easily build a larger enclosure of some sort than have to find a place to stack another large water-holding tank.
Soooo
As far as land turtles go, which species are easier to keep.
and as far as tortoises go, which is a smaller (but not extremely hard to get/expensive species)
I know the spiel about UVB/varied diet/leafy greens/calcium/etc.
I'm looking more for space requirements than anything else. I don't want something that's gonna require a whole room to roam. I can build a pretty good-sized enclosure as I have the supplies/room to do so.
Max size creature I'm looking for would probably be maybe 14" or so.
I wanna start doing research now. The all new england reptile expo is next month, so if I decide on something I wanna make sure I'm ready for it if they have what I'm looking for.

 

[santoury]

You can't go wrong with a Russian or two. They are great tortoises.

 

[loconorc]

check out deerfernfarms.com and the other turtle/tortiose threads in this forum. Check out turtlesale.com as well, and the forums at kingsnake.com are a lot more specialized in torts than this one. Read up!

 

[Tequila]

Ok, so I posted about wanting a turtle, but now I'm thinking that I don't quite have the room for another large fish tank.
A land turtle/tortoise would probably work better for me as I can easily build a larger enclosure of some sort than have to find a place to stack another large water-holding tank.
Soooo
As far as land turtles go, which species are easier to keep.
and as far as tortoises go, which is a smaller (but not extremely hard to get/expensive species)
I know the spiel about UVB/varied diet/leafy greens/calcium/etc.
I'm looking more for space requirements than anything else. I don't want something that's gonna require a whole room to roam. I can build a pretty good-sized enclosure as I have the supplies/room to do so.
Max size creature I'm looking for would probably be maybe 14" or so.
I wanna start doing research now. The all new england reptile expo is next month, so if I decide on something I wanna make sure I'm ready for it if they have what I'm looking for.

You can't go wrong with a Russian or two. They are great tortoises.

Ok can I ask you a question here....

In another thread some guy said he wants to get a Tortoise or Turtle for is daughter as a pet, and you like went nuts on him. This guy makes a very simular statement without saying there for his kid and you answer with "You can't go wrong with a Russian or two." Why didn't you offer the same answer to the guy with the the daughter that her and her dad wanted a Tortoise or Turtle. The guy asks about a small box tortoise in a 20G-29G tank until he can get his 75G switched over and you tell him to bend over backwards and try and talk his daughter out of having a Tortoise/Turtle, WHY? I just don't get it. Turtles and especially Tortoises made for GREAT pets for kids, or at least for kids with reasponsible parent(s).

 

[Chad Rogers]

Agrionemys horsfieldii (The Russian Tortoise) and Testudo Graeca (The Greek Tortoise) are two popular tortoises that generally don't exceed 8" and are relatively hardy pets. Depending on who you buy them from you can probably get a Russian Tortoise for less than $100.00 retail. I paid $45.00 wholesale for mine. If you need any help with taking care of them try chelonia.org

Hope this helps!
-Chad Rogers

 

[Melgrj7]

A russian tortoise would probably be the cheapest one you will find. If you purchase from a pet store take it to a vet within a few days and have it checked for parasite and have blood work done for renal failure. Then have fun treating it. If you look on kingsnake.com in the classifieds you can usually find captive bred babies for around $100, sometimes less. For an adult you still need a fairly large enclosure. If you were to get a tortoise that is 14" long you would need to dedicate an entire small room to it, they are more active than you think.

for information on russian tortoises check out www.russiantortoise.org

 

[vicedretard]

i actually think lemonade tastes like cold pee...so im pretty sure everone has pee in their lemonade i dont know why i said that...
North American species of boxturtles are pretty easy and i hear they are hardy against health problems...russians and hermans torts might be an option just do the research...maybe even yellowfoots, or redfoots if you got a lil extra room...

 

[loconorc]

GOLDEN GREEKS FTW!! One of the only torts I would ever consider. That or a trio or pancakes.

 

[zombeer]

i'd go with a red-foot. i've had mine for 2 years and it's great!

 

[fishlvr]

Do you have somewhere to put a 20g with 4" or so of water? You could get some mud or musk turtles, which rarely reach 5" , and a 20g isn't really that big. Just an idea. I don't really know to much about tortoises, so that's all the info I can give you.