This short information sheet has been produced to help guide people towards better tortoise care so that we do not see as many ill tortoises. Please read carefully and take note of the suggestions given. Treat with care many often confusing even if well-intentioned traditional views and pet shop advice which are not merely outdated but are often detrimental to your tortoise. Likewise, many books written even as little as 5-10 years ago are now outdated with regards to our understanding of tortoise husbandry and the array of modern products and equipment available for better reptile husbandry.

European Tortoises – Keys to Good Husbandry

Much of what is written here may seem alien to people who have kept tortoises for many years with few problems and the aim is not to tell you that you’re doing it all wrong but to try to show you that many of the practices routinely established in most people’s idea of tortoise husbandry may need some refinement. The practices laid down on this sheet are designed to optimize the chances of your tortoise reaching the old age that should be expected of all tortoises and not being one of the unfortunate thousands that have died over the last few decades.

Diet & Related Nutritional Issues

The ideal tortoise diet is low in protein and fat yet high in complex carbohydrate fibre and natural calcium and adequate in other minerals and vitamins. Factors that often need attention are:

• Dietary Fibre: Captive tortoises tend to have looser, more poorly formed droppings than their wild counterparts. This is due to too little dietary fibre which can be increased in most captive diets by providing more dry green leaf and grass materials. Unfortunately, however, these dry fibrous foods are usually not readily accepted by traditional tortoises as they prefer to feed on soft, sugary foods. To this end, it is important that you persevere with introducing more fibre generally.
• Dietary Sugars: Naturally, a tortoise diet is low in simple sugars but high in complex carbohydrates that require extensive breakdown in the tortoise gut. Products such as most fruits tend to taste very sweet and nice to the tortoise but in themselves are not a good diet so best avoided.
• Dietary Water: Most tortoises gain all the water they need from the food they eat and do not need additional sources of water. Fruits such as tomatoes and other vegetables such as cucumber and lettuce are high in water content and the trouble is they contain very little else.
• Dietary Protein: This should be limited to between 1-4% as this is the natural safe level found in the arid Mediterranean natural foods that these tortoises would normally eat. Some protein is obviously needed but excess generates dangerously high urea levels which can lead to renal failure.
• Dietary Calcium: Nutritional secondary osteodystrophy is the technical term for calcium deficiency and is due to too low a level of dietary calcium in the diet. This is by far the most common nutritional disorder encountered in un-supplemented tortoises causing death in hatchlings and soft shell and other distortions more chronically.

Vitamins/Other Minerals in the Diet

With the kind of cleaned vegetable diet fed to most tortoises, there is a distinct lack of minerals and vitamins. Vitamin D as discussed earlier is essential but it is also important to consider others (especially Vitamins A, B, and C) which should be supplied by a supplement like Repton or Nutrobol. The most commonly seen pure vitamin deficiency is Hypovitaminosis A and in fact is a very widespread problem in many tortoises causing puffy eyes, poor skin, and contributing to many Runny Nose (RNS) problems.

Feeding Summation

In general, variety is the key to a good diet as no one food item is ever good when fed to excess. After considering the idea of powder supplementation to all diets and avoiding items like dog food, cake, iceberg lettuce, etc., the choices of what food items to feed your tortoise can be divided into two categories:

• A Natural Diet: This is ideal for all Mediterranean tortoises but does require some knowledge of what various plants look like. Although availability is limited in Dubai due to the heat, seed packs of tortoise-friendly weeds can be homegrown. Supermarkets often sell suitable herbs as tortoise foods.
• Practical Choices: In reality, many people will find that their life revolves around the tortoise by the time they search the countryside and gardens for various weeds and start growing weeds from seeds, etc. A more practical approach involves using what garden and wild foods you can find easily, with additional supermarket purchases such as herb-based leaves, rocket, lambs lettuce, cress, and water cress being optimal.

Temperature and Its Importance

Temperature is the most fundamental aspect involved in all reptile husbandry as it controls the whole metabolism of the reptile. Tortoises maintained in Dubai benefit from the generally warm and sunny outdoor weather. However, tortoises kept in air-conditioned houses do not share this advantage, and thus, it is necessary to provide them with added warmth and a basking hot spot.

Baby/Juvenile Tortoises

If you are thinking of buying a tortoise, it’s advisable to start fresh as if they were a species you’d never seen before. This involves understanding the ideal temperatures for the tortoise to thrive under, given the weather constraints of this country, which almost invariably means limiting your climatic control to a set area where it is easiest controlled within set parameters.

Enclosure Design

In Dubai, it is hot enough that glass vivariums, especially those with a mesh top, work very well as a starting point for small tortoises. The vivarium should have the following features:

• Heating Device: Most of the daytime heat should be produced by a white light, but a non-white light background heat source will usually be required. Heat mats alone are usually inappropriate and should only be used to create a background warmth, with the majority of the daytime heat coming from an incandescent spot or similar light.
• Thermostat: It is recommended that your heat source be put on a thermostat. There are many types on the market, suitable for different types of heating devices.
• Thermometer: You cannot set up a tortoise enclosure with respect to temperature without a reliable indicator of this parameter. Small sticker thermometers on the side of the glass are not of much help.
• Full Spectrum Lighting: Nothing is as good as the sun at providing your tortoise with what it needs both in terms of heating and light. If you live in an apartment and do not have access to a garden, you will need to provide a full spectrum light for the enclosure. This is needed to provide both UVA and UVB rays.
• Hide: This is important as it makes the tortoise feel safe. Babies, in particular, are vulnerable and will seek sanctuary under objects for large parts of the day.
• Substrate: Be sure that the tortoise is not eating appreciable amounts of it as it can cause impaction. Domestic sand is best avoided.
• Ventilation: It is usually wise to have a vivarium that is at least 15 inches tall. This allows for extra airspace above the tortoise and allows vents in the side or mesh in the top to circulate air more efficiently.
• Water Bowl: Once baby tortoises of European species are over 6 months of age, it is generally advised not to give them access to a water bowl within their cage but to bathe them all daily instead. This keeps down the humidity in the cage and also means that each tortoise is individually handled and looked at every morning.

The above setup suggestions and care tips will help ensure that your tortoise not only survives but thrives under your care, adapting well to the specific environmental conditions of Dubai.