Tortoises and hedgehogs are unlikely to live together comfortably. Tortoises are generally solitary creatures. Hedgehogs are more social, but they could be at risk from the salmonella that many tortoises carry. Overall, the environments that these two animals require are quite different so it’s a real challenge for a tortoise and a hedgehog to live together.
Tortoises wag their tail to aid them with pooping, peeing, and with mating. The tortoise tail hosts these two functions in one hole known as the cloaca. While it can also be part of the courtship ritual, tortoises do not wag their tail out of happiness (like dogs do).
Tortoises should not drink milk. A tortoise simply doesn’t have the right digestive system to get any nutrients from milk. While it wouldn’t be dangerous for a tortoise to drink a little milk, it won’t do them any good either. There are other sources of calcium that a tortoise needs instead.
A tortoise may benefit from the use of a heat mat or a heat pad but only in very specific circumstances, such as when the animal is sick. The problem with using heat mats regularly is that they do not promote basking behavior, which is essential for the healthy development of a tortoise.
If like us, you have a love for reptiles, you might be wondering if you can leave a tortoise and a chameleon in the same habitat and keep your costs down while you increase the variety of your pets. But, is it actually good idea? Can a tortoise and a chameleon live together? No. Tortoises …
Whether a tortoise can survive a dog bite or not depends on the severity of the bite. There are four classes of bite and tortoises are very likely to survive 2 out of 4 bites. There’s a reasonable prognosis with the 3rd type, but the 4th is most likely to be fatal to the tortoise.
As tortoises grow older, they regularly shed both their skin and their shells. Shedding helps tortoises grow new skin, grow a bigger shell, and helps rejuvenate the body to protect it from disease. Overall, the shedding cycles for tortoises are perfectly normal throughout their lives.
All tortoises start out as these tiny, cute little tanks. Many can easily fit in the palm of your hand. Eventually, though, they can grow to be hulking, heavy, lumbering creatures. This, of course, varies on the species of tortoise that you get, where it came from in the world, and its health as it grows.
Tortoises do need a bath every now and then. A lukewarm bath will help clean a tortoise from dust and dirt, reduce bacterias from shell and skin, helps with hydration, and help with passing waste. Frankly, it just feels nice too.
Tortoises shouldn’t roam around the house. They could get injured, lost, too cold or too hot, fall or get stuck and be attacked. A tortoise roaming around the house might also spread disease. Even when supervised around your home, you will often have to handle the tortoise (pick her up) to put her back safely within a supervised area. This can be stressful to your tort.