Animals kept: 0,0,2

In fall of 1992 I received 2 hatchlings as a present (thanks, Zu!). They weighed about 60 grams then; when I had to give them away (move to Canada) in early summer of 1995 they weighed 690 & 750 grams, respectively.

Looking back I feel quite lucky they did so very well while with me (the lady who bought them phoned me up late in 1996 to tell me that they were at 790 & 860 grams - she tried to establish identical surroundings (see below) for them ).

Not counting the occasional stroll in our garden on hot & humid days they spent all their time in a 300 litre aquarium which I decorated in the following way:

A 5 cm high layer of pebbles (containing a heating cable spread out over ca. 50 % of the ground), on top of that a 10 cm layer of clay (which hardened to a brick-like consistency over time) and 1 - 2 cm of washed aquarium sand over that. Once a week I would pour one litre or so of lukewarm water into one corner on the tank.

I knew I wanted to maintain a relatively high humidity so I intended to use the clay for water retention; the pebble layer was to absorb excess water and the top sand layer for keeping things dry and tidy on the surface - this turned out to be a perfect solution! 2 light tubes of 30 watts each as well as a 200 watt spot light and a 8 watt UV bulb along with the mentioned heat-cable (30 watts) provided heating and lighting, driven by two timers. At night all lights and the cable were turned off, resulting in a drop of temperature down to 18 - 20° with humidity rising to 100% (condensing on the walls).

The spotlight and the UV bulb were only on during the typical active hours for these tortoises - early morning and late afternoon, causing the temperature to go up to 40° Celsius locally and to ~ 30° Celsius throughout. A large water dish and 2 clay caves (each big enough to house both tortoises), one the heated side, the other on the 'cold' side, completed the interior decoration.

A typical day would look like this:

As soon as the spotlight went on (7:00 am), the animals would rush underneath it and heat up for a while, then they would eat (~60 % of their daily intake), wander around for a bit and go back to their cave (the heated one).

Around 16:00 they would come out again, bask only shortly since the overall temperature was now much higher, eat a second time, wander about for a bit and go back for the night. On average they spent more than 22 hours a day in the cave. Only occasionally would they show up at other times than mentioned above.

Though it looks as if I 'speed-fed' them - this was definitely not the case. They received small amounts of animal protein only every other day (pellets or freshly killed crickets, mealworms, grasshoppers) which they would eat first, if available. Every day they consumed large amounts of salads (radicchio preferred), stinging nettles, dandelion, soy bean sprouts etc. organically grown/growing in our garden. Minerals and calcium supplements were added once a week. Fresh drinking & bathing water was provided twice daily when possible.

Due to the humid climate inside the aquarium strict hygienic standards were applied; feces were removed instantly and the tortoises were bathed weekly in warm water to remove any caked materials from their feet and plastron. Leftover food was removed immediately after the tortoises went back to their cave.

They were not nearly as shy as the Geochelone pardalis babies I once raised and if one does not mind the fact that they live a rather secluded life and one does not get to see too much of them, they were not half as difficult to raise as some literature would suggest. Note that they were almost as smooth as the proverbial bowling ball - no pyramiding at all!

Updated 2011.02.04