Pass On The Knowledge

 

   One of the main problems with keeping an Aldabra Giant tortoise is that unfortunately as they get bigger and heavier, unfairly, you are getting older and weaker. Unless you work with them as a zoo keeper, not many owners are in a position to be in charge of one of these adult large majestic beasts whilst they are in the prime of their human life.

 

   So, in this section we would like to invite our fellow Aldabra Keepers to pass on the knowledge. We are talking things ingenious and practical, that have helped you or you have found useful in training and moving your tortoises. Novel ways of combating their size difference to us, once they have become too big for one person to lift. Or any other piece of equipment that you would heartily recommend Aldabra keepers add to their equipment store. Even just general tips on how to make you life easier as an Aldabra keeper. Any suggestions, let us know and they can be included agtuk@mail.com

 

   This is not paid advertisement for a product. There are many items of similar design and use available, on the market, and we are not disparaging rivals. The items we have mentioned here are items that we have personally bought and use regularly to help with our tortoises and they work for us, other people may disagree.

 

   When our animals are at a show we are often asked how do you get them back to bed? Well, at home 95% of our Aldabras will put themselves back to bed, they know exactly where it is and they know the time of day they want to start making their way home, especially in winter. However if you have a group of them you can often find that they like to congregate in the doorway and so not everyone can get inside. So, we find a good tip is that you go to their shed about an hour before you would expect them to head back to bed and put the infrared heating on, as far away from the door as you can, that way they will go inside and gravitate towards the heating leaving the doorway clear for everyone else to get in. You can achieve this by putting your heating on a timer but with the big infrareds it is a good idea to make sure there is nothing near them that can catch fire before you turn it on.

 

   It is a good idea, in general, to put your heating on a timer so that you can avoid it being on at peak times, it will save you money and with these guys every little helps.

 

   If they have begun to settle down away from the house then you can try bribing them with their favourite food, however if they have had a busy day eating this will not always work. It can also be very hard work walking backwards, the length of their pen whilst waiving a banana at them just out of reach.

 

   So, having tried the food option our main form of encouragement at getting the reluctant tortoise to get back to bed is the stick. Specifically a wooden broom handle, it doesn’t have to be new, just make sure there is nothing sticking out of it.

 

   The idea is that you tap the shell gently or rub lightly along the new growth rings, which are slightly more sensitive and this causes the animal to wriggle and shuffle forwards out of reach, (It is very much like someone patting you on the shoulder blades- you squirm to get out of the way). Do it again and they shuffle further forwards and you have made progress! As they get into motion hold off on the tapping until they stop again, that way they will learn tapping means move. Try to stick to a rythum of tapping that way they know that rythum means something.

 

  Tip make it a rythum that you like, maybe your favourite song, because you are going to do this a lot, so if its a sound you hate its going to get on your nerves real quick!

 

   Walk beside the animal to keep it going in a straight line and so it can't veer off. If it stops to eat then wait, it deserves a reward for its progress. It will take as long as it takes, they can't be rushed but at least they have moved a little bit!

 

   If you want it to head left then tap on the front right hand side of the shell, use your foot and leg to stop it from going any other way and it will get the idea, after a number of times. Same for if you want it to go right, stand on its left hand side and tap and block just the same on the left.

 

   Tip invest in a pair of steel toe boots, they wont stop them always standing on your foot (quite often they miss the steel toe bit) but it can cut down some of the agony when it does happen.

 

   This is not something they will immediately pick up and you will find it frustrating, so make sure you allow enough time. If your in a rush to get somewhere you can guarantee the Aldabras will be at their least cooperative. However, with perseverance it definitely helps you make progress. Also the others get to hear the tapping, and if they have begun their training, they know what it means and will often begin making their way home, as a result, without you actually having to interact with them.

 

   The broom handle also proves useful, to be long enough to reach over the tortoises, to turn off the electricity sockets when you can reach because they are blocking the pathway.

 

   Another option is to fasten a new, red, toilet ball cock onto the end of the stick and train them to follow the red ball. This type of training works well with many different animals and is popular in zoos.

 

 

   Aldabras are attracted to red so, in general, foods like strawberries and tomatoes are good treats for getting them to do something, like training them to finch- stand up tall, on all four legs so that you can look them over for a health check.

 

   We tend to use tickling more now that they have the idea of what we want because you never always have a handy tomato! Instead of bribery you interact with them, stroking them on the neck or tickling them in their leg cavity. This will inspire a natural response to rise up so that you can check all nooks and crannies for injuries and parasites. They also like the human interaction and it is a good way of making them use their leg muscles.

 

 

   Trolley

   The best type of trolley we have found to use to move them is a piano trolley, there are two sorts available -one has wheels outside the framework and one has wheels inside. You definitely want the ones with solid wheels inside, or the tortoises legs and shell press down on them and you aren’t going anywhere because it acts like a brake. If they are puncture proof tyres too it is one less thing to worry about. Depending on the size of the tortoise, you might need to put a plywood panel on the top of it so that the animal does not go through the middle. Tie a strap around the front of the trolley and one person can pull whilst another steadies the animal and pushes it along. These trolleys can be manoeuvred through doors and inside buildings whilst also able to cope with more uneven ground in the tortoise pen. Unfortunately they are quite heavy to pick up but you need solid equipment when you are looking to transport something over 100kg.

 

   The downside is that the larger tortoises legs can hang down so if they are not feeling cooperative they can walk right off it, easier than you just managed to get it on. The only option is to put an old tyre onto the trolley and then sit the tortoise onto the tyre. This however means that you have to lift the tortoise a lot higher to get it onto said tyre, so you will need more muscle power to lift it.

 

   If you are moving the animal on flat floor surface you can make your own trolley with big castors fastened to a piece of plywood, you can make the wood as wide as the tortoise and avoid having legs hanging down. This way you don’t have to lift the animal so high.

 

   The castors make this type of trolley more manoeuvrable, in all directions but the wider board limits where it will fit through and they struggle on uneven ground. You will need to use industrial castors to take their substantial weight and not something you have repurposed from your old drinks trolley.

 

 

 

   

Pallet Trucks

Pallet trucks can work, as they are closer to the ground to initially get the animal on and they can easily handle the weight but again it depends on how cooperative your tortoise is feeling,

 

   There are a number of downsides to using them- the tortoises have a tendency to walk away before you have had chance to raise the bed up. Also they are not the easiest pieces of equipment to manoeuvre in close spaces and benefit from level ground. They also take up a lot of storage room.

 

 

 

 

Sack Trolley  

 People would often suggest using a sack trolley to move them, as some of them can handle moving up to 300kg load. Unfortunately, the foot plate on the bottom is way too small to fit under a large tortoise, all you end up doing is flipping the animal sideways, so this was dismissed. However, if we get a little creative they actually become one of the most used pieces of equipment that we have and have proved far more use than a wheelbarrow.

 

   The secret is to get a piece of plywood or trailer board but not MDF, as it may be left outside, and it does needs to be of a material that the animal can be slid on. The board needs to be no taller than the back of the upright section of the trolley. It does not have to be exact, it depends on what wood you have available but it does need to be longer that the animal you are going to use it for. It also needs to be slightly wider than the animal too, you don’t want their feet to be able to touch the wheels or they will get in the way and risk injury to them.

 

   Get two pieces of wooden baton and put them horizontally behind the framework of the sack trolley. Basically you want to make a sandwich of the upright framework. With the wooden board sat vertically on the footplate, at the front, then the trolley frame and then the baton. Use some long screws to screw through the wood board and into the baton at the back too hold everything in place and secure.

 

   Now, when you go to get the tortoise, lie the sack trolley down on the floor beside the tortoise so that it is resting on its wheels and handles. (Tortoise head in the handle direction).

 

   Depending on the size of the tortoise you might be able to lift it onto the wooden board or you may need to do it in stages - lift the front of the tortoise and pivot the tortoise so that its front arms rest onto the board. You may need to practice this to work out how close the best position of the trolley is, it does depend on the size of the animal. If its too close you can’t turn the animal and too far away and the tortoise wont reach the trolley. Then you are in limbo because you can’t hold the animal and move the trolley at the same time but if you put the animal down it is in the wrong place, but you will soon work out what is best for you.

 

   Once the front arms are on, lift the back and push the rest of the body onto the trolley, position the tortoise so that the tail scute (the supacaudal scute) is positioned against the metal vertical foot plate, to stop it sliding off backwards, and the body and head is facing up the back framework towards you and the handles.

 

   Lift the handles and wheel the tortoise back to bed. It is more comfortable to pull the trolley but depending on how cooperative your tortoise is being you may find pushing it a better option because that way you can keep an eye on what the animal is doing and prevent it doing anything stupid. It does cause vibrations for the tortoise, so try to pick the smoothest route and obviously do not lift the trolley too high or the tortoise will feel unsafe. You may find that prolongued use of this method makes the tortoise reluctant to put itself back to bed, instead it is content to ride back- 'Taxi for Tortoise!!'

 

   When you arrive at the tortoise house you can lie the trolley down again and ease the animal off the side, they are usually more than cooperative to do this. This is a very useful way of moving them, one person can move an adult Sulcata on their own, whereas it would be impossible for a lot of people to be able to lift an adult Sulcata into a wheelbarrow by themselves- never mind it would not fit safely.

 

   One tip- only use this method when the tortoise has settled down for the night, if you try it when they are still active you will find it VERY FRUSTRATING AND TIRING as they will want to keep clambering off the side and the wont care that they are moving. They turn into lemmings and mindlessly jump right off, even if they end up on their back waiving their feet in the air as a result. You can easily end up having to get them back on two or three times, it is not worth either the extra effort or the chance of one of you being injured. Go have a cup of tea and just let them calm down and settle for the night and then go scoop them up, its much safer and quicker.

 

   The hardest part is lifting the trolley up with the tortoise on it but it is definitely a more manageable option than a wheelbarrow and we would not be without it, we use it a lot with the Sulcatas. It means that one person can get everyone to bed, if necessary. The best bit is that you can still use it as a sack trolley, if you need to, even with the board on it.

 

   If they are fidgeting on the trolley, as you push them, you can try leaning forwards and press the palm of your hand gently against their nose, so that its head has to retreat into its shell. (It will also keep them pressed securely against the footplate). If it can’t see then the tortoise calms down, don’t just use your fingers though, a) you could poke it in the eye or b) it could take a bite at them, whilst you are concentrating more on manouvering the trolley. However, this does mean you have to try propelling and steering the trolley with you hips, which is more difficult- an acquired skill.

 

Water Equipment

   The black water bowls we use (they are in a number of the pictures on the websute) are actually plasterers trays, so when you go to Wickes to get one don’t ask the assistant where you can find a tortoise water bowl- they wont have a clue what you are talking about. You can find them in the building section, near the plaster and cement.

 

    You can use them with all sizes of tortoises and they also multi task as being baths for them or you can use them as feeding trays too.

 

   They are useful over winter for providing food and water indoors however, they can be difficult to empty water bowls indoors and to get them outside is a two person sloshy procedure.

 

   Put water bowls in a different place in their pen, or don’t always fill all of them every day. Make the tortoise look for it, as a form of enrichment, they would have to search in the wild for drinkable water. It will also make them explore different aspects of their pen they might not otherwise bother going to, if they usually have everything at hand right by the door to their house.

 

...and thirty five years later.....

 

Wow that's some water retention!!

(no, they are not the same tortoise)

 

 

 

   Horse auto fill water bowls- The green plastic ones are easier to clean, as they have a drainage hole in the bottom but the metal ones are probably stronger. It does not take long for the tortoises to get used to using them, unfortunately you can’t use them with the smaller animals or smaller species, as they can’t reach safely over the rim to drink, they risk falling in and not being able to get back out with the smooth sides.

 

 

 

 

Cushion or tyre   

   If you have a juvenile (size that you cannot pick up) or larger Aldabra then have an old cushion or a tyre nearby for if the tortoise manages to roll over. It does not happen that often with Aldabras but because they are more domed they have a greater tendency to just roll onto their side rather than right over onto their back (it does depend why they roll over in the first place though).

 

   The danger with this is that they could self right without human assistance, which is good in one way but it does put a MASSIVE increase in force into their shoulder and hip joints, of the side which is elevated, as they crash back down onto all fours. This increases the chance of them causing permanent damage to their joints.

 

   So, if it does happen to your tortoise, assist them safely down to the ground, rather than leaving them to sort themselves out, and having them land on the tyre (with out the metal rim inside it) or cushion, to reduce the impact would help a lot especially with the big guys. It could save you a fortune in vets bills and prevent needless suffering in your animal.