Where Can I Buy A Tortoise?

 

   Contrary to popular belief, it is legal to own a tortoise in this country. Confusion seems to have occurred when new regulations were brought in during the 1980's to prevent animals being taken directly from the wild. A lot of the tortoises in the pet trade are described as Annex A species and require a yellow Article 10 CITES licence paperwork, to prove that they have been captive bred.

 

   Traditional ‘garden’ tortoises like Hermans and Horsefield can still be bought in some pet shops, like the ones at garden centres. For the larger, or more specialist, breeds you will need to try an exotics pet shop, usually somewhere that sells other reptiles, like snakes. You are highly unlikely to find an Aldabra, or Sulcata in ‘Pets At Home’.

 

   The internet site Preloved.co.uk is a reputable site for private owners selling their tortoises but please be aware that there are a lot of scams out there, and take the appropriate precautions before handing over your money. If it sounds too good to be true then it is.

 

   You will also need to research whether the animal needs an A10 licence, (see the list below) as not all tortoises do, and you need to, at least, see a copy of this certificate before you buy the tortoise, preferably the owner will give you a copy. They won’t give you the original, if the animal is under 100mm, as they need to send that back to CITES. You would need the details contained on this A10 if you needed to apply for one in your own name, so if you don’t get a copy, we advise you to take a picture with your phone or at least make a note of the details this certificate gives about the animal.

 APHA / CITES in Bristol are the people to contact regarding any questions you might have about this.

 

    Another option is to rehome a tortoise through the RSPCA or other tortoise rehoming sites- there are always tortoises looking for a second chance, for whatever reason, after all, some will have outlived their previous owners. You will be required to have a home check to make sure that you have the right set up for the animal that you are taking on and would be expected to follow modern husbandry techniques but the rehoming coordinators are willing to help and advise. They are not ‘monsters’ looking to critisise. They are willing your application to be sucessful, just as much as you are, so that another one of their residents gets a happy life in a new home and they get a free space to take on another needy tortoise. If you have done your research on the species of tortoise you are looking to rehome and put some thought into the right set up for them, then you will probably pass with flying colours. You don’t need to spend a fortune on housing but it does need to be fit for purpose in regards for maintaining the animals future health.

 

   An Aldabra will be extremely rare in these rehoming cases, but if you are looking for a Sulcata there are plenty of them waiting for rehoming. You will also have an advantage that they are usually larger animals, that have become too big for their previous homes to handle. This means that you don’t have to wait as long, to own an actual large tortoise rather than starting off with just a baby, who won’t be a big animal until 15-20 years later.

 

   If you are serious about getting a Sulcata, we strongly advise you to just to get the one, they do not get on well together when they reach sexual maturity - we know from experience. Two males will try to kill each other, on a frequent basis and will need to be kept separate, most of the time, unless you have a very large area for them to roam. If you are keeping a group of them together, particularly boys, then they will need supervision throughout the day. You will not be able to put them out in a morning and go off to work and think everything will be fine when you get home, because it wont be!

 

    This is part of the reason why they are regularly handed in to rehoming centres- people don’t have the space or funds to maintain two or more set ups. Don’t worry that your ‘shell baby’ does not have a friend, Sulcata are naturally loners, they only come together to breed, or to battle for the chance to breed, so the tortoise will be perfectly content with its own company. Please do not think it would be a good idea to put a smaller breed animal in with him for company either, it will not end well.

 

   This makes it sound a bit like Sulcata are Holy Terrors, the aren’t (all of the time!!) No, with the right set up and their own space, they can be very interactive and interesting pets, ours are also much more active than the Aldabras but there can be a lot of potential issues with them and you do need to research that before you make a final decision to get one. Most Alpha male Sulcatas, who have been brought up on their own, are absolutely brilliant with people, very friendly and receptive to being stroked and petted but will not tollerate other tortoise intruders in their territory.

 

   Aldabra tortoises are rare in this country, If someone is selling an Aldabra tortoise from central London or the wilds of Scotland then it is highly likely that it is a scam. There are also a lot of people who claim the animal is in this country but it isn’t, and it is in fact living in Cameroon or somewhere similar.

 

   Nearly all Aldabras in this country have originated from the conservation parks on Mauritus, in the Seychelles and have been imported at some stage in their life. Some of them came here many years ago and have been grown on, others more recently and they are still youngsters. No one in this country, or Europe, has successfully bred any, so you are not going to get a home grown baby.

 

   If you decided to import one yourself, then you would probably be buying a yearling to maybe 3 or 4 years old, it would only be young. They would not export a full grown adult. Also you would have to buy a number of them to warrant the high costs you would incur shipping them over in airfare.

 

   You may think - well I could sell them to others and cover my costs. Yes, you can do that, a number of other people in this country have done similar but the Aldabra market is a niche market. There are an awful lot of people out there who would love to have one but there are not many of them who could actually afford to hand over the cash and have the suitable space for it to live long term. You could face the very real situation where you are stuck keeping them for years, sounds idyllic for many people, but can you afford such an outlay, in one go?

 

   The other option to getting something a little bigger imported to this country, would be to look at the American market, there are sometimes larger animals for sale over there but as well as a very large purchase price, you would have seriously hefty air freight charge- you would certainly be looking at thousands of pounds alone, just for that! You may also incur customs charges and medical certificates, for importing from outside the EU but that is something that you would have to investigate, for yourself, if you were seriously considering such a plan.

 

   We often get asked if our Aldarbras are rescued? They are, but not in the traditional sense of the word, 99% of them have had previous owners and have come to us from different parts of the country. These owners have had to re home them for various reasons such as their own ill health, financial issues or marriage breakdown but none of the animals were ill treated in any way. These tortoises live so long that they will naturally have many owners in their lifetime, we are only custodians briefly  passing through their lives. Realistically our oldest are only just teenagers, and if all goes well they should only be with us for a very small part of their long lives but we will do our best to look after them whilst the are with us.

 

   We do sometimes take in tortoises that need rehoming, and we will try to accomodate them if they are compatible with the breeds that we have, and we have several different species. All of those animals will remain with us for life (either theirs or ours!)

 

   Tortoises should not be an impulse buy, please make sure that you do your research first, so that you know what you are taking on and can be sure it is the right type of animal for your lifestyle both now, an in the future. They are a long term commitment, a dog will live 10-12 years, a cat maybe 15-20 years. A small breed tortoise could be with you 50-80 years and the bigger breeds can live 100-200 years+

 

   Yes, they do have a realistic potential to achieve these amazing lifespans however, they are not guaranteed. It is like humans saying they traditionally live ‘three score years and ten’ (70 years) but unfortunately not everyone makes it that long, even though some make it into their hundreds. Tortoises are no different, some animals will make it but others will have their lives cut short for various reasons.

 

 

Tortoise species that do require an A10 certificate:

 Galapagos Giant Tortoise  (Geochelone nigra)

 Radiated tortoise  (Geochelone radiata)

 Angonoka (Geochelone yniphora)

 Bolson tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus)

 Berger’s cape tortoise (Homopus bergeri)

 Pancake tortoise (Malacochersus tornieri)

 Geometric tortoise  (Psammobates geometricus)

 Madagascar flat-shelled tortoise (Pyxis planicauda)

 Spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca) 

Madagascar spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) 

Hermann’s tortoise  (Testudo hermanni)

 Egyptian tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni)

 Marginated tortoise  (Testudo marginata)

 Negev tortoise (Testudo wernei)

 

   An appropriate A10 certificate, in the name of the person selling the animal, is required for commercial transactions regarding these species if under 100mm, i.e. if you are buying or selling for money. Also the animals need to be microchipped before you can sell them, once they reach 100mm and you then apply for a different type of A10 known as an SSC (Specimen Specific Certificate), which then stays with the animal throughout the rest of its life. Once it has this SSC there will be no further updates required.

 

   However, you do not need a licence to just own one and keep it as a pet, if you bred it or if you got your animal pre 1984. Neither do you require an A10 if you are just gifting it to someone else, for no personal benefit on either side but you would if they were giving you a donation for the animal, as that is classed as a commercial transaction.

 

   This means that you can leave your pet to someone in your will without any problems but if that recipient then decided they wanted to sell it, then they would have to make sure they had all the legal paperwork sorted, in their name, before they could do so.

 

Further details can be found on the ‘What I Need To Know About A10’s’ page of the website