Hello! Welcome to Harpo & Friends!
My name is Kathy and I started out in 1993 with Leopard Tortoises (Geochelone pardalis babcocki). I currently keep a family of four leopards, in addition to one 45 pound African Spurred Tortoise (Geochelone sulcata) named Harpo, who is pictured above.
This picture of Harpo looks like something out of National Geographic, doesn't it? Believe it or not, this was taken right in our back yard here in Maryland! In this picture, Harpo is sitting in front of what we call "The North Hole", which is a burrow he dug himself out on the hill during his first summer here - it measured about 20 feet deep in 2005, and is pictured below.
Harpo also dug what we call "The South Hole" (pictured below), which is about 15 feet away from the North Hole on the same hill. They are about the same depth, but to our knowledge, these holes do not connect.
We don't worry too much about Harpo's digging because he has plenty of room to roam. We are very fortunate in that respect. He lives in our back yard during the summer, which is 2 fenced in acres - and he uses EVERY INCH of it! If we had any less property, chances are Harpo would be digging under the fence - a simple task for a sulcata his size! Its a good thing we didn't have any landscaping in the backyard, because we could have just kissed it goodbye when Harpo came to live with us!
Below is my best attempt at taking a picture of the entire yard to give you an idea of just how much space an adult sulcata requires - this is actually 3 pictures overlapped. Our house is off on the left, and if you follow the chainlink fencing down towards our neighbor on the right, you can see where it stops past the big poplar tree by the white fence. Then if you follow the tree line back to the single tall thin juniper standing alone at the end, thats the back corner. Its hard to see here, but the fence goes up the hill from the back corner, between our neighbor's house and the pool, and back up to the house on the other side. If you look carefully in the middle of the hill, above (or to the left of) the sassafras tree, you can see where Harpo's burrows are:
This is how Harpo looks most of the time - like a big walking dirt clod! Thats ok, because he's happiest when he's dirty, and thats our goal with him - to make him happy! His black mouth comes from eating mulberries...
If you think you would like to take on a sulcata as a pet, please read
If you still feel the same after reading these articles, please try
Ok, lets move on to Leopards...
This is Turbo, my very first tortoise. He was a yearling, about the size of an egg when I got him at a reptile show in 1993. In this 2003 picture, Turbo is about 10" long and weighs about 5 pounds.
Next is Tabitha, who came to live with me in June of 2003 at about 3 years of age. You wouldn't know this by looking at her picture, but she is actually quite camera shy! Tabitha is about 7" long and weighs almost 2 pounds in this 2003 picture.
And this is Tinker, who, sadly is no longer with us, due to what we believe was a gastric torsion. Tinker came to me at about 6 months of age in November of 2001 - in this picture, Tinker is a bit over 2 years old, and is about 4" long.
Here is a side-by-side picture of the three for a size comparison - Tinker on the left, Tabitha in the middle, and Turbo on the right:
And this is Trixie (aka Miss "T"), a female leopard who came to me in July of 2003 as a rescue through MATTS. She is deformed due to a diet that was too high in protien and too low in calcium. There is nothing we can do to correct her shape and we are hoping that her deformities won't hamper her ability to live a full life.
This is a side-by-side picture of Turbo (left) and Trixie (right) taken in 2003. Keep in mind, in this picture,Turbo is 10 years old, weighs about 5 pounds and is about 10" long. Trixie is only 2-3 years old and is 14.5" long and weighs about 12 pounds in this picture - she is almost 5 inches longer and is over double Turbo's weight even though she's 7-8 years YOUNGER, due to the rapid growth rate caused by an incorrect diet.
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My smaller leopards are housed in an outdoor pen that is approximately 200 square feet, complete with a bathing area, a shelter made of concrete and slate for privacy and shade, and an eating platform made of slate. There is plenty of sun and shade at all times of the day, so they can move around to adjust their body temperature as they see fit (thermoregulation).
I do my best to keep this area planted with perennials such as sedum spectabile, daylillies and hostas, and grasses such as timothy, but they get eaten flat almost as fast as they grow! My guys also receive other grasses, plaintains (narrow and wide leaf), dandelion greens, mulberry leaves, comfrey, clover, opuntia (prickly pear) cactus pads, etc... as a part of their daily diet, and flowers, such as hibiscus, petunias, impatiens, malvas, and daylillies on occasion. I also grow certain kalanchoes and other succulents for them, and they relish a bit of wandering jew houseplant (zebrina pendula) every so often.
In the winter, both Harpo and my leopard family are housed in indoor pens in my basement that are equipped with heat lamps and Active UV bulbs. The floors are lined with hay. They receive organically grown dandelion greens, opuntia pads, Mazuri Tortoise Diet, a bit of clover and alfalfa sprouts, turnip greens, kale and collards on occasion, and pumpkin and butternut squash when available. In the summer, they have access to natural sunlight and cuttlebones for their calcium intake and usage, but in the winter, I must supplement their diet with Repcal calcium (in the pink container) and I keep cuttlebones and Active UV bulbs in pens for this purpose as well.
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If you are considering keeping tortoises, please research and make an informed decision on whether or not they are the right pet for you, and if so, which species would best fit into your lifestyle. If you decide you MUST have a pet tortoise, PLEASE contact a rescue agency first - there are many tortoises in rescues, and they are the ones that NEED homes...
Please bear in mind that some tortoises available in the pet trade get QUITE LARGE (up to, and in some cases, over 200 pounds). These large species will rapidly outgrow any housing you can provide, short of several acres of land. These large species are, in truth, wild animals that can - and will - destroy your home, so please do not try to make them housepets! If you cannot accommodate a large species with the proper environment over the course of their lifetime (which, in all likelihood, will be several decades longer than your own!), there are many smaller species available that are much easier to keep. But small species are also very long lived, so regardless of the type you choose, before you buy, please also consider how to provide for your tortoise long after you are gone...
All tortoises, regardless of size and species, require specialized diets of plant material (mainly grasses and weeds), that is low in protien, high in fiber, and balanced in calcium, phospheros, and other vitamins and minerals. One cannot feed a tortoise diet of just fruits and vegetables (and certainly no dog/cat food or rabbit pellets!) and expect them to grow properly and thrive. They also need room to exercise, and fresh water to drink and bathe in. Some require humidity, and others require dryness, but all require some degree of heat. Some tortoises hibernate and must be properly cooled down for a period of time during the winter - some tortoises do not hibernate and must be kept warm year round. They also need vitamin and mineral supplements, and sources of natural sunlight to aid in the absorption of calcium. If you cannot provide a tortoise with these necessities that their species requires, it may grow improperly, or it may die a slow death. However, when their dietary and environmental needs are met, tortoises are long lived, educational, and interesting animals that make wonderful pets!
Please feel free to use the links below to begin or continue your research on tortoise keeping. Join email groups and don't be afraid to ask questions! Write to keepers about their animals - most tortoise people LOVE to talk about their shelled friends! Read all you can - the internet is full of good info! I cannot stress research enough - you don't want to one day hear the words "You should have thought before you bought"!!!
Good luck! Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to visit again!
Links to tortoise related websites:
This page was last updated on: August 6, 2006
