It’s time to give your child some responsibility and a new companion to play with. It can be hard to find the right pet to give your kid, because so many of them die easily or can be very dirty. Reptiles such as a tortoise don’t dirty the cage much or take too much time to care for. Let me give you some reasons why you should get your family this little companion.
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These little bundles of joy are so cute and can make anyone stress free for a little while anyway. Tortoises have their own personality and can surprise you how smart they are. Their cute and easy to handle.
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Most Tortoises can be cared for with a basking lamp and a UV lamp. You can easily grow their food outdoors and they eat many different weeds. They love eating all kinds of wild flowers and stuff around the yard. They can use sand and some sort of easy substrate that can’t hurt them. Coconut bedding or hay is a good substrate to use for bedding.
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A Greek tortoise or Russian tortoise lives up to 50 years or more. This is a long time to keep a reptile. You might get attached easy, but a pet that lives that long, you will be having a companion for a long time.
Photo Credit: StarTortoise
Most reptiles eat insects or rodents and can be hard to get food without going to the pet store. With having a tortoise, you can find their food outdoors (pesticide free). You can give them normal roman lettuce or mustard greens from the grocery store. They eat tons of household greens and always avoid iceberg lettuce for all reptiles, it contains no vitamins or nutrients and it causes diarrhea.
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There are some tortoises can be huge and that makes it easy for kids to play with them. Although, if you have a 50lb tortoise like some tortoise get, you should think about taking care of them yourself. There are tons of tortoise that are medium sized.
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Tortoises never get aggressive like some reptiles and this cuts down on being bit or being lashed out on. Kids can be hectic with animals sometimes and these little creatures are perfect for maintaining a happy state. However, don’t allow your kid to run around with the turtle or shake them. You wouldn’t want big hands that over fit your body to shake you and laugh.
Tortoises are a big hit for kids pets today and make very good pets for your kids. Tortoises do carry some salmonella, but if you wash your hands afterwards you will be fine. Also, their land turtles and don’t tend to carry as much salmonella as water turtles. Have you seen a Tortoise in the pet store you liked and don’t know how to care for them?
Top Photo Credit: Joachim S. Müller