Ely Tortoise

18/04/2024

Tamodine (reptile antiseptic variant of iodine), great thing to have in your cupboards and hope you'll never need - but be very grateful it's there! Random and still unknown puncture wound in a young female, after a day's adventures outside.

She seems unfazed. Wound cleaning will continue until the skin heals over.

Suggest all keepers have this product on standby 🐢🐢🐢

18/04/2024

This month near Norwich with The Norfolk Tortoise Club 🐢🐢🐢

03/04/2024

Bit longer outside every day.... ☀️

01/04/2024

This is what we need to aim for and replicate in the UK, as responsible reptile owners 🤗

31/03/2024

Happy Easter all 🐰🐢

Today we made BBC news, spot the dinosaurs in Pets Corner 🤗
They may be 2D but I can't imagine there are many references to tortoises being in Antarctica!

Can you spot the shout out to The Norfolk Tortoise Club also 😜

An IT specialist on board RRS Sir David Attenborough says the picture corner "boosts morale".

30/03/2024

Big yawn, bit of basking under an Arcadia D3 bulb then a good few hours outside today 💚

26/03/2024

🦔🦔🦔 lovely visitor tonight sat in my chive bowl, then gorging on the kitten food I put out nighty ❤️
Making a wildlife friendly garden has so many benefits. Please think about what your garden supports, wildlife needs the space to survive 🐸🐝🐦

Ponds with accessible sides, wood piles for insects, wildflowers, no nasty slug pellets, shallow water dishes and holes in your fences can make all the difference 💚

23/03/2024

Can you help? 🙏🐢

Calling UK tortoise keepers!

Hailey Stapleton is a registered veterinary nurse and volunteer zookeeper. She is looking to gain valuable insight into husbandry practices for tortoises by gathering data from keepers.

If you have kept or currently keep one of the following species, please spare a few minutes to complete her questionnaire:

1. Greek or spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca)
2. Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni)
3. Marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata)
4. Russian aka Horsfield's tortoise (Agrionemys horsfieldii)
5. African spurred tortoise/sulcata (Centrochelys sulcata)

https://www.surveyol.com/t/3E03A9F

23/03/2024

We had some great conversations today, thank you for popping in and speaking to us 😊
Very grateful to all the wonderful volunteers giving up their time today, and great hosts at Ely Aquatics & Reptiles

Please have a look through the Tortoise Matters YouTube videos, to get some more great intel on how to best look after your shelled friends 🐢

https://youtube.com/?si=ZadwGrNcBtlM89rw

21/03/2024

One slot left for torty health checks this Saturday in Ely, 2.30pm.

Message us if you'd like to snap this one up.

£10 donation to The Norfolk Tortoise Club on the day 🐢🤗❤️

20/03/2024

By no means a beginner's tortoise, but we always have some big beauties in need of amazing 5🌟 homes 🐢

19/03/2024

Last couple coming out the fridge now after 12 weeks sleeping 😴. An odd concept to many but fridge hibernations are considered far more reliable as you can easily access/ check torty, no predators, steady temps and no risk of flooding.
🐢🐢🐢

18/03/2024

Stillva few spaces left for Tortoise health checking this Saturday afternoon at Ely Aquatics, near Tesco/ Ely rail station. Please message us to book. £10 donation to tortoiseclub.org

16/03/2024

🐢🤗

16/03/2024

Super chuffed to collect the The Norfolk Tortoise Club fundraising calendars. These will be available to buy at all the listed tortoise events on their website (while stock lasts).

£10 each, and 100% of the proceeds go straight into keeping the charity stomping along 🐢

We'll be selling these in Ely on the 23rd March. Please message if you'd like one reserved 😊

15/03/2024

First day of the year outside and already eating limestone chalk (abundant in the enclosures). It's offered at all time's along with cuttlefish, but they prefer it mossy, green and saturated with rain water 💚😆🐢

13/03/2024

Brilliant visual here of why it's so important to put calcium on all your tortoises food, and load their enclosures with limestone 🪨⚪🐢

This question came up in a longer discussion, but worth posting this image separately. It is a soil-chemistry map covering most of Mediterranean Europe. In this case, the darker green areas indicate high calcium carbonate levels in the soil, and consequently also, in the vegetation (though exact take-up levels and Ca:P ratios do vary with plant species). Compare this to areas with Testudo populations! This is why wild tortoises have no problems at all in sourcing lots (and lots!) of calcium in their diets - and if you add in the UV-B levels in these same areas, why metabolic bone diseases in wild tortoises are practically unheard of.

13/03/2024

Saturday 23rd March we'll be at Ely Aquatics & Reptiles advising on torty care, rehoming and post- hibernation advice 🤗🐢

We'll be offering a small number of health checks for a £10 donation to Norfolk Tortoise Club - www.tortoiseclub.org
(Must be pre-booked, please message us or Ely Aquatics shop).

We will also be selling the fundraising calendars, and gift cards which are hot off the press today!

12/03/2024

Wonderful idea 🐢

06/03/2024

Loads of lush weeds cropping up after all the rain! The Tortoise Table is a great tool (and app!) for checking what is safe for you Tortoise to eat 🐢

05/03/2024

Us and the rest of the tortoise crew from East Anglia will be at this FANTASTIC EVENT. A great evening to be had - anyone interested in nature and animals would enjoy this (non torty keeper's, this means you! 😉 )

‘Giant tortoise tales come to Norwich’

An evening of tortoise stories, welfare, conservation and rehoming.



BY JERRY FIFE of PHOENIX ARIZONA, USA

MONDAY 18TH MARCH

Easton College, Norfolk

7:00pm to 10:00pm

Easton College has teamed up with the Norfolk Tortoise Club to host a rare and special talk from Jerry Fife of Phoenix, Arizona. Jerry is one of the world's few private breeders of giant Galapagos tortoises. He also keeps a number of other common and rare species of tortoise, plus numerous lizard species. Jerry has travelled the world to see many of these amazing animals in the wild. He is a frequent speaker in the USA and has authored a number of books and articles. Norfolk Tortoise Club is a local non-profit organisation that aims to improve welfare and conservation of tortoises through educational events, advice, support and help in rehoming orphaned animals. ‘Whether you are interested in conservation, the natural world, tortoise keeping or rehoming a tortoise yourself, this evening promises to be a feast of fascinating stories and information,' says club coordinator Eleanor Tirtasana. Entry includes tea and coffee. There will also be a raffle and a chance to browse the Norfolk Tortoise Club's shop. All profits from the evening will go towards completing the Norfolk Tortoise Club's new hospital building.

Price: £5 for members and £7.50 for non-members.

FREE for College and University students and staff. Pre-booking recommended.

Three veterinary CPD hours, certificates available upon request

Visit wwww.tortoiseclub.org/events

03/03/2024

Great visual post from the TT.

We are often challenged by keeper's who have always fed vegetables, and never given their tortoises calcium... Lots of damage can be occuring within the main body without it being too obvious from the outside.

03/03/2024

Great time to get out in the tortoise enclosures to remove all the grass, and plant tortoise food/ seeds. Not long now till everyone wakes up 🐢😴

28/02/2024

🐢🙏🐢

Otis is here to remind you that if you’re in the UK and can get to Chelmsford, Chris & Casey will be giving the keynote lecture at the European Turtle Alliance conference May 18th! Follow the ESA for all event info and booking. 😎

15/02/2024

The Tortoise Club charity eBay shop is a great place to buy your tortoise plant seeds from, it also helps raise funds for all the torty rescue work 🐢

Some of you may be starting to get your outdoor enclosures ready. Now's a good time for removing plants and grass that may have taken over and reseeding edible plants ready for the seasons ahead. You can now stock up on seeds via the club's new charity eBay account. We just have seeds, for now, but more products will follow shortly. Visit: www.ebay.co.uk/usr/norfolktortoise

12/02/2024

What do tortoises do in hibernation? Can they feel a shell scratch? Where are their ears?! 🤔

Pop along and have all your tortoise questions answered next month, as we pop along to Ely Aquatics & Reptiles for the afternoon.

A great opportunity to also ask about how to re-home one of the many wonderful torty residents at The Norfolk Tortoise Club 🐢🐢🐢

11/02/2024

Become a member at www.tortoiseclub.org and in Ely 😊🐢

New discount for members! ⭐

Ely Aquatics & Reptiles 🐢

10% off instore on all full price products

Show your membership email as proof at the checkout ☺️