African Leopard Tortoise Care

(Geochelone Pardalis)

This care sheet should not be taken as gospel, what works for me may not work for you, and each tortoises exact requirements can differ some.

The Leopard tortoise is found in Africa and range from south and east.  They have been found in the Sudan, Ethiopia, Somali, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Rhodesia, Botswana, Natal, Transvaal, Cape Province, Southwest Africa, and Angola. They are considered to be in a dry climate, semiarid or steppe.  But live in area's with lots of grass.

The leopard tortoises diet is primarily grasses in the wild.  For captive kept tortoises, best is grass or straw mix, many have had good luck with nothing but timothy orchard grass.  Since I live in a cold temperate climate, my tortoises stay inside for almost half the year.  I have found that a nice mixture of spring mix - fed by many zoo's, and straw works nice. My tortoises are picky and tend to eat mostly the spring mix.  To much wet food can cause the tortoise digestive problems and will lead to very smelly messy fecal matter.  A suppliment that can be fed to the tortoise is the Mazuri tortoise food. The Mazuri tortoise pellet was developed for Galapagos tortoises but may tortoise owners have found that it works well with many other tortoises.   A huge No No for leopard tortoise owners is that a leopard tortoise is strictly a herbivore, that means no meat or food with a high protein content. Some turtle food or tortoise food may say its ok for a box tortoise etc..  That does not make it ok for your Leopard since a box tortoise is a omnivore and eats both vegetables and meat.   Due to their rate of growth, their demand for calcium and mineral trace elements is high. A calcium-D3 supplement should be provided daily to juveniles and also for adults less frequently.

Leopard tortoises can grow to about 2 feet long and can weigh up to 70 lbs.  But that really depends on the genetics of the parents.  Many never get much bigger than a bowling ball but still can weight up to 40lbs.  In captivity tortoises can live a very long time oldest one I personally know of is 80 years old and still going strong, so this is a animal that very well could out live you.

Habitat -

Opinions here will vary from person to person, I will list what works for me again for your results may be different.  Being a desert tortoise of a warm region it is important to not let your tortoise get cold.  Lowest I let mine get indoors is 65F. {Now that they are 10 years old no longer juveniles they get down to 55F at night}  Even has to be 55F going to 60F quick outside before I will put them outside.  I do this because anything below 60F and mine tend to end up with respiratory infections. Mine are still considered Juvinilles and seem to more temperature sensative.  Adults 6+ years old can tolerate a wider temperature range. See my outdoor heated house so they can go out when it is even colder.  

A cold or respiratory infection is usually fatal for many tortoises.  As with mine I've had good luck working with my vet to get the through it with anti-biotics or warmer temperatures.  Also they really seem to love a range of 75F to 85F, they are the most active in that temperature range, and have the best appetites.  Temperature can be a big factor on your tortoises appetite.  Also why it is important when indoors to have a basking area and a cool area where the tortoise can regulate his body temperature.  Like all reptiles they can't sweat and rely on there environment to keep there body at a happy temperature.  Another mistake for some tortoise owners is thinking that there tortoise needs to hibernate in the winter.  Hibernating a leopard tortoise or trying to hibernate will more than likely cause its death.  Leopard tortoises do NOT hibernate.  I have seen some that will slow down in the winter months be less active, eat less, but again mostly due to temperatures.

Now your wondering what can I keep it in, the guy at the pet store told me a 10 gallon aquarium is ok.  An aquarium is never a good idea, and I am firmly against it, even though for the first month I did keep mine in a aquarium till I could get a pen built.  For a pen, walls should be high enough that tort can not climb over or climb the side and see over.  It seems to encourage them to try and escape, and can cause them to flip them selves, with there high domed shell it is hard for most leopards to flip them selves right side up.  Another thing to keep in mind when choosing the type of substrate for your indoor enclosure.  Because if the leopard can not get a grip it will not be able to right itself, for example loose sand would not allow the tortoise to gain traction to flip himself over, should this occur near a basking light it could be fatal.  Some people have good luck using newspaper, hay, wood bark or other materials.  Things to keep in mind, never use anything that could catch fire near their basking light.  Those get really warm, I have read horror story after horror story where the family went out for the evening to receive a call that there house was on fire, and that the fire started in there reptile room because straw or paper caught fire due to there lamp.  I use to use repti-bark for a long time, but one winter i kept having re-occurring respiratory problems.  Finally I figured out that my batch of repti-bark had a pest of some kind and it was breaking it down to sawdust.  The dust was so bad that my torts were getting sick from it.  I now use a indoor outdoor carpet that is velcro'd down and can be easily removed for cleaning.  I Velcro it down because as you'll find out Leopards do love to go into corners and burrow.  So they would end up under the carpet, wandering around.  Funny yes but not good for the tortoise.  I will post more on my pen setup and construction on another page.  As this page ages so do my tortoises.  I no longer use the indoor/outdoor carpet in the latest version of my pen see Habitat's page.  I use strictly vynil flooring. 

Lighting is another interesting problem.  Ideally you would want to keep your tortoise outside in a simulated natural environment.  If you are like me and can not you must use indoor means.  In order for Leopard tortoises, as with most reptiles and humans, in order to convert calcium and other minerals into usable forms they must have access to UV light.  There are different types of Ultra Violet light, and UVB is what your reptile or tortoise will need.  Well can I use X?  probably, here is my recommendation though.  I strongly support UVheat and their UVB bulbs.  I have had some issues with there shipping and slowness of processing orders, but the principal of the bulb and how it works and lasts is second to none.  T-Rex also make a Active UVheat type bulb available from many pet stores.   Stay away from bulbs that produce no UV what so ever.  Another mistake are Fluorescent tubes.  Yes they do produce UV but they work at a very short distance, and the light must be very close, also Fluorescent tubes deteriate quickly and do not produce as much UV as a active UVHeat type of bulb.  For more info on UVHeat bulbs check out there websites. T-Rex's Site  I have seen a new UV bulb a compact flourescent that fits in a normal light socket by ZooMed.  I am anxious to try this as it may save electricity.  But am worried it won't generate the heat that my tortoise loves to bask in when he's stuck inside. I did try the compact fourescent and it did not generate the heat my tortoises love to bask in.  So I went back to the Active UVHeat from T-Rex and use the ZooMed compact flourescent as a backup incase my T-Rex burns out.