Back from Hamburg

Just got back from Hamburg. IT WAS HOT. I think it was well over 90 inside. There was a lot of people there. We got there between 10:30-11:00 and there was still a line of 100 or more people waiting to get in. Really wasn't looking for anything in particular at the show. I saw some exceptional animals but none that I couldn't live without. I left empty handed but I'm OK with that. I have however picked up a couple of males recently. I will post pictures in the next few days. Both males will be familiar to people that browse the classifieds on this site. With the new additions I added a couple of new genes that my collection was lacking.

On a side note my kids now really want a tortoise. Does anyone on here keep them. After talking to a few people at the show I'm considering something like maybe a red foot. I would open to suggestions as well. Looking for something that is heartyy enough for beginners and something that will not get huge.

I keep a few tortoises and a bunch of turtles. My advice, a russian is the best beginner tortoise. You can keep them out most of the year here. They stay small and wont be too much of a hassle to hibernate when the time comes.

I have kept redfoots and personally, they are great tortoises but they need a lot of space and a nice humid space in the winter also. That to me is the drawback. They can be outside here longer than in Iowa, where I had mine, but when they come inside the temp needs to stay constant and they like the humidity to stay higher than most houses are in the winter time because of the heating systems we use in our homes.

Russians on the other hand are from wide ranging areas and the ones we tend to get in the US are from the arid regions or their range so they don't mind it a little dry and in the hot humid summers they do fine as well. They are a very well rounded easy to care for tortoise and there are a hand full of breeders in AZ, NV, and CA.