the mediterranean tortoise It is without a doubt an animal worthy of admiration, with thousands of years living on earth it has adapted its way of life to establish itself in almost any habitat, below we will explain in detail what they are, their diet, behavior and much more.
This species of turtles originates from the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, it is for this reason that they have been given that name, this means that it is a species of European turtle, however over the years it has been adopted at the same as a pet due to its easy way to tame; This does not remove the risk that exists that they do not reproduce as they should.
These turtles do not seem to be of the reptile genus, since reptiles are not friendly with people, but this one undoubtedly does create a bond with its owner that is very beautiful, so much so that the turtle can show the person what it's your tastes, what bothers you and your daily activities.
This type of turtle usually has a life time that is close to 75 years, which, unlike a Hamster It far exceeds life expectancy, which is why people tend to adopt these turtles since they do not suffer constant loss of pets, which means a feeling of temporary or perhaps permanent sadness for some people.
Characteristics of the Mediterranean Turtle
There are various characteristics that denote a Mediterranean tortoise and differentiate it from the other species of its same family, be it colors, physiognomy, shell, legs, tail and more; These are some of its features:
Their tail is different from that of the other species, it seems to have a nail at its end and they also have a bright color when they are young, but as they age their brightness fades. The size of these turtles will depend on the gender, if it is a male it will be a little smaller than a female.
In a general sense, there are two different breeds of Mediterranean tortoises, the first being a Western breed and the other an Eastern breed. Those of western races originate from the north of Spain, as well as from the south of France, northwestern Italy and there is the case of some that come from the islands of the western Mediterranean, these tortoises can grow to about 15 and 18 cm, They also have bright colors and shells more closed than the eastern ones.
On the other hand, there is the western Mediterranean tortoise which, unlike the previous one, does not always have a yellow spot on its head, so it has a characteristic mark that is a pair of dark bands that can be seen around the plastron. one of its most vulnerable places and that the western race does not have.
Another characteristic of these eastern Mediterranean tortoises is that they originate from southern Italy, as well as from different regions of Albania, Greece and Yugoslavia. The carapace of the eastern breed does not protect as much as that of the western breed, however it can have a greater growth that approaches 20 centimeters.
This breed of Mediterranean tortoise has a curious yellow spot just behind each eye, but you can easily tell which breed of Mediterranean tortoise it is thanks to its plastron, which does not have the marking that western breeds of tortoise have.
domestic habitat
An extraordinary quality of Mediterranean tortoises is that they are usually very active throughout the day, which is why when they are in a domestic state, people must take on the task of protecting their home to prevent them from falling and causing an injury. If you have one of these turtles and you have it in your home, you should make sure that it cannot escape from its environment where it can harm itself.
In order to have a turtle at ease with its environment, it must be varied, thus creating a kind of microclimate, it must be placed in warm places and over time vary and put it in a cooler environment, otherwise they could be overwhelmed.
To avoid this, the owner of the turtle must ensure a good environment so that it can feel comfortable, an example of this is to assign a small mountain of sand with soil with a height of no more than 60 centimeters. In addition to this, shade should be provided for when there is excessively hot weather, although avoiding completely covering it from the sun, since these turtles love sunlight. This is because they are very energetic turtles, so they should be assigned an open place where they can walk as much as they want and can move freely.
habitat in the wild
As we said before, they are turtles originating from the Mediterranean, so their presence in the Italian Peninsula, France, Romania, Spain and other countries located in southern Europe. The presence of these tortoises in big cities like Catalonia or Valencia is very common; This is motivated by the fact that they are places that present varied climates, a very hot summer, winter and rain.
Food
Usually the Mediterranean tortoise feeding they are herbivorous, They like almost any type of plant, although being in their natural habitat they can go looking for an invertebrate animal such as a snail or a slug, although it is not something they always do.
When these serve as domestic pets, they should not be fed with meat, much less with processed foods such as dog food, which many people today have come to do by ignoring the feeding methods for a turtle of this species.
The reason certain types of food should be avoided is that most turtles' digestive systems cannot adequately process a high amount of protein. This is why even some beans should be avoided, as they contain a lot of protein and will cause serious damage to your liver and kidneys.
When turtles are not fed foods rich in calcium, they can suffer a softening in their shell, which is why foods rich in calcium and low in phosphorus are recommended. Unfortunately, the owners of domestic turtles ignore this and do not prevent the softening of their shells, since just by seeing that they have their shell with the proper shape they think that they are fine, but they do not realize that the turtle may be under the consequences of a poor diet.
Although it is true that a soft shell is the result of a diet low in calcium, it must be taken into account that an excess of phosphorus could also be harmful to them, motivated by the fact that through an irregular calcium-phosphorus reaction there could be a insufficiency on the part of the turtle to be able to metabolize calcium.
Cuttlefish bones can be very useful to provide the necessary calcium to a Mediterranean tortoise, these can be easily found in any pet store or even fishmongers, they are placed in the place where they can reach it and they will eat it in the way they do. the one you want best.
Once all this information is known, we must say that for a Mediterranean tortoise to have an excellent quality of food, it must be provided with green leafy plants, weeds and many flowers, some of its favorites are lettuce, clovers, watercress, ragwort, banana leaves, roses, dandelion and lilac.
This type of turtle must be provided with enough food weekly, there is a fantastic method to do it and that is to give it a lot of food for half an hour a day, then it must be left to rest until the next day. The diet based on green plants is very good, but for a healthier turtle and being in a domestic habitat, the diet can be accompanied with a multivitamin.
Hibernation
It is necessary to highlight that many of the turtles worldwide do not hibernate, although there are many that are simply in charge of filling their home with food and enough water for a given season.
That said, Mediterranean tortoises are known to hibernate, no matter if they have been taken as Domestic animals or they are in the wild, they do not care and as the owner of one of these tortoises you should know this so that it does not take you by surprise, so you must prepare an environment that is suitable so that when the time comes, the tortoise can hibernate quietly.
One of the first things that must be taken into consideration so that the turtle can hibernate is the temperature of its environment, it must have a stable temperature that ranges between four and 10 degrees Celsius. In case the temperature drops and the environment gets too cold for her, she could suffer damage to her nervous system and cause visual damage, in most cases kill her.
If you have one of these turtles and you don't know how to maintain a stable temperature for them, you can take a small cardboard box, place it inside a larger cardboard box and fill the space with some soft material like shredded cardboard.
Once the winter season is over and the temperature outside has reached 10 degrees Celsius, that's when you can take the turtle out of its box to come out of hibernation, but not so fast! first move the box to a warm place for a few hours, only then can you take it out.
Once the turtle has woken up, it will first go to drink water, so its owner must put a nearby drinker so that it can go for water, this is motivated by the fact that during the hibernation period the turtle decreases its hydration levels.
Behavior of the Mediterranean Tortoise
Vitamin D is very important for them, that is why they always go in search of the sun's rays, this makes their shell more resistant, so do not be surprised to see a Mediterranean tortoise under sunlight for hours and hours.
Another thing that these turtles love is to dig small cracks to take refuge when there are times of extreme heat, they will only come out of these holes when the temperature stabilizes. When they do not have an owner to help them shelter during the hibernation season, they dig and bury themselves to sleep for a few months. It should be noted that before they do this they feed a lot in order to have enough energy.
After the hibernation period, these will come out in order to be able to mate, that is when the male begins to follow the female to bite her as a courtship mode and so the female can notice him.
Mating
There is no specific season for mediterranean turtles They begin to mate, but they have a preference for some seasons of the year such as summer and spring in the afternoon hours after they have hibernated. Being that they are energetic and very active animals, they make a very prepared courtship to surprise the female, they bite the females and fight with any other male that has intentions with her.
Many times the aggressive attitude of the male to be able to mate injures the female in some way, although they are minor injuries in some cases and especially in the wild they can cause important infections, since the flies can use a wound to deposit their eggs and in just one day it could be fatal.
When they are in a habitat controlled by a breeder, the females are separated from the males all year round, only bringing them together to mate and thus prevent the male from harming the female or causing her any kind of injury. of stress. Of course, it is not an obligation, but if you have a male that tries to cause a lot of problems, it will be the best option.
Many breeders prefer to have the female and the male together throughout the year, this is because the female in a single gestation process is capable of hatching 2 or 3 eggs in a single year.
How are the young of a Mediterranean tortoise born?
When these tortoises are in the wild, they go to a slope that has good drainage to lay their eggs. If they are domesticated, the breeder can use a mound of earth, since it is satisfactory for the female to be able to use a mountain of land suitable for nesting and provides ease when looking for their eggs later.
Once the female arrives at the place where she will lay her eggs, she makes use of her hind legs to plow the earth a little and create a kind of burrow that contains up to 9 centimeters deep, usually they do this task during the afternoon hours. .
After it seems to her that the nest has turned out well, it is when she deposits the eggs, becoming one or even a dozen, done this she protects the nest and hides the eggs to go unnoticed by the Wild animals.
Believe it or not, the sex of the hatchlings can depend on the temperature of the incubation nest, so temperatures approaching 26 degrees Celsius can result in a litter of males, and when the temperature approaches 31 degrees Celsius, it is more likely that more females will be born.
For this reason, turtle breeders make use of incubators where they are allowed to control the incubation temperature and thus have a greater number of the gender they want, whether female or male. After about 3-4 months, the eggs begin to hatch. Likewise, the young will require special care in which they are constantly supplied with food and provided with water to soak in when they are hot.
It should be taken into account that the baby Mediterranean tortoises do not eat anything until a couple of days have passed, from that moment the owner or breeder of the tortoises must start feeding them, their diet is the same as that of a tortoise adult i.e. green plants.
Diseases of the Mediterranean Turtle
This section is aimed more than anything at those people who have a Mediterranean tortoise as a pet, so some factors that can make the tortoise sick should be taken into consideration.
One of the things that most frequently attacks a Mediterranean tortoise is some complication in the upper respiratory tract, the way to identify any symptom that affects this is to observe that it has a runny nose and watery eyes, the first thing to do To do is check that there is no foreign element inside its nose, if there is nothing, the turtle should be taken to a veterinarian.
It is not very common for a turtle to suffer from a respiratory infection, although not all of them have the same luck. However, a poor diet and the coexistence of a dirty environment could also be capable of damaging their organism.
Another disease that one of these turtles could suffer from is called stomatitis and it affects mainly this species of turtles through an accumulation of white matter that appears around its mouth and also on its tongue. In the face of this disease, you should also go to a veterinarian who, with a swab, will take care of removing this carefully.
A turtle with diarrhea is synonymous with problems, this is motivated by the fact that it may have an inadequate diet in which it is being exceeded in sugar or is provided with food without fiber. Of course, diarrhea in tortoises can also be the result of any other problem such as intestinal parasites, which are frequently seen in Mediterranean tortoises. If the problem with diarrhea persists after giving it a good diet, you should go to a veterinarian.
As we were talking about before, cold temperatures when they are in the process of hibernation could cause a great lack of control in their nervous system, in principle they could suffer from blindness and feel disoriented, for this disease there is no treatment, so you should avoid putting the turtle in a very cold environment when hibernating.
Danger of extinction
In some native countries for Mediterranean turtles, an imminent danger of extinction has already been decreed for this species, since due to the constant human abuses in which their habitats are compromised, they have not been able to settle in a specific place and thus begin their process of extinction. reproduction, therefore there are no eggs or offspring that can continue the cycle of offspring of the same.
On the other hand, as a consequence of the forest fires, their habitats have been destroyed and they cannot settle in another territory to be able to reproduce, it is undoubtedly unfortunate for this species that through the actions of man it is in danger of extinction, a situation in which other species are also compromised, such as Galapagos turtles.
The same thing happens when the Mediterranean tortoise is taken as a pet, since not all people are interested in reading the basic care that should be given to them and they end up getting sick until they finally die.