Best Pet Tortoises for Beginners with Pictures (+Care Guide)

Tortoises can be wonderful pets, most of them are easy to take care of, and they can be great and unique companions. But some tortoises can be better pets than others, especially if you have never owned a tortoise before. So to help you choose your first pet tortoise I decided to make this list of the best pet tortoises, and also make a quick care guide so you will know how to take care of your new pet tortoise.

Best Pet Tortoises for Beginners

Russian Tortoise

Size: Between 8 and 10 inches

Diet: Primary vegetarian

Lifespan: Around 40 years

Appearance: Russian tortoises have a very simple and appealing look. Their color ranges from light yellow-olive to dark olive, and they are covered with a black or brown shade. Like most tortoises, their legs are covered with scales, and at the base of their feet, they have small claws that they primarily use when climbing, or traversing rough terrain.

Pet Difficulty: Beginner. Russian tortoises are very beginner-friendly, they are very hardy, so they won’t be affected by every small mistake that you could make in the beginning. Another thing that makes them beginner-friendly is their size, tortoises tend to get quite big, but the Russian tortoise tends to be quite small. The fact that their diet is composed mostly out of fruits and vegetables will also make it a little easier to take care of them. And finally, one of the biggest advantages of them is that they are really popular, this is a plus because this means that there is a lot of information about them online, on this site as well as others.

Hermann Tortoise

Size: Between 7 and 11 inches

Diet: Primary vegetarian

Lifespan: Around 50 years

Appearance: Hermann tortoises are usually colored olive green, and have a dark brown pattern on top of their shell. In general, the younger the tortoise is, the more intense the coloration is.

Pet Difficulty: Beginner. Hermann tortoises are great beginner tortoise pets. They are very resistant, even when compared to other tortoises. They reach manageable sizes, and they tend to be very docile pets. Great overall pet for a beginner.

Box Turtle

Size: Between 5 and 7inches

Diet: Omnivorous

Lifespan: Around 60 years

Appearance: The Box turtle has a dome-like shell that is usually colored dark brown or olive. The upper part of the shell is usually covered with a pattern of radiating stripes that are colored yellow. The lower part of the shell is usually dark brown and can have a pattern of radiating lines, but it’s not always the case. The skin is usually dark brown or black and it’s covered with red, orange, or yellow spots.

Pet Difficulty: Medium. While it’s called Box turtle, it might as well have been Box tortoises because this turtle is very similar to a tortoise, especially when it comes to the habitat, since they don’t live in water. Overall they are quite good beginner pets, especially if you consider the size, but the fact that they are omnivorous means that they will need a more varied diet than most tortoises.

Leopard Tortoise

Size: Between 10 and 17 inches

Diet: Vegetarian

Lifespan: Around 80 years

Appearance: Leopard tortoises are generally colored in a pale shade of yellow and they are covered with a very interesting-looking black pattern that seems like somebody threw black paint on the tortoise.

Pet Difficulty: Medium. While they are generally very hardy and they are not hard to maintain, they can reach sizes that can be a little too big for some people. A 15 inches tortoise is not necessary very big but at that point, they will need to eat a little more food than a 10-inch tortoise and they will also need a little more space.

Red Footed Tortoise

Size: Between 15 and 20 inches

Diet: Mainly Vegetarian

Lifespan: Around 50 years

Appearance: The red-footed tortoises are very interesting-looking tortoises, it has a dark upper part of the shell, with small yellow-brown dots at the center of each scute, and it has a yellow lower part of the shell. And of course, the feet of the Red Footed tortoise have red scales among the black ones. If you want to get a tortoise with a great look, then you definitely have to take into consideration the Red Footed tortoise.

Pet Difficulty: Advanced. The only reason why the Red Footed tortoise is an advanced pet, and not a beginner, or medium difficulty is due to its size. Space is very important for a tortoise, and not everybody is able to provide enough space for a Red-Footed tortoise. If it weren’t for the space requirement, the Red Footed tortoise would have easily been a beginner pet.

Sulcata Tortoise

Size: Between 15 and 30 inches

Diet: Vegetarian

Lifespan: Around 80 years

Appearance: Young Sulcata tortoises tend to be more colored than their older counterparts. The young tortoises are generally colored in a faded shade of yellow, and brown scute edges. While the older sulcata tortoises tend to be colored gray, with no other distinct color visible. The change in color is not a sudden one, it slowly takes place over the years.

Pet Difficulty: Advanced. Overall taking care of a Sulcata tortoise is not hard, they are very hardy, and they tend to be very peaceful, the only major problem is their size. You will need a lot of space to properly take care of an adult Sulcata tortoise.

Beginners Care Guide

Now that we covered the best pet tortoises for a beginner, let me give you a quick guide about the things that you will need to know and to do to properly take care of them.

Enclosure

The first thing that you have to think about is where your tortoises will live.

When your tortoise is small it can comfortably live in a tank, or a commercial turtle enclosure like this one: Zoo Med Tortoise House. Overall there will be no different for your turtle if you go for a tank or for a Tortoises House.

What will matter is what you will do after your tortoise outgrows them. When your tortoise gets too big for their initial enclosure you will have to either let them live outside or dedicate a big part of a room to make them an enclosure that is big enough.

Depending on the species of your tortoise you can also let them roam free in the backyard, but in general, that is not a good idea since it leaves them vulnerable to predators. At this point, I would suggest you build an enclosure for your tortoise, and to do this properly I would suggest you check out this article: How to Build a Turtle Enclosure, in this article you will find step by step instructions on how to properly build a turtle/tortoise enclosure.

But, your tortoise will need some time until it reaches the point where it will need an enclosure, and depending on the species it might not even need one. So let’s talk about something else that they will need from the start.

Substrate/Bedding and Humidity

A substrate, or bedding, is the thing that will fill the tank/enclosure of your tortoise. Each tortoises species has its own preferred substrate, and they are usually something that is easy to find like dirt, sand, soil, leaves, etc.

Humidity is closely related to the substrate, as you know, some substrates are better at retaining water than others. Each tortoise has a preferred humidity level that is closely related to its original habitat. So a tortoise that is used to living in a dry area won’t need a humidity level as high as one that lives in a temperate area. Humidity can be easily adjusted by just spraying some water in the enclosure, you won’t need any special equipment, just a water bottle, and a pulverizer.

To find out the humidity level a tortoise needs just search Substrate using the search function of the website and you will find a detailed article about each species mentioned in the article ( and even more species), the articles will contain information about the best substrate for each species as well as the best humidity levels.

Food

Since most tortoises are vegetarian you can easily obtain their food at your local supermarket. With a few exceptions, they will eat the same kind of vegetables as you eat.

For a more in-depth look at what turtles and tortoises eat in general, and what foods you should avoid, you should check out my article: What Do Turtles Eat? (Including Food Lists).

Cleaning

The last thing on this quick guide that I want to mention is cleaning. While tortoises are not as messy as turtles, you still need to clean after them. Cleaning after a tortoise is not hard, you usually just have to change the substrate and occasionally wash the tortoises.

If I had to say how often you have to clean I would say once every 2 or 4 weeks. Since every tortoise is a different individual the amount of time will vary. Just like people, some tortoises can be messier than others.

This guide should cover the basic things that you have to know about tortoise care. If you have any questions or you would like to find out more you can always leave a comment with a question in it and I will answer it, or you can check out the Care Guides Section of the site.

Related Questions

Can turtles recognize their owners? Turtles can recognize you and they will understand that you play an important part in their lives, but they will not feel any familiarity towards you like dogs or cats would. Overall turtles recognize their owners but not in a way you would expect. You can always read more about this in my article: Can Turtles Recognize Their Owners?

Do tortoises feel cold? Yes, tortoises can feel cold. Tortoises are cold-blooded, meaning that they don’t generate their own body heat, and they rely on environmental heat to maintain their body temperature. And they have to be able to feel cold and heat to be able to choose a good spot to bask.

Are tortoises dangerous? No, in general tortoises are very peaceful, they only attack if they are provoked.

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