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Originally Posted by smudgley
(Does he really know his name?) if so - that's cool 
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Haha, I like to think so but in reality, I think it's my voice he recognises rather than his name. Tortoises do I believe have quite limited hearing capabilities.
Herbi is an indoor tortoise and we house him in a tortoise table rather than a vivarium. He used to live in a viv but we found he developed noisy breathing and we looked into things more and an open topped tortoise table is considered a healthier way of keeping them. I have a wire mesh top over the top of his table as the cats used to get in with him under his lamp which did not please him greatly! We do allow him outside in the summer on nice days but in a safe enclosed area, one because they are notoriously good at escaping and two, because my dogs are so lively that they may inadvertently injure him when they charge around the garden. We do allow him to wander round the house at times but you have to be aware that it's impossible to toilet train tortoises so we do get the 'occasional' accident
As yet, I have never hibernated him, I would be so devastated if I got it wrong and I lost him due to my incompetence. There's different schools of thought regarding whether to hibernate or not. It's generally considered that if you don't hibernate then you cut the lifespan of the tortoise a little but in the grand scheme of things this might be 10 years off the 70 odd years they are expected to live! Every year I say I will hibernate him and every year I just don't have the heart. They generally start going into hibernation around now although I believe there are some species of tortoise that don't hibernate, so you would need to read up a little on the species you are planning to buy.
Have fun searching for a tortoise and I'll look forward to your updates
