Bowsprit Tortoise - The Bowsprit Tortoise in Captivity

The Bowsprit Tortoise in Captivity

The bowsprit tortoise is commonly kept as a garden pet in South Africa. If kept in a garden, these tortoises need a sizable area with a diverse range of possible foods. They naturally eat a wide variety of indigenous South African plants and, if kept in a garden, they require a similarly wide range of plants available on which to feed. They will not stay healthy if fed only lettuce.

If the garden is suburban, then it should be securely walled, so the tortoise does not wander into the nearby streets and traffic. It should also not have a swimming pool, as the bowsprit tortoise cannot swim and will drown if it falls into deep water. Domestic dogs are a threat to urban specimens, which are often badly injured or killed after being severely chewed.

This tortoise, like most reptiles, also needs to be able to regulate its own temperature, by moving between sunny and shady spots. It therefore needs a large garden where it can move about, so as to seek both natural sunlight, as well as shade, when necessary. It needs a dry habitat, as constant moisture is particularly bad for it.

Like many species of tortoises, the bowsprit is increasingly threatened by illegal collecting for the pet trade. When transported outside of their natural range and climate, these tortoises usually die. This is partly because they are adapted to the warm, dry, Mediterranean-type climate of South Africa, but also because they require a wide range of plant foods which they typically do not receive as pets.