I still remember the first week I had Pebble, I thought he was gonna be the most boring pet ever. The breeder told me he was the runt of his litter, so he was even smaller than average when I got him, literally the size of a quarter. I set up his little 10 gallon starter enclosure, put a tiny bowl of dandelion greens in there, and thought “cool, I’ll check on him twice a day, that’s all the work I need to do”. No cap, I was dead wrong. Two days after bringing him home, I cut up a tiny piece of strawberry as a special treat, set it on the edge of his enclosure, turned around to grab my water bottle off the counter, and when I looked back 2 minutes later? The strawberry was gone. I fully thought my cat snuck up and stole it, until I spotted Pebble tucked in the corner under his heat lamp, strawberry juice all over his little beak, pretending he was just napping and had no idea what I was talking about. I checked the TSA care guide later and yeah, these guys go crazy for sweet fruit as occasional treats, I just had no clue they could move that fast when they want to.
He’s got so many weird little quirks I never would’ve expected from a tortoise. His absolute favorite thing in the whole world is getting his shell scratched right above his tail. First time I did it by accident while I was moving him to clean his enclosure, he stretched his back legs out so far he tipped over onto his side, and just laid there like “don’t you dare stop”. I panicked so hard at first, I thought I hurt him, I tried to flip him back and he actually pushed my hand away with his little foot. He stayed on his side for 10 whole minutes while I kept scratching his shell, like he was at a spa. He also has a favorite rock, no joke. It’s a tiny smooth limestone rock I brought back from a trip to Arizona 6 years ago, I put it in his enclosure on a whim, and he sleeps on it every single night. If I move it to the opposite side of his 40 gallon upgraded enclosure to clean, he’ll trek all the way across to grab it and drag it back to his favorite corner. My exotic vet said that’s super normal for desert tortoises, they get attached to familiar textures because in the wild they have specific shelter spots they return to every night.
I’m not gonna lie, I messed up his care pretty bad the first winter I had him, and I still feel stupid about it. I thought the regular heat lamp I had running during the day was enough to keep his enclosure warm enough at night, I didn’t even think to check the temp after I turned the lamp off. One morning I came in to give him his breakfast, and he was super sluggish, wouldn’t even sniff at his favorite dandelion greens. I rushed him to the vet immediately, convinced he was dying. Turns out the night temp in his enclosure dropped to 60F, which is way too cold for Egyptian tortoises. The TSA guide says they need night temps no lower than 70F, since their natural desert habitat never gets that cold, and they don’t brumate (hibernate for reptiles) like other tortoise species. The vet gave him a quick checkup, said he’d be fine if I got a ceramic heat emitter for nights, and now I have three different temp monitors in his enclosure so I never make that mistake again.
One thing I wish more people knew about these guys is how endangered they are. The TSA’s 2023 population report says there’s less than 7,500 Egyptian tortoises left in the wild, mostly because of habitat loss in their native Egypt and Libya, plus illegal pet trade. That’s why I only ever recommend getting one from a licensed, certified captive breeder, never from random people on Facebook Marketplace or unregulated pet stores. Pebble came with all his official paperwork proving he’s captive bred, and I donate $20 a month to the TSA’s Egyptian Tortoise conservation program to help protect his wild cousins. I had a friend ask me once if I could “get him a cheap one off the internet” and I chewed him out for 20 minutes, no regrets. Buying wild caught tortoises is literally pushing the species closer to extinction, it’s not worth it.
Another common misconception I hear all the time is that they don’t need much space because they’re tiny. Pebble is 7 years old now, only 4 inches long, and he’ll max out at 5 inches when he’s fully grown. But he’s got a 40 gallon enclosure, and I let him roam around my cat-proofed living room for an hour every single day. He loves exploring under the couch, he once found a single cheerio that fell under there 3 days earlier, I’d looked everywhere for it and thought I vacuumed it up. Next time I cleaned his enclosure, I found half the cheerio tucked under his favorite rock, next to a dried piece of dandelion he was saving for later. I swear, that little guy has a better memory than I do. He also recognizes my voice! If I walk into the room and say his name, he’ll poke his head out of his hide and look right at me, waiting for a treat. If my roommate says his name? He just ignores her, full on sassy mode. My vet confirmed that tortoises can absolutely recognize their owners’ voices and scents, which I never would’ve believed before I got Pebble.
People always ask me why I got a tortoise instead of a dog or cat, and I just show them videos of Pebble doing his little “zoomies” around the living room after he eats a strawberry, or napping on his favorite rock with his little legs sticking out. He’s not the cuddliest pet, I’ll admit that—he hates being picked up, only tolerates it when I need to move him to clean his enclosure. But he has such a big, goofy personality for something so small, and he’s so low maintenance once you get his enclosure set up right. I work from home, so having him roam around my office while I work is the perfect little stress reliever. If you’re a patient person who loves low-key, sassy little pets, an Egyptian tortoise might be perfect for you—just make sure you do your research first, only buy from a licensed breeder, and don’t skip the temp monitors, trust me on that one.