Tortoise and turtle sitting while you're away: heat, water and the law

The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022, published in the Gazette on 20 December 2022, lists India's native turtles and tortoises in Schedule I or Schedule II. They include the Indian star tortoise, the Indian flapshell, the Indian tent and roofed turtles, the Indian softshell and the spotted pond turtle in Schedule I, and the brown roofed and Indian black turtles in Schedule II. Section 9 bars hunting these animals, and the Act counts capturing and trapping as hunting. Section 40 says no one may acquire, keep, sell or transport a Schedule I animal without the Chief Wild Life Warden's written permission.

The star tortoise is also in Appendix I of Schedule IV, and section 49R says that where a species is in Schedule I and Schedule IV, the Schedule I rules apply. So a star tortoise cannot be registered as a pet. Exotic tortoises are different: every tortoise species is in Appendix I or II of Schedule IV, so they must be reported and registered under the Living Animal Species (Reporting and Registration) Rules, 2024. The red-eared slider, an American turtle, was not found in Schedules I, II or IV as published, but it is invasive and section 62A lets the Centre restrict invasive species by notification.

A Petym sitter does not look after a native turtle or tortoise kept at home, and nothing on this page is advice to buy one. If you have one, our answers explain how to contact your state's Chief Wild Life Warden's office and hand it over; do not release it yourself. The rest of this page is about caring for a registered exotic tortoise or a legally kept turtle such as a slider.

Reptiles have a lower metabolism than mammals and feed less often, the Merck Veterinary Manual says, and the RSPCA feeds pond terrapins every two days. That is why people assume a tortoise or turtle can be left for a long weekend. The welfare sources do not support leaving one unchecked.

A reptile relies on its surroundings for its body temperature. Merck says heat sources should be on thermostats, that each enclosure needs two thermometers, and that overheating with heat lamps is common. A lamp that fails leaves the animal cold; a thermostat that sticks, or summer sun on a glass tank, can cook it. Merck also says uneaten food and droppings should be removed every day, and that semiaquatic turtles need filtered, aerated water. A turtle tank with a stopped filter and leftover food in a warm Indian flat fouls quickly.

So Petym's planning guide is a visit every day for a healthy animal, with a stay for long trips, heat waves or an animal that is unwell. Feeding stays on your schedule, not every visit.

Merck says tropical reptiles prefer roughly 27 to 38 °C, with semiaquatic turtles a little lower, and that they need a range to move between. An Indian flat in May can push the cool end of an enclosure close to the warm end before the lamp is even on. The India Meteorological Department says heat waves come mainly between March and June. Before you leave, move the enclosure away from windows, keep the curtains shut, and check that the cool end really is cooler. Ask the sitter to read both thermometers at every visit.

Merck calls even the best UVB bulbs a poor substitute for natural sunlight, which tempts owners to leave a tank on the balcony. While you are away, do not. A glass or plastic tank in the sun heats fast, the animal cannot escape, and crows and cats can reach an open balcony.

In a power cut, filters and lamps stop. For reptiles that get cold, the City of Riverside's outage advice is warm water bottles, hand warmers kept out of direct contact, and less feeding while they are cold. In a North Indian winter that matters more than in Chennai. For an aquatic turtle, a battery air pump keeps the water moving. Merck does not recommend hibernating pet reptiles unless they are breeding, and never an ill one, so a sitter should not let a tortoise 'go to sleep' in a cold room.

In the monsoon, turtles turn up on roads and in society drains. If the sitter finds one, it is wild and protected, so the turtle answers explain what to do: move it out of danger if needed, do not take it home, and call the forest department.

Before the first booking there is a free meet and greet at your home, so the sitter sees the set-up, the timers and the papers, and learns what normal looks like. You book and pay through Petym, and the sitter is paid after the booking.

During the booking the sitter follows your plan as you wrote it, logs each visit and feed, and sends a photo update every day. In an emergency the sitter calls you and takes the animal to the nearest 24-hour vet on the city's list. Every Petym sitter has an identity check with PAN and pet first-aid training before the first booking, and a named 24-hour vet within reach. Ask at the meet and greet whether that vet sees reptiles, and leave your own reptile vet's number.

Petym is not taking bookings yet; it opens city by city once sitters have passed its checks. Its services are built first around dogs and cats, and a sitter cares only for animals kept legally.