The Tortoise in Cyprus as in most countries is classified as an endangered species and as such are no longer allowed to be imported freely without restrictions. However that being said it is still fairly easy to own a tortoise in Cyprus and as they enjoy the climate so much they tend to live better and subsequently breed fairly easy. You can often tortoises for sale in pet shops and at village fete stalls, sometimes even given away as prizes. Tortoises are quite easy to look after but they do require regular bathing in the summer months to keep them cool and a nice sheltered place to hide from the midday sun - we have bought ours a small dog kennel which they appear to love which is lined with newspaper and substrate. Then for bathing we have sunk a shallow plant pot tray into the ground which has a water drip system which keeps it topped up. Tortoise are a easy maintenance pet and their food mainly consists of green leaves and weeds, mine also like flowers especially dandelions! If you do not provide a shelter you may find that your tortoise will dig very deep and bury himself which could be a problem.
Apparantly tortoises still roam wild in the northern turkish owned area of Cyprus, however I was very lucky to obtain mine by searching on a local forum. We travelled by car from
Paphos to
Episcopi where the lady who breeds tortoises lived expecting to come away with one tortoise, so imagine our surprise and absolute delight when instead of one we came away with six so maybe one day we many have our own little hatchlings. You can see Tortoises at the Paphos Bird and Animal Park.
I used to keep a tortoise in the UK and it was such hard work keeping him happy with the lack of sunlight, so constantly buying heat lamps and UV lamps so it is just so lovely to see them now living happily going in an out of their hide when it suits.
Please see below some pics of my tortoise family known to us as `The Sids'.