Our animals

These tortoises have been part of the Tropenhaus family for many years now. Yellow-footed tortoises originally come from South America where they live in humid or semi-humid tropical rainforests. They can be found in Columbia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay as well as on the island of Trinidad.

These animals are easy to keep when provided with the right temperature and humidity conditions. However, due to their size and liveliness, they do need a lot of space – ideally a large outdoor pen. The yellow-footed tortoise can reach up to 70cm in length and 20kg in weight.  We feed them fresh herbs, dandelions, clover, broadleaf plantain, plus a limited amount of vegetables and fruit.

Originally, these tortoises come from South America where they can be found both in the subtropics and in savanna regions. They procreate during the rainy season, with females laying 3 to 6 hard-shelled eggs which hatch after 100 to 150 days, depending on temperature and humidity.

Red-footed tortoises live in subtropical climates and like to be near a body of water. They can reach up to 50cm in length and 20kg in weight.  We feed them fresh herbs, dandelions, clover, broadleaf plantain, plus a limited amount of vegetables and fruit.

At 15 cm, the Chinese painted quail (also known as king quail) is the smallest member of the quail species. These ground dwellers spend the whole day looking for insects and seeds, using their beaks to scrape the earth rather than their feet as most other game birds do. Although they are capable of flying, they are not very good at it. When startled, they tend to panic and fly up. We therefore kindly ask you to take care not to frighten our little friends in the tropical garden.

At Tropenhaus Frutigen, our white and black silkie chickens have the free run of one section of the papaya production area. Their fine, fluffy plumage prevents them from flying as their feathers lack barbicels to "hook" them together and the shafts of the individual feathers are also limp.