Hi everybody!

I just purchased my first tortoise today; it's a Russian. I work with a sea turtle rehab unit and have owned a variety of aquatics personally, but never a land species. I have been reading about the different land species a lot lately and knew I needed a smaller variety tortoise because I won't be into a large house with a fenced-in backyard for a full-on torty enclosure for a few years. Where I live in Florida, we are surrounded by preserves with lots of natural predators who would love to head off with a little tortoise snack (or even my Rat Terrier, so I even have to be really careful just walking him. Small dogs and outdoor cats are known for disappearing in this area due to the large preserve space and high populations of various predators.)

I wanted to buy from a breeder, but we have none locally with reasonable prices ($250+ for an adult, $350.00+ for a baby to juvenile) so I ended up getting mine from Petsmart for $69.99. I was surprised at that; Petsmart doesn't carry much of a range of animals and they are not like notorious carriers who have very low animal safety standards. I've never actually seen a tortoise sold at a Petsmart, so there is my comfort and my worry, if you will. The best I could find online was $40 for the turtle and $30 for the shipping and I know how awful any shipping is for an animal.

They say he (I think it's a he, looong tail wrapped towards a back leg) is about nine months old. I am thinking he's older because his plastron is about five and 3/4 inches long. His carapace is very dark brown, with a little yellow on the edges. It's not pyramiding at all, luckily. I gave him a good washing with a warmish washcloth to remove all dirt and debris. Is it possible to find a nine-month old Russian that big? I am sorry for the lack of pics. I changed comps lately and lost the connection cord to my digital cam. I am usually all about the pictures.

I have him in a 45 gallon Rubbermaid container currently with calcium/bone sand and coconut bark substrate. I have a heat lamp and a UVB lamp over one end, with a hiding spot for him opposite. Gauges are reading 78 deg F temp and 45 humidity. I bought everything listed on a Russian's diet suggestion list, including kale and red lettuce, dandelion leaves, and some of the special tortoise food-gel if they are not eating well.

If you have any other suggestions for keeping this guy healthy and happy , I would certainly appreciate it. I do intend on taking him outside in the back to roam for a bit, always supervised, of course. I can tell you exactly how to care for and keep a loggerhead, but land tortoises are a new one for me, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks and I just wanted to say after reading so far the previous posts, you guys are an excellent resource and I am so glad I found you.


-Lin

Welcome to the wonderful world of Russians, we have four! One pair I got as a Birthday present a year ago and the other pair we adopted. They are fun to have and once they feel comfortable with you they love to be pet. They spend the summer outside in their custom enclosure (but spend the winter inside we are from Michigan). I will hibernate them in Jan or Feb 08 as from what I read it is important for their general health to do so.

Have fun with your guys!

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Colleen

Sounds like an awesome new tort. I don't know enough about them to advise you on the size or age issues, but I would say that you probably want to upgrade the veggies you are feeding him. The Kale and any kind of lettuce really doesn't have any nutritional value. Enjoy your new little guy!

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hi and welcome. I would remove the sand and go for some tile instead. Or paper towels. They are not native to sand and sand can cause impactions.

Lemme guess, Petsmart talked you into the sand?

And I'm not sure about those temps... Someone will chime in.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Shell, what other veggies would up the nutritional factor that I can feed him? I'm not sure if this is correct, but I read on a reptile website that giving Russians fruit gives them diarrhea. Is that false?

And yes, Liz, Petsmart did tell me about the sand.

I'm going to start this out by saying I'm not an expert at any of this, but this is was what we do and it works just fine (after reviewing many books and sites). We feed Collard, mustard, some endive, squash, some sweet potato, carrot. We usually don't feed much in the way of fruit, but sometimes they get strawberry, blueberry or banana (maybe once or twice a week). Sprinkle food with calcium a couple times a week. A single tort will eat about 1/2-3/4 cup of food a day. Make sure you wash the greens and gently pat dry, as the torts will get their water this way. They are little eating machines. When outside I plant their environment with editable food, so they get roses, dandelion, etc as part of their diet.

For bedding we use newspaper that can be changed as needed, but not maybe the best for them. They have two hide boxes one filled with straw as they like to burrow and the other just a box to crawl into to hide. Cool side in the low 70's warm side in the 90-95 ranges.

When outside they are more active in the morning and near sunset. When they get too warm they will dig themselves in to cool off. You can also buy outdoor tort enclosure seeds on e-bay.

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Colleen