# Should Wild Caught Russian Tortoises Kept Dry?



## TortoiseRacket (Dec 26, 2018)

Should Wild Caught Russian tortoises be kept dry to reduce the amount of stress and then slowly raised with more humidity until he is at the recommended amount in captivity? 
-Mickey


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## RosemaryDW (Dec 29, 2018)

Wild caught Russians are fully grown or near to it. They live in a very dry climate and don’t need or benefit from high humidity.

You may be looking at a care sheet for bringing up hatchlings or young Russians, who do need it a little more humid, not an adult. If you have a wild caught Russian that is new to you, soak him until you are sure he is hydrated (he might be, if he has been in poor conditions for a while). After that, give him a water saucer in a proper enclosure and keep him fairly dry. 

My outdoor tortoise has never drunk once from a saucer, we finally got rid of it. She gets some big drinks when she comes out of hibernation, when I soak her and perhaps a few sips before hibernation. She drank quite a bit the one time she had a respiratory infection. Other than that I soak her every week or two, mainly so I can check her over. I’ve never seen her drink during these soaks and don’t think she really needs it; she would very rarely have access to water in the wild, nor juicy plants. She is built for dry conditions, period.


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## TortoiseRacket (Dec 29, 2018)

RosemaryDW said:


> Wild caught Russians are fully grown or near to it. They live in a very dry climate and don’t need or benefit from high humidity.
> 
> You may be looking at a care sheet for bringing up hatchlings or young Russians, who do need it a little more humid, not an adult. If you have a wild caught Russian that is new to you, soak him until you are sure he is hydrated (he might be, if he has been in poor conditions for a while). After that, give him a water saucer in a proper enclosure and keep him fairly dry.
> 
> My outdoor tortoise has never drunk once from a saucer, we finally got rid of it. She gets some big drinks when she comes out of hibernation, when I soak her and perhaps a few sips before hibernation. She drank quite a bit the one time she had a respiratory infection. Other than that I soak her every week or two, mainly so I can check her over. I’ve never seen her drink during these soaks and don’t think she really needs it; she would very rarely have access to water in the wild, nor juicy plants. She is built for dry conditions, period.


I already have Russians, they seem to be like yours. I was just wondering what people thought. I was wondering if you got a baby Russian from the wild, would it put too much stress on it to raise the humidity as it was living very dry. No plans on getting a WC animal, just wondering what everyone thinks. Thanks for the reply!
-Mickey


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## RosemaryDW (Dec 29, 2018)

I’m not sure why you would change the overall humidity on a hatchling from dry area it was born in, if it was healthy. I would do my best to mimic the native area. None of us have ever been there, though, so mimicking optimal conditions for hatchlings would be just a guess.

If you somehow had a hatchling that was doing poorly, that’s something else. I would put them in a higher, warm humidity right away and reduce the humidity to the hide areas as it grew older, not the other way around.

I don’t think any of us will get a chance to test any theory on a wild caught hatchling, though! So it will definitely just be our musings.


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## TortoiseRacket (Dec 29, 2018)

RosemaryDW said:


> I’m not sure why you would change the overall humidity on a hatchling from dry area it was born in, if it was healthy. I would do my best to mimic the native area. None of us have ever been there, though, so mimicking optimal conditions for hatchlings would be just a guess.
> 
> If you somehow had a hatchling that was doing poorly, that’s something else. I would put them in a higher, warm humidity right away and reduce the humidity to the hide areas as it grew older, not the other way around.
> 
> I don’t think any of us will get a chance to test any theory on a wild caught hatchling, though! So it will definitely just be our musings.


www.undergroundreptiles.com has WC hatchlings, but this is the TFO! We don’t support catching wild tortoises! This was just a question that popped in my head.
Thanks!

Best,
Mickey


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## Tom (Dec 29, 2018)

TripodThe3FootedGecko said:


> www.undergroundreptiles.com has WC hatchlings, but this is the TFO! We don’t support catching wild tortoises! This was just a question that popped in my head.
> Thanks!
> 
> Best,
> Mickey


Underground has a terrible reputation, and they can't have WC hatchlings because its illegal to import anything under 4".

To your original question, wild tortoises do not hang out in the open hot dry air. They scrape out palettes, hide in the root balls of plants, or in the case of Russian tortoises, they dig into the earth to escape the heat and dryness topside. Same for CA desert tortoises. The excessive, unnatural dryness of our captive enclosures is not good for ANY species. Russians should have moderate humidity. They don't need it 80+% at any time in their life, but they should have plants to hide in, damp substrate to dig into, and a humid hide should be made available. They will choose their desired level of humidity by exploiting these offerings as they see fit. At no time should they be on dry substrate, in a dry room, with dry hides and a hot bulb over head. They don't need tropical rainforest humidity, but they will benefit from moderate humidity, and some areas in the enclosure that simulate what they might use in the wild for cover and a little humid microclimate.


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