# Uh oh--New guy!



## Floof (May 29, 2010)

I would like to introduce... er... Okay, well, he doesn't have a name JUST yet. He was a Craigslist pick up, and doesn't seem to be in too bad of shape.. Not to me, anyway, but I'm still a bit of a newbie to torts, huh? Haha. Anyway, without further ado...

The enclosure he came in...






So, the previous owner said he was 3-4 years old, but couldn't say whether he was WC or CB... So who knows if that's true. Any input from the experts? He's maybe 5 or 5.5" SCL.





I'm pretty sure he's male... Long tail, concave plastron... Mmm, Zoom's future boyfriend, maybe?? 





Lookit his cute wittle faaace!





Thanks for looking!


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## Tom (May 29, 2010)

Nice color. Looks okay to me. Lucky find. Did you soak him yet?

Congratulations.


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## Floof (May 30, 2010)

Thanks, Tom. I haven't, actually--that completely slipped my mind... Thanks for the reminder.  He'll get a nice soak tomorrow morning.


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## DonaTello's-Mom (May 30, 2010)

Ah so cute! Looks like he's sucking on his lower beak, too cute!!


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## Floof (May 30, 2010)

Thanks, Jilly! Hey, look at that... It does look like that, doesn't it? lol!


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## Yvonne G (May 30, 2010)

Might be a little older than 3 or 4, however, he really DOES look captive bred. Nice little Russian tortoise. Good find!


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## mightyclyde (May 30, 2010)

I like how the new ones look a little surly and put out  Congrats on the new guy.


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## Isa (May 30, 2010)

Congratulations on your new cutie  I love his little face, so cute


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## Stephanie Logan (May 30, 2010)

Sweet! He looks lively and ready to roll...now for some stimulating enclosure features like hides, hills, plants and substrate! 

He'll soon be thriving and keeping you thoroughly entertained. 

Congratulations! Any name yet?


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## Floof (May 30, 2010)

Thanks, everyone! And thanks for your input, Yvonne! It's so nice to know that I managed to get my paws on a CB tortoise! 

He doesn't have a name yet... Any ideas?


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## ChiKat (May 30, 2010)

Oh he is soo cute!! Congrats on your new addition


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## Kristina (May 30, 2010)

He looks like an LTC (long term captive) to me. Testudo horsfieldii rustamovi. Probably closer to 6 years old. You an see the difference in color and texture from the growth he obtained while wild, and the growth in captivity. The "rings" in the darker growth show were he went through periods of wet/dry weather in the wild. 

Cute little guy! Lucky you.


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## Floof (May 30, 2010)

Thanks, Katie and Kristina!

Interesting... Thanks for your input, Kristina. Yeah, looking at that latest big, white growth ring, compared to the others, is what made me really wonder whether he was CB or WC. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he had originally been a pet store Russian, and that the previous previous owner assumed he was a hatchling at that time, and went off that assumption when telling the most recent owner how old he was (the PO acquired him about a year and a half ago).

On another note... Russians have subspecies? Neat! I wonder what Zoom is, then..?


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## DonaTello's-Mom (May 30, 2010)

Name? How about 'Astro' , goes kinda well with 'zoom'?!!


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## Jenilyn (May 30, 2010)

i like astro!


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## DonaTello's-Mom (May 30, 2010)

Jenilyn said:


> i like astro!


Me too!


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## Floof (May 30, 2010)

Hmmm, Astro just might be it! The only thing I can come up with is "Brutus"... LOL.


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## DonaTello's-Mom (May 30, 2010)

"Brutus"...is very tough and macho for sure!


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## Kristina (May 30, 2010)

Got a pic of Zoom? One of us can tell you what ssp. 

I have 4 Russians, all of mine are T.h.kazachstanica


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## Floof (May 30, 2010)

kyryah said:


> Got a pic of Zoom? One of us can tell you what ssp.
> 
> I have 4 Russians, all of mine are T.h.kazachstanica



Sure, here you go! Not the most flattering pictures (from back when I first got her), but probably the best I have for ID purposes...









And one to give you an idea of the dome of her shell--I noticed her carapace is much, MUCH flatter than the male's.


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## terracolson (May 30, 2010)

oh i get to guess first.. i am going with....

T.h.kazachstanica

assuming he is flat and long


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## Floof (May 30, 2010)

Compared to the new guy, yeah, Zoom is very flat and quite long... Thanks for the guess, Terra. 

Hmmm... Looking at the pictures on Danny's subspecies thread in the RT forum, I'm beginning to think Zoom is more likely T.h.rustamovi and the new guy one of the other two--T.h.horsfieldii, maybe, since he's pretty well domed as opposed to flat (as the thread says T.h.kazachstanica is).

My reasons for thinking this are, rustamovi is the narrowest of the three subspecies, where the other two are relatively "round"(almost as wide as they are long)--and Zoom is certainly not "round" in that sense. New guy, on the other hand, is too round (visually, and to my eyes, anyway) to be rustamovi. He's also quite domed, hence leaning toward T.h.horsfieldii.

But, of course, I'm no expert on all of this (heck, I didn't realize they HAD subspecies until today!), so I could very easily be completely wrong.  I'll go attempt to measure their widths and lengths now...

Ok, got measurements and took another look at both of them from the sides.

Zoom is 6.5" long, and 5" wide. To my inexperienced eyes, she seems to be on the line between "domed" and "flat"... Definitely "flat" compared to the new guy, but more "domed" than the T.h.kazachstanica pictured on Danny's thread.

The new guy is 5.75" long, and 4.75" wide. As I've already mentioned, his shell is very prominently "domed."

Bah! This is all way too confusing... lol. =P


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## helensky (May 31, 2010)

is it just me, or does he need a beak trim?


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## Floof (May 31, 2010)

helensky said:


> is it just me, or does he need a beak trim?



Maybe? So far as I can tell, his beak looks fine... Though, I realize I can't be sure about that until I know where exactly the tip is in relation to his lower jaw. Unfortunately, he's not comfortable enough yet to eat in front of me, so I can't tell that for sure yet. I'll keep that in mind, though. Thanks for the heads up.


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## N2TORTS (May 31, 2010)

Floof said:


> I would like to introduce... er... Okay, well, he doesn't have a name JUST yet. He was a Craigslist pick up, and doesn't seem to be in too bad of shape.. Not to me, anyway, but I'm still a bit of a newbie to torts, huh? Haha. Anyway, without further ado...



Nice Looking tort .... and I have the Perfect Name ! .... 

But of Course ... " CRAIG" 


JD~


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## Floof (May 31, 2010)

N2TORTS said:


> Floof said:
> 
> 
> > I would like to introduce... er... Okay, well, he doesn't have a name JUST yet. He was a Craigslist pick up, and doesn't seem to be in too bad of shape.. Not to me, anyway, but I'm still a bit of a newbie to torts, huh? Haha. Anyway, without further ado...
> ...



LOL! Hey, I actually kind of like that... Hmmm... "Craig"...


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## N2TORTS (May 31, 2010)

Floof said:


> N2TORTS said:
> 
> 
> > Floof said:
> ...



Its Puuurrrfeecttt!!!!! ^5 

JD~


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## DonaTello's-Mom (May 31, 2010)

'Craig' is 'OK'..........but Astro goes better with zoom. Thanks Jeff for knocking out my name! Can you for once stop being SOOOO creative!! Lol..


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## Floof (May 31, 2010)

FINALLY finished his new enclosure! It should've been done the day he got here, but my favorite (and only) power drill's (only) battery decided to officially bite the dust before I could finish attaching the plywood back. Bah humbug. But, I managed to finish it up with lots of goopy superglue... But then the glue had to dry, and I realized I now had nothing to attach the liner with, so I had to run around the house looking for an alternative all day yesterday (finally discovered a long-lost staple gun)... THEN I realized the spot it was in didn't have any safe places to attach a heat lamp, so I had to spend today resituating the roach colony so I could use the shelving unit it sits on as a stand for lights._ Phew!_

Anyway, now he has a nice 6x2 ft area to explore. Yeah, it's still pretty bare... I really only finished it an hour ago (and then spent the last hour figuring out pictures.. and food! Aaah, sustenance...)

Overhead shot.. Warm end on the left, cool side on the right.






Cool side...





Warm side... You can also see my Boston/pit mix checking out the new addition to the reptile room. No worries--all critters of the canine variety are, under no circumstances, allowed in the reptile room when "mommy" isn't around! 





And the new guy himself, trying to decide whether the flashing purple box that keeps being stuffed in his face is friend or foe... lol.


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## N2TORTS (Jun 1, 2010)

Nice work...... Iam sure " Craig" .... .... Digs his new setup! 
Remember to give him plenty of " hide" type areas.Also some moss, would be a nice addition.... they like to bury down in it. 
HAPPY TORT~N 

JD~


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## Floof (Jun 2, 2010)

So, the new guy hasn't been too keen on eating... I think suddenly having three times as much space and 4x shorter walls (aka muuuch less privacy) has a LOT to do with that. So, today, I decided to throw together a makeshift hide in the middle of the enclosure... Wouldn't you know it? The ZooMed Deep Dome Lamp Fixture box is the perfect size! It's a good thing I never throw away boxes... Haha. I also put a nice little Sedum plant in to give him something to hide under, and maybe munch on a little bit...

...NOT climb. (Oh boy... Is he yearning for freedom, or does he smell that almost-sexually-ripe young woman across the room??)





Anyway, back to the enclosure. As you can see, the sedum plant got moved behind the "warm side" flap of the box/hide... No more escape attempts for you, mister!! (Though he's already knocked it over twice...)





Since he was having NOTHING to do with his food while it was in his "hide box," I went ahead and set it next to his basking spot. An uber-fresh little collard green leaf, some mazuri, and a few sprigs of that dang sedum plant. He's ignoring the sedum, doesn't believe me when I say mazuri IS food, but it seems he just looooves collard! (Which means, yes, the hide thing worked... Or maybe that I should've tried collard first instead of cycling through spring mix, dandelion, and squash... Hmmm...)





I had the pleasure of witnessing him chow down on the collard, and can now say with confidence that his beak looks great! 

Oh, and I'm really leaning toward Astro. I like matching things too much... LOL. He's better known around here, though, as Picky McPainInThe[butt]Pants, though.


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## DonaTello's-Mom (Jun 2, 2010)

Your doing a great job getting your boy all set up! Do you have a tupperware box you could use for a hide?
I cut out an opening in mine and my sully (juvie) puts himself to bed every night in there. I filled it with moist spag moss
and he loves to cozy up in there. Just a thought because that box you have might get kinda 'soggy' from the pee, yuck! Lol 
But I'm sure you already know this.....'Astro' is a cool name huh???


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## Floof (Jun 2, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestion! I've played with the idea, but don't have the materials here to do it just yet. The beardie got my last big-enough Sterilite bin AND the last of the sphagnum moss when I upgraded his enclosure a couple months ago. That spoiled brat! I'm also hoping to pick up some nice, shady plants at my uncle's nursery this weekend, to put in there as "edible hides" once all the ickies have had a chance to leech out... He's got some really nice Hostas out there that I've been eying for the torties' outdoor enclosure. 

Forget the pee. Just the moist dirt will turn that cardboard into something nasty--yuck! lol! That's why it's just a temporary fix. He's getting some more "long term" hides soon!

I just love how Astro goes with Zoom, too. The combination makes me think of some strange cross between the dog on The Jetsons and Astroboy... lol!


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## DonaTello's-Mom (Jun 2, 2010)

Yes the Jetsons!!!! Thats what I was thinking too! You could also name him 'Elroy' ! 
Lol.....'Your boy Elroy".....


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