Andrea Emshousen
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2015
- Messages
- 17
Hello!
This is my first thread other than my Introduction one, so sorry if I didn't post this in the right place or if I am re stating some things. I'm trying to get used to the forum since I'm new and also trying to read so much so quickly so I can start making the changes that are needed to better my torts lives'. I would just like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you that commented back to me on my Introduction post. You would not believe how much I appreciate all of you taking your time to help me out. I have already started adjusting and changing some of the things you all pointed out that needed changing. I've also started reading a LOT of the posts on here about Sulcatas & Russians and have learned a ton in just a few short days, and I have a ton more to read which I might be able to answer all of my answers just be sorting through the posts and reading them, but it reassures me SO much to actually talk to people who have experience with the same tortoises I own. The only thing is.. the more I read, the more questions I have along with a few concerns so I thought I'd make this post since you were all more than helpful on the last one. I'll post our story below and hopefully you all will know what I should do! Thank you in advance from Marley, Little Foot, and myself!
Here we go:
We can start with Marley since he was the first tortoise to ever come into my life. Marley is my Russian tortoise and he was previously owned by this girl I went to high school with as I believe he was a birthday or christmas gift to her. Well, this girl was getting ready to graduate and planned on going away to a university, but could not take her tortoise. I wasn't that close of friends with this girl so when she had contacted me about taking in her tortoise, I had only said yes due to the fact that I didn't know much about tortoises at all, but I knew enough about them to know you cannot just set them free into the wild as this girl was planning on doing if she could not rehome her tortoise. So, the next day she showed up at my house with a terrarium with little Marley inside. He was so cramped in there that he could barely walk a few steps without running into something, so that was the first order of business I set out to change. She also had him on " Repti Bark " as substrate which I'm still not sure weather or not that is suitable. I've heard some say yes and others say no, but regardless it was changed because I wanted to be 100% sure that he was on something safe and comfortable for him. She was feeding him out of a normal ceramic bowl, and in the bowl she had fresh green beans that looked to be frozen along with the pellets they sell in the pet store that are different colors such as red, green, and I think yellow. I took the pellets out because I had read they were bad for them and I wasn't sure about the green beans, but I replaced it with some Romaine lettuce even though I know that also should not be fed daily it was all I had at the time being. The only thing she had to say about the care of the tortoise was that I could feed him " any vegetable or fruit " and that I didn't keep the UV light on at night, but to keep the heat on 24/7 which is what I had done until I joined this forum and read that Russians do not need heat on during the night. Marley now lives in a small/medium sized bookcase laid on its back which is still not enough room for him, I know but he is going to be moved onto a tortoise table as soon as we get it completely built. The girl had given me a long, tube like bulb for the UV which I think is whats best from what I've read so I've stuck with it but I think it needs replaced soon. The heat bulb she gave me doesn't put off any light at all, it just gets hot. I do not know the type of heat bulb it is as it didn't come in the box obviously and she had no clue, so I probably need to change that as well but wasn't sure. I feed Marley a variety of things such as spring mix, endive, collard, turnip, & mustard greens, romaine, kale, chopped up carrots. I am also going to grow my own weeds and plants from the safe plants I've found on here for both of my tortoises, but he hasn't had any access to that yet though. I try to get him to eat the Grassland Tortoise Food but he has absolutely no interest in that as well as orchard grass or timothy hay.. He will not eat them no matter what although I've read that russians don't mainly eat hays and grasses which may be why. I always thought I was encouraging him to eat right.. whoops. I soak Marley at least 2 times per week, if not 3. He's went outside for sunshine and fresh grass before and loves exploring my yard ( I'm always outside with him ) . I do supplement his food with calcium a few times a week and also top his veggies with " Herbal Hay " from Tortoise Supply. I use coco coir as his substrate now.. I don't spray his substrate or anything so it is dry, please correct me if thats wrong. He has a rather big log hide in his enclosure that he sleeps in.. and thats pretty much the care of my Russian tort. If I'm missing something, tell me or ask and I will explain. I have so many things running through my head as I type this that I'm probably going to miss something somewhere... Silly me.
Next up is my Sulcata tortoise : Little Foot ( Sully )
Little Foot is a Sulcata hatchling. I think he is still considered a hatchling as he can fit in the palm of my hand and I've only had him for just a month. My dad bought him from a Reptile Show for me since he knew how much I dearly love Marley even though they are different types of tortoise. The man selling him at the Reptile Show was VERY unhelpful and personally I don't think we should have bought him from that man just because of how poorly his attitude was like he didn't care about anything other than getting done with the show and leaving, but I just couldn't leave without little Sully. ( Sully is his nickname by the way, given by my dad due to him being a Sulcata tortoise and my dad says if he turns out to be SHE, we can just call her Sullena. Hahaha )
Anyways, we brought little Sully home and it was a very unplanned new arrival so the only thing we had to house him in was a normal glass tank and even though its a pretty large tank, I know that is not good for them and we are currently working on changing his housing so we're working on it, I promise! Since he is little, the tank does give him a lot of room to roam around, also big enough to allow a hot/warm & cooler side which I have thermostas and humidity gauges on both sides. I keep him on the same substrate as Marley which is coco coir and I now know to keep his substrate damp so I've recently started keeping it damp and spraying it daily rather than just several times a week. He has a shallow water dish available to him in his enclosure and also has log hide with some fake moss stuffed in the very back thats kept damp to make the hide humid. I soak him once daily for 20 minutes now, and his enclosure never gets below 80 degrees. I feed him mustard and collard greens, endive, romaine lettuce, kale, dandelion, and I try to encourage him to eat orchard grass and I top his veggies with Herbal Hay. I am growing him weeds/plants as well but haven't got to feed him them yet. I supplement him with calcium on his veggies a few times a week and have provided him with a cuttlebone. I don't know the brands of the heat/uv bulbs that I have for him either, but I do know my UV one is a coil type bulb and I've read those are bad so I will switch that to the long tube UV bulb ASAP. The only concerns I have for my Sulcata is that I don't think he is eating as much as he should.. Some days he goes with only taking a few bites of just one thing and that worries me to death. He is active.. and is always out of his shell, will even let me pet him on his head gently. I've seen him dip his head into the water and drink while soaking him too. I've offered him all types of the safe veggies and he seemed to like his Herbal Hay a lot, but I just feel like he isn't taking in enough food. Also, I read about the urine an such... I think its call urcates? I could be wrong but you all will know what I mean, the white stuff that comes out with pee/poop.. His does look gritty like itty bitty gravel almost or like how salt looks.. it doesn't look creamy an I was actually able to get a picture so I will post that in a bit via my phone since its not on my computer and thats why I am typing this on.
I know that was long, and for all of those who took the time to read it all the way through - thank you SO SO SO much. I am just a worried tortoise owner. I am used to my rabbits, ferrets, chinchillas, etc.. and even though they hide stress/illness pretty well they still give off some signs usually an I have more experience with them and their body language.. I am not very experienced with my torts and am constantly stressing myself out worrying if I'm doing the right thing or if they're happy.. Again, thank you all so much!
PS : I do have a tortoise experienced vet that I can take them in to if you all think that is what I should do! I just didn't know if it was a real problem, or if it was me freaking out or misunderstanding.
This is my first thread other than my Introduction one, so sorry if I didn't post this in the right place or if I am re stating some things. I'm trying to get used to the forum since I'm new and also trying to read so much so quickly so I can start making the changes that are needed to better my torts lives'. I would just like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you that commented back to me on my Introduction post. You would not believe how much I appreciate all of you taking your time to help me out. I have already started adjusting and changing some of the things you all pointed out that needed changing. I've also started reading a LOT of the posts on here about Sulcatas & Russians and have learned a ton in just a few short days, and I have a ton more to read which I might be able to answer all of my answers just be sorting through the posts and reading them, but it reassures me SO much to actually talk to people who have experience with the same tortoises I own. The only thing is.. the more I read, the more questions I have along with a few concerns so I thought I'd make this post since you were all more than helpful on the last one. I'll post our story below and hopefully you all will know what I should do! Thank you in advance from Marley, Little Foot, and myself!
Here we go:
We can start with Marley since he was the first tortoise to ever come into my life. Marley is my Russian tortoise and he was previously owned by this girl I went to high school with as I believe he was a birthday or christmas gift to her. Well, this girl was getting ready to graduate and planned on going away to a university, but could not take her tortoise. I wasn't that close of friends with this girl so when she had contacted me about taking in her tortoise, I had only said yes due to the fact that I didn't know much about tortoises at all, but I knew enough about them to know you cannot just set them free into the wild as this girl was planning on doing if she could not rehome her tortoise. So, the next day she showed up at my house with a terrarium with little Marley inside. He was so cramped in there that he could barely walk a few steps without running into something, so that was the first order of business I set out to change. She also had him on " Repti Bark " as substrate which I'm still not sure weather or not that is suitable. I've heard some say yes and others say no, but regardless it was changed because I wanted to be 100% sure that he was on something safe and comfortable for him. She was feeding him out of a normal ceramic bowl, and in the bowl she had fresh green beans that looked to be frozen along with the pellets they sell in the pet store that are different colors such as red, green, and I think yellow. I took the pellets out because I had read they were bad for them and I wasn't sure about the green beans, but I replaced it with some Romaine lettuce even though I know that also should not be fed daily it was all I had at the time being. The only thing she had to say about the care of the tortoise was that I could feed him " any vegetable or fruit " and that I didn't keep the UV light on at night, but to keep the heat on 24/7 which is what I had done until I joined this forum and read that Russians do not need heat on during the night. Marley now lives in a small/medium sized bookcase laid on its back which is still not enough room for him, I know but he is going to be moved onto a tortoise table as soon as we get it completely built. The girl had given me a long, tube like bulb for the UV which I think is whats best from what I've read so I've stuck with it but I think it needs replaced soon. The heat bulb she gave me doesn't put off any light at all, it just gets hot. I do not know the type of heat bulb it is as it didn't come in the box obviously and she had no clue, so I probably need to change that as well but wasn't sure. I feed Marley a variety of things such as spring mix, endive, collard, turnip, & mustard greens, romaine, kale, chopped up carrots. I am also going to grow my own weeds and plants from the safe plants I've found on here for both of my tortoises, but he hasn't had any access to that yet though. I try to get him to eat the Grassland Tortoise Food but he has absolutely no interest in that as well as orchard grass or timothy hay.. He will not eat them no matter what although I've read that russians don't mainly eat hays and grasses which may be why. I always thought I was encouraging him to eat right.. whoops. I soak Marley at least 2 times per week, if not 3. He's went outside for sunshine and fresh grass before and loves exploring my yard ( I'm always outside with him ) . I do supplement his food with calcium a few times a week and also top his veggies with " Herbal Hay " from Tortoise Supply. I use coco coir as his substrate now.. I don't spray his substrate or anything so it is dry, please correct me if thats wrong. He has a rather big log hide in his enclosure that he sleeps in.. and thats pretty much the care of my Russian tort. If I'm missing something, tell me or ask and I will explain. I have so many things running through my head as I type this that I'm probably going to miss something somewhere... Silly me.
Next up is my Sulcata tortoise : Little Foot ( Sully )
Little Foot is a Sulcata hatchling. I think he is still considered a hatchling as he can fit in the palm of my hand and I've only had him for just a month. My dad bought him from a Reptile Show for me since he knew how much I dearly love Marley even though they are different types of tortoise. The man selling him at the Reptile Show was VERY unhelpful and personally I don't think we should have bought him from that man just because of how poorly his attitude was like he didn't care about anything other than getting done with the show and leaving, but I just couldn't leave without little Sully. ( Sully is his nickname by the way, given by my dad due to him being a Sulcata tortoise and my dad says if he turns out to be SHE, we can just call her Sullena. Hahaha )
Anyways, we brought little Sully home and it was a very unplanned new arrival so the only thing we had to house him in was a normal glass tank and even though its a pretty large tank, I know that is not good for them and we are currently working on changing his housing so we're working on it, I promise! Since he is little, the tank does give him a lot of room to roam around, also big enough to allow a hot/warm & cooler side which I have thermostas and humidity gauges on both sides. I keep him on the same substrate as Marley which is coco coir and I now know to keep his substrate damp so I've recently started keeping it damp and spraying it daily rather than just several times a week. He has a shallow water dish available to him in his enclosure and also has log hide with some fake moss stuffed in the very back thats kept damp to make the hide humid. I soak him once daily for 20 minutes now, and his enclosure never gets below 80 degrees. I feed him mustard and collard greens, endive, romaine lettuce, kale, dandelion, and I try to encourage him to eat orchard grass and I top his veggies with Herbal Hay. I am growing him weeds/plants as well but haven't got to feed him them yet. I supplement him with calcium on his veggies a few times a week and have provided him with a cuttlebone. I don't know the brands of the heat/uv bulbs that I have for him either, but I do know my UV one is a coil type bulb and I've read those are bad so I will switch that to the long tube UV bulb ASAP. The only concerns I have for my Sulcata is that I don't think he is eating as much as he should.. Some days he goes with only taking a few bites of just one thing and that worries me to death. He is active.. and is always out of his shell, will even let me pet him on his head gently. I've seen him dip his head into the water and drink while soaking him too. I've offered him all types of the safe veggies and he seemed to like his Herbal Hay a lot, but I just feel like he isn't taking in enough food. Also, I read about the urine an such... I think its call urcates? I could be wrong but you all will know what I mean, the white stuff that comes out with pee/poop.. His does look gritty like itty bitty gravel almost or like how salt looks.. it doesn't look creamy an I was actually able to get a picture so I will post that in a bit via my phone since its not on my computer and thats why I am typing this on.
I know that was long, and for all of those who took the time to read it all the way through - thank you SO SO SO much. I am just a worried tortoise owner. I am used to my rabbits, ferrets, chinchillas, etc.. and even though they hide stress/illness pretty well they still give off some signs usually an I have more experience with them and their body language.. I am not very experienced with my torts and am constantly stressing myself out worrying if I'm doing the right thing or if they're happy.. Again, thank you all so much!
PS : I do have a tortoise experienced vet that I can take them in to if you all think that is what I should do! I just didn't know if it was a real problem, or if it was me freaking out or misunderstanding.