Recent content by SpanishPeanut

It’s totally a thing. My guy has quite the personality. If you don’t feed him on time, he will stare you down until you do. After a soak he will go into his hide pretty quickly. After about a minute or two he will come out and throw a tantrum that ends with his butt in the air under her basking...

Boris has been with us a week, and what a difference! His face is a bit darker than the top of his head. Is getting this dark normal? He had no UV before, dune sand substrate (in the left photo), limited water, and on a romaine only diet. Is his current color more to what to expect with a Russian?

Every morning, I check his enclosure, and have yet to find any excrement in there. He poops like crazy when I have soaked him, but nothing in the habitat. Same with urates. He eats just fine, and has no issues. I'm just curious if this is a common issue? He's only been with me a week now.

Russians are very forgiving, and the sooner she is outside in a bigger enclosure, the better. I can't believe Pet Smart said a 10 gallon tank would be sufficient. That poor girl. She will love the space and sun once she gets used to it. Soak her for sure. I'm sure they had good intentions, but...

There is a pinned thread with pictures on how to tell the sex of a Russian. This picture doesn't really give the right angle since the tail is hidden. Also, a 10 gallon enclosure is way too small for any sized tortoise. 4x8 is ideal, if not bigger.

Temp gun is on the list to get asap. I do have a thermometer with a sensor that goes anywhere in the tank to get a read. He has started to burrow at night in his hide, so the night bulb is retired until winter (It gets cold here and the house is usually in the mid 60s during those months). As...

I think Boris is dehydrated, too. His owner was afraid of him drowning, so he didn't put water in with Boris at all. The owner told me that water came from his diet, but I'm sure that's not nearly enough. How long do you soak Blue?

This has been so helpful to read. Boris has very pale yellow skin. He was originally a Pet Smart purchase, and definitely not cstef for very well in his time with the original owner this is really helpful to see how much he needs right now.

Boris is a 3ish year old RT that just moved in a couple days ago. The previous owner said he had everything except a UV bulb. He wound up needing much, much more than that. His tank was filthy no substrate, but 2 inches of dune sand, heat bulb was a dollar store floodlight, had a primarily...