russian tortoise

I’d like to create a permanent outdoor enclosure for my RT. He’s about 3-4 years old. I live in Vallejo, California (located near the Bay Area) and have considered making him a huge outdoor enclosure to spend in year-round. I know people say SoCal would be fine year-round for a tortoise, but...

One of my female Russian tortoises laid eggs today. Unfortunately, she broke one of them, but the yolk was still intact in the dirt. I very carefully spooned it up and brought it inside, since I remember seeing a thread here about an external incubation in saran wrap. (Here...

With warm weather coming, I wanted to share what I do about shade. You need sone DEEP shade, medium deep shade, and speckled shade. Ground temps can rise to 150°F here in the summer, which obviously isn't safe! I use 80% shade cloth (bought online - compare prices), one layer up high at a...

I am currently planning on building my own enclosure once I free up some more space but any tips to make Kirby’s current enclosure better would be awesome! He’s a Russian tortoise and around 6-7 months. This is a top view, the left side is a large shaded hide and the right side is his roaming...

Pebble is getting so big. She is the granddaughter of my first tortoise. She turns 1 in June and is just shy of 200g. Her coloring is really interesting, she was a very 'plain' baby with no speckling when she hatched, but is turning out to be quite the beauty! She lives outside now full...

Since I took this photo to show one of our members how I do locking lids, I figure I'd post this so others can also see. :) Each of the habitats is 10ft x 10ft (I have a total of 4 for RTs, plus one for my junior leopards, and the area around them is inhabited by an adult leopard tortoise)...

One of my young CB Russian tortoise females who reached breeding weight last year laid a clutch of 8 itty bitty eggs this afternoon. I was so surprised! I think she was, too. The final 2 eggs were barely covered, she must have run out of space. The smallest egg is only 10g. Six of them are...

Hello! I am a new Russian Tortoise owner and need help! My tortoise was shipped from Florida. I had done research for a year and got everything set up, both indoor (for sleeping quarter at night) and outdoor habitat in the garden as another cute decoration. So the tortoise arrived, and it...

RT breeding season is off to a good start. Topaz laid these 5 eggs yesterday afternoon. I dug them up at dusk, didn't expect that many in one clutch! Topaz is the daughter of my first tortoise and Jasper, the male, is also CB. These babies will be CB2. I'm not selling any hatchlings, only...

Hello all. I’ve read that you should feed your tortoise once a day about the size of a shell. I’ve got a 15 year old female who has lived outdoors before I got her (and still lives outdoors currently). She does two kinds of pacing: one is bored and the other is demanding a refill of food. When...

For those who don’t know, I was interested in having a baby sulcata tortoise. However after a bit more research I found out that Russian tortoises will better suit me carewise. But I remember reading through Reddit and finding some people whose Russian tortoises just ate, slept and were overall...

Today's lunch is a fine meal.... A bed of Romaine Lettuce, served with a fresh helping of diced Celery, Snow Pea's, fresh Tomato, and a sprig of Cilantro.

I bought a Russian tortoise from pet smart. I talked to the managers at the store and they told me that their Russian tortoises we all CB and younger then a couple years. So I got the tortoise and I have been planning on getting a Tortoise for some time. But now that I have the Tito the tortoise...

I have a russian tortoise. I am not satisfied with the cypress mulch because it doesn't hold enough moisture. I wanted to get her coco coir but I think it holds too much. Would it be a good idea if I mixed the two of them? I was thinking the variety in texture might be more realistic to a...

I'm new to owning a tortoise. I did as much research as I could before getting her so I knew she would burrow. I provided extra substrate for her and she made sure to take advantage of it. She made a burrow for herself about 12 hours ago ( before night/bed time) and hasn't come out since. When...

Hydration squiggles! Do you see those little light colored squiggles? This is what a healthy, well hydrated baby's shell should look like. How do you grow a baby with a beautiful shell? - Daily soaking - Misting shell every 2-3 hours with warm water - Good weeds for food - 30 mins of natural...

Gertie is between 8-10 years old. She is growing like a weed and seems to be eating more and more. Getting a bit of an attitude. She has started waking up in the morning and then sitting in her food dish not very patiently waiting on me to feed her. She is cracking me up. Her diet consists of...

I'm new to owning tortoises and I need a bit of help. My around 6-month-old Russian tortoise won't eat and spends its entire day digging in the corner. Is this normal or should I be concerned?? I have a feeling this has something to do with my enclosure being small, I'm working on trying to get...

My russian tortoise is a 2 year old (ish) male. He's usually very active in the mornings and goes out in search of food, but for the past week, maybe week and a half, I have had to encourage him to come out of his burrow to eat something, and then once he's eaten he goes right back to his burrow...

Hi everyone, I took Harvey to the vets and the vet said that he had most likely slowed down his eating cuz he was in a kind of Summer hibernation (name of this please?) due to hot weather but it has since cooled down and he is still extremely lethargic and not eating much. He will eat his...