A new Russian tortoise keeper

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I have an adult male Russian tortoise named Edward. I adopted him from an shelter after his previous owner had passed away. The shelter wasn’t specialized in reptiles and they hadn’t been able to find him a new home or a foster home for the past two years. He was basically housed in improper housing that was meant to be temporary for those two years.

I know very little about his past. But as far as I know he has never been brumated or soaked. Because of our climate he has had to rely on a grocery store diet from late October to May. I have added some fiber with soaked hay pellets every time I feed him and added some calcium few times a week. I have striven for variety with his diat and plan on feeding him weeds as spring comes around. I am also planning on an outdoor enclousure for him. (I will lessen the amount of calcium from now on after hearing that adult males don’t need that much.) As far as I know he didn’t get any supplements or UVB in his previous home.

Before he came to the shelter he was housed in a pair with a female. The female he was housed with unfortunately managed to escape an outdoor enclosure at the shelter and was never found. After that his enclosure at the shelter was the one the two tortoises came in and was way too small for him. His substrate depth was also way too shallow.

He is used to roaming the room outside his enclosure and getting let back in. This has become a habit for him and he has some behaviors linked to it (how he begs to be let out and then later back to his enclosure). At first I thought that there could be a way to make this safe for him, but after reading a few threads I am not sure anymore.

All I know about his age that he is sexually mature, so at least over 15 years old. I don't have a vet near me with the expertise to age tortoises, and I believe it is difficult. I don’t know whether he is wild caught or bred in captivity, he came to me paperless. There is a high chance that he is wild caught considering the tortoise market in my country in the last decades, depending of course on his age.

When he came to me he measured a bit over 12 cm in carapace length and 490 g in weight (that is almost 5 inches and 17,3 ounces). He seemed quite healthy apart from too long nails and some of his nails were missing. He has three nails on one of his hind legs and two on the other, they look like they will never grow back. Knowing his previous care, there are a plethora of reasons they could’ve fallen or ripped of. His eyes were clear, feces firm and there was no shell rot or anything. He is passing feces, urine and urates normally.

I have only had him for two months, after planning on getting a Russian for the last couple of years and wanting a tortoise for about ten years. I joined the forum to get more information tortoise diet, since the amount of information on the internet can be overwhelming. Found the forum useful doing my research and now I have an account!

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello and welcome!
We desperately need some Edward's photos!

 

[_The_Beast_]

Welcome!!! Now show us the goods 😎 lol

 

[Sarah2020]

Hi welcome. Thanks for taking in the tortoise. It needs to have the correct set up for health, strong bones, hydration and smooth shell growth. Please read this care sheet and ask questions....

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Enjoy your new shelled warrior 🐢

 

[SinLA]

Welcome. Edward is pretty much the exact same size and weight as my adult Russian male as well. They are better kept solo. Can you provide photos of his enclosure? The links provided above are good ones to start with

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I took him out to take some photos of him for you.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Here is some photos of his shell.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome. Edward is pretty much the exact same size and weight as my adult Russian male as well. They are better kept solo. Can you provide photos of his enclosure? The links provided above are good ones to start with

Yes, I am keeping him solo. He was kept with a female in his previous home. I know pairs are never a good idea!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Hi welcome. Thanks for taking in the tortoise. It needs to have the correct set up for health, strong bones, hydration and smooth shell growth. Please read this care sheet and ask questions....

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Enjoy your new shelled warrior 🐢

I have read the care sheet and found it really helpful before getting him!

 

[Sarah2020]

Nice tort. Introduce a terracotta plant based dish big enough for it to walk in and sit on and serve fresh leaves on it. This will help keep beak trimmed. As it eats the beak may scrape the base like a nail file. There is a tiny beak over hang as o thus will help overtime also add in Low rocks coaster size (not pebbles or gravel) this helps keep Claws trim.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Nice tort. Introduce a terracotta plant based dish big enough for it to walk in and sit on and serve fresh leaves on it. This will help keep beak trimmed. As it eats the beak may scrape the base like a nail file. There is a tiny beak over hang as o thus will help overtime also add in Low rocks coaster size (not pebbles or gravel) this helps keep Claws trim.

Yes, I also noticed the over hang. I am monitoring him whether his beak improves now that he has better care or whether I should get it trimmed by a vet. I feed him on a rock slate and from time to time I offer him foods that are supposed to keep his beak in check (I have seen carrots and any hardy leaves he needs to rip suggested for beak upkeep). But as I said his claws were way too long when he came to me and even curling on his back feet so I had to use some nail clippers meant for puppies to clip them. Hope I never have to do it with his new living conditions!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome. Edward is pretty much the exact same size and weight as my adult Russian male as well. They are better kept solo. Can you provide photos of his enclosure? The links provided above are good ones to start with

Here is a pic of his current enclosure!

His enclosure is 80 cm x 120 cm x 38 cm (that is 2,6 feet x 3,9 feet x 1,2 feet). I know that it is a bit too small, but his getting a bigger one in may, about double the size. Many Finnish care guides hail the minimum of one square meter per tortoise, but I believe the bigger the better, so I am upgrading him soon.

The substrate is a mix of non clumping play sand and cocoa fiber (2 parts sand, one part cocoa fiber). I know that some people are against of using sand of any kind but I decided to follow the advice of many Finnish care guides and the Garden State Tortoise on YouTube.

He has three hides, one on the hot side, a humid hide (the box with a ramp) and under the ramp on the cooler side. The humid hide is also a place for him to make a deeper burrow, since substrate is a bit damp in there. I DIY:ed the humid hide from a plastic storage container. He has some dry timothy grass under the ramp to feel secure. I make sure that the hay is dry and replace it once a week, he usually drags the hay all over his enclosure. The slate at the end of his ramp is some dry birch bark to add some texture for him to walk on. His hide on the hot side is actually a terracotta planter meant to be attached on the wall.

His water dish is the Exo terra corner water dish in XL size. It is really heavy and it has a good grip on the top since it is clay. It has steps to get in and out and when I keep the water level shallow, he can easily and safely use it. This water dish is something I already owned, otherwise I would’ve used a terra cotta plant saucer.

He has a 150W basking light (Exo terra intense basking spot). I have a UVB light meant for plants (10 watts, 800 Lm, 400 K). Both his basking light and UVB are on a timer, 12 hours on, 12 hours off. These are his temperatures:
Ambient temperature: 25 c (77 F)
Night temperature: 21 c (69,8 F)
Basking temperature: 38 c (100 F)

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi and welcome!

 

[Tom]

Here is a pic of his current enclosure!

His enclosure is 80 cm x 120 cm x 38 cm (that is 2,6 feet x 3,9 feet x 1,2 feet). I know that it is a bit too small, but his getting a bigger one in may, about double the size. Many Finnish care guides hail the minimum of one square meter per tortoise, but I believe the bigger the better, so I am upgrading him soon.

The substrate is a mix of non clumping play sand and cocoa fiber (2 parts sand, one part cocoa fiber). I know that some people are against of using sand of any kind but I decided to follow the advice of many Finnish care guides and the Garden State Tortoise on YouTube.

He has three hides, one on the hot side, a humid hide (the box with a ramp) and under the ramp on the cooler side. The humid hide is also a place for him to make a deeper burrow, since substrate is a bit damp in there. I DIY:ed the humid hide from a plastic storage container. He has some dry timothy grass under the ramp to feel secure. I make sure that the hay is dry and replace it once a week, he usually drags the hay all over his enclosure. The slate at the end of his ramp is some dry birch bark to add some texture for him to walk on. His hide on the hot side is actually a terracotta planter meant to be attached on the wall.

His water dish is the Exo terra corner water dish in XL size. It is really heavy and it has a good grip on the top since it is clay. It has steps to get in and out and when I keep the water level shallow, he can easily and safely use it. This water dish is something I already owned, otherwise I would’ve used a terra cotta plant saucer.

He has a 150W basking light (Exo terra intense basking spot). I have a UVB light meant for plants (10 watts, 800 Lm, 400 K). Both his basking light and UVB are on a timer, 12 hours on, 12 hours off. These are his temperatures:
Ambient temperature: 25 c (77 F)
Night temperature: 21 c (69,8 F)
Basking temperature: 38 c (100 F)

View attachment 369092

The sand is a huge mistake and is likely to result in the death of your tortoise. It is also not suitable because it is too dry and dusty. Tortoises housed indoors need a damp substrate. The damp substrate also makes the hay a no go.

That water bowl isn't suitable for tortoises. I have those too and use them with lizards and snakes. Get the terra cotta saucers and sink them into the substrate for food and water, and get extras so that when you inevitably break one, you have the replacement on hand already.

Spot bulb will cause pyramiding and concentrate too much heat in too small of an area, and they tend to have "hot spots". Get rid of that and replace it with a flood bulb. Arcadia sells several wattages of flood bulbs.

Plant lights are not suitable for tortoises. Get an HO tube made for reptiles. I prefer the Arcadia 12% ProT5 kits, but the ZooMed HO tubes are suitable too. I use a Solarmeter 6.5 to set their height correctly. The UV bulb should only be on for a few hours mid day. 12 hours is way too much and totally unnatural. Use LEDs to keep it bright and "sunny" when the UV tube is off in the morning and afternoon/evening.

Also, the female at the shelter is likely buried in the ground if it was an outdoor enclosure. They can be very hard to find, and she was liking trying desperately to get away from the male.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I will look into fixing the problems with the enclosure as soon as possible, but I have a question, could I use a bulb like Repti Planet Repti UVB 10.0 desert instead of a tube style lamp. It would be easier to get it next to the heat lamp with my set up and the room I keep my tortoise in. Plus tube style lamps (fluorescent tubes, strip lights etc. I'm not sure what the word is in English) are going to be banned in my country soon because of environmental concerns and EU legislation. So a bulb style would be a longer term solution for me.

Getting a new heat lamp and UVB might take a few weeks, but the other stuff I can get soon!

 

[Tom]

I will look into fixing the problems with the enclosure as soon as possible, but I have a question, could I use a bulb like Repti Planet Repti UVB 10.0 desert instead of a tube style lamp. It would be easier to get it next to the heat lamp with my set up and the room I keep my tortoise in. Plus tube style lamps (fluorescent tubes, strip lights etc. I'm not sure what the word is in English) are going to be banned in my country soon because of environmental concerns and EU legislation. So a bulb style would be a longer term solution for me.

Getting a new heat lamp and UVB might take a few weeks, but the other stuff I can get soon!

I don't know the Repti Planet brand. We don't have that one here. If it is a cfl type bulb, those are neither suitable nor effective as UV sources. Some of them burn reptile eyes. I would not use those.

The LEDs seemed good at first, but it appears that the spectrum they emit might be a little too narrow. More research on these is needed, and hopefully the makers will improve them in time.

For now, the HO tubes are by far the superior method for providing indoor UV. Just like the incandescent bulbs, reptile specialty bulbs will likely be exempt from all the new lighting legislation happening around the globe. Incandescent floods were banned here in my state a few years ago, but we can still get them and they can still sell them for reptiles.