The_Four_Toed_Edward
Well-Known Member
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!
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!