Adopted Russian Never Handled & Food Question

[Sarah C.]

Hey Guys,

First off I will say "Thank GOD For This Site lol " I'm glad to be with fellow tortoise owners, lovers, etc. Anyway down to what I need some help with!

My husband and I haven't had tortoises very long, we first bought my male (Whom I thought was a girl) I named Zoe boy or not I kept the name lol. I bought him at Petco and was a sweet heart and still is. He loves his head and necked scratched or petted he is the best boy I could have ever hoped for. He is a Herman tortoise not sure of his age but I think he is fully grown. I will have to put a picture up on here which will do when I get home. I can put him in my hand and he spills over it by a lot. Everything is great with him and loves to pee and poop on me lol

Now my husband adopted a Russian for me for a Christmas/Birthday Present since my birthday is next week. We were told she was a he but ended up being a girl. My husband held her to keep her warm the whole ride home and didn't bite. She did hiss a little bit but that was it and it was only a few seconds. She didn't hurt my husband in any way, but what I am concerned about is I think she was neglected. When I say that it's because she is scared when we got her she spent most of her time hidden. (Which is understandable because we are different owners, in a different home and she doesn't know us and she was super stressed I'm sure). I don't think he spent any time with her at all.

It's the way she acts we have been spending a lot of time with her and Zoe showing that we mean no harm, we have got her to eat in our hand but when we touch her head (Which we only do maybe twice a day in case it upsets her) and is always on the run. Unfortunately we thought the tank he came with was bigger and we put Zoe in with her because his tank was way to small and the tank the girl came with was big. It's not big enough and plan on getting the 40 gallon exo terra tank (Will that be big enough for the two?)

Now we didn't do this right away, I put both Zoe and big girl on natural ground which was our bed with no other animals around. They didn't seem to give a crap about each other and just wanted to roam which they do I know, and we put them back in. I put Zoe's bowl in and I put the bowl the big girl was eating, a dish on each side. We have watched them carefully and we are constantly letting them or holding them to show affection. Right now they eat together and there has been no hissing, no fighting no biting at all I always make sure to pay attention. Now my male tried to mount her and she just moved out of his reach. It happens sometimes but not a lot, its funny Zo stops mounting her when we put food in which seems weird to me.

Now my question is do we need to do anything special because she was neglected and frankly I don't think she ever got enough to eat she eats a lot. And that's my other question, how much do you feed them? I don't want to kill them by over feeding. But they always seem hungry and actually its the big Russian that always seem hungry. If you can give me ideas id be grateful!

P.S I did research a lot on tortoises before adopting any of them, sadly they all say different things and everyone has opinions. I just want some ideas about the best thing for her because I want her to feel safe and loved and to make sure that they are both well fed. I always research new animals before I even think about adopting, just so I know what I am getting into. Just so everyone knows that I am super careful

Thanks guys

 

[jsheffield]

Welcome to TFO!

This is a great place to continue learning about tortoises.

Check out the species-specific forums here on Russians and Hermanns for lots of great information from experienced keepers.

Now for the Bad News
The first thing you're probably going to have to do is get bigger AND separate enclosures for your tortoises... especially with different species and just one female to the male, you'll end up with aggression and injuries before long.

Good News
I feed all of my tortoises (one of which is a Russian) slightly more than they will eat... aim for a bit of leftover food the next day. I would also recommend soaking both tortoises weekly, and maybe the rescued one more often for a while to get them back into shape if they've been neglected.

There are lots of conflicting voices about tortoise husbandry on the web, especially on FB, and it drove me crazy at first... until I found TFO. I use FB for pics and fun-stuff, and TFO for finding information about caring for my tortoises and talking with experienced keepers that I trust and know.

Good luck and keep asking questions!

Jamie

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yep.
Russian tortoises are probably the scrappiest tortoises pound for pound.
They don't like tankmates. (No tortoise does) And they will and DO bite chunks off of other tortoises. Occasionally they kill a roommate.
Please just trust us and don't attempt to keep them together. Ever. Different species aside. This simply won't end well.
Welcome to the forum.
Settle in and start reading.
A tortoise pooping on you means a tortoise uncomfortable being held. Not unusual. Tortoises sometimes like a scratch. Some don't. But none like to be lifted off of the ground.
This will be the only source of tortoise information that you'll ever need!

 

[RosemaryDW]

Welcome!

Tortoises get used to you but don’t give a fig about how much attention you are giving them or another tortoise. They aren’t like dogs or humans. They might like a scratch, like scratching an itch; it doesn’t mean they care how or who scratches them.

As noted above, you need to separate them ASAP.

Russians are out of summer and winter hibernation for very short periods in the wild. They have to eat enough to last through the year in just a few months, which means they travel a lot to find enough food: Russians need a ton of room. They also have to mate and have babies in this short period of time so they are very aggressive in finding mates. Any other tortoise is a perceived threat to food and mating. This is true for all tortoises but especially true for Russians.

They will eat more than other types of tortoises, again due to the short period of time to fatten up. That’s probably why she eats more than the other.

It is completely true online information is all over the place and it can make you nuts trying to figure out what’s the “right” thing to do. The information you will find here on Russians is supported by many long-term owners, including owners of multiple tortoises and breeders. Even we don’t always agree ourselves on the smaller things but we will absolutely get you started in a solid way.

Our Russian care sheet is here: https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/. Unfortunately the pictures aren’t linking right now but the text is very useful.