Age question

[Caboose988]

Well now my wife and I have a Russian Tortoise and we have researched a lot to try and provide excellent husbandry. We have had him for 3 days, I plan on keeping him outside when it gets warmer so he is in a temporary container but still getting outside time everyday. He likes to stay in his hide but after I get him out and bath him he seems more active. I keep the basking 90-100 and the cool side 68-72. Maybe he is just getting used to his new environment still. I mist every day to keep humidity up. I get mixed weeds from outside, that I read were safe from the tortoise table, and I sprinkle a little calcium on it with softened mazuri tortoise diet. From what I read he may be male becuase of the tail tucking but I know it's hard to tell sometimes. I was curious if someone could give me and estimation on how old he is Also does he look CB? He is 4 inches from front of shell to back.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Looks like you joined 5 years ago, but this is your first post. Where in the world are you?

The shell looks like it is in pretty good shape, but I would guess that it's not CB. If its been living outside somewhere for a few years in a harsh climate, I could be wrong about that.

Calcium should only be offered a couple of times per week, and it is less necessary for a fully grown individual like yours. Calcium interferes with the absorption of other important nutrients and trace elements. Growing babies need calcium supplementation, but not too much. Adult males really don't ned it at all with a decent diet. Egg laying females can benefit from some calcium supplementation.

I prefer to only offer Mazuri once or twice a week. It's a good supplemental food, but I wouldn't make it a staple. Also, don't add calcium and Mazuri at the same time. Mazuri is balanced nutrition, and the calcium will upset that balance. Use calcium on days that you are using grocery store greens.

Much more helpful info here:

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

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

 

[Caboose988]

The shell looks like it is in pretty good shape, but I would guess that it's not CB. If its been living outside somewhere for a few years in a harsh climate, I could be wrong about that.

Calcium should only be offered a couple of times per week, and it is less necessary for a fully grown individual like yours. Calcium interferes with the absorption of other important nutrients and trace elements. Growing babies need calcium supplementation, but not too much. Adult males really don't ned it at all with a decent diet. Egg laying females can benefit from some calcium supplementation.

I prefer to only offer Mazuri once or twice a week. It's a good supplemental food, but I wouldn't make it a staple. Also, don't add calcium and Mazuri at the same time. Mazuri is balanced nutrition, and the calcium will upset that balance. Use calcium on days that you are using grocery store greens.

Much more helpful info here:

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

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

I forgot I joined awhile back, becuase I was thinking of getting a tortoise at that time but it didn't work out. Thank you for the info I'll do more research. So I guess he might be like 15 years old?

 

[Tom]

I forgot I joined awhile back, becuase I was thinking of getting a tortoise at that time but it didn't work out. Thank you for the info I'll do more research. So I guess he might be like 15 years old?

Its possible. The only way to know the age is to know the hatch date.

 

[Josh]

IME in California these are very common in the pet trade. They're almost all wild caught and shipped here. There are captive bred Russians but they're usually very obviously young (<5 yrs) and I'd estimate they cost probably 1.5x-2x as much as what you commonly see in pet stores. The person you bought the tort from would know more but perhaps not much more than the info in this thread.

The fun part is you get to make up your own origin story for your pet !

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi and welcome!

Your new Russian tortoise is wild caught and probably about 10 or 12 years old.