Any help & advice would be greatly appreciated ! (new Russian)

[Evarosesel]

Hi Everyone,

I’m new to this group, I just bought my new Russian tortoise yesterday from his/her previous owner, he/she is around 1yr 6-8months old. I live in the U.K. which is currently around 18°C/34°F indoors so keeping the little one warm at night has been my main concern, I haven’t slept much worrying about it, Is there anything you could recommend? I saw mentioned the use of CHE bulbs on a night which I will look into getting today. I have a long uvb light & a basking light with two thermometers either side to make sure he has a gradient of basking, warm to cool.

With regards to feeding, everywhere mentions different things feeding 5 days and fasting 2? I’m not sure if this is correct or to feed every day, I was looking to house plants in the enclosure to add some shade & decoration to it, do I feed as well as these plants or does that depend on how much of the plants are eaten? I am thinking of buying a cuttlefish bone today, should I get calcium carbonate powder as well?

I have wanted a tortoise for 15 years now, and finally decide it was the right time to do so, I thought I knew lots about how to give them a healthy life but it turns out all my research has been conflicting. I have read the beginners guide on here which has really helped, these are just a few things I was still questioning. Any help will be greatly appreciated by me and the little one.

Thank you.

 

[Karen(pebbles)]

Hi and welcome to the forum, if you post some pics of your set up one of the experts will be able to advise you on the correct husbandry.

 

[wellington]

I see you found some info outside of this forum that is wrong. Feed your tortoise every day. Because Russians usually brumate/hibernate during part of the cold winter months and yours didn't then you need to keep him warmer at night then usual. No lower then 70F day temps range from 75-80F with a basking of 95-100F.
Even with the plants you want to feed him every day unless it was a fairly big plant that he ate almost gone.

 

[Tom]

Hi Everyone,

I’m new to this group, I just bought my new Russian tortoise yesterday from his/her previous owner, he/she is around 1yr 6-8months old. I live in the U.K. which is currently around 18°C/34°F indoors so keeping the little one warm at night has been my main concern, I haven’t slept much worrying about it, Is there anything you could recommend? I saw mentioned the use of CHE bulbs on a night which I will look into getting today. I have a long uvb light & a basking light with two thermometers either side to make sure he has a gradient of basking, warm to cool.

With regards to feeding, everywhere mentions different things feeding 5 days and fasting 2? I’m not sure if this is correct or to feed every day, I was looking to house plants in the enclosure to add some shade & decoration to it, do I feed as well as these plants or does that depend on how much of the plants are eaten? I am thinking of buying a cuttlefish bone today, should I get calcium carbonate powder as well?

I have wanted a tortoise for 15 years now, and finally decide it was the right time to do so, I thought I knew lots about how to give them a healthy life but it turns out all my research has been conflicting. I have read the beginners guide on here which has really helped, these are just a few things I was still questioning. Any help will be greatly appreciated by me and the little one.

Thank you.

Hello and welcome. If you want a healthy tortoise and you want to maintain your sanity, disregard whatever info you found previously, and start right here. There is a heating and lighting breakdown and a care sheet for temperate species at the bottom:

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

 

[Lyn W]

Hi Everyone,

I’m new to this group, I just bought my new Russian tortoise yesterday from his/her previous owner, he/she is around 1yr 6-8months old. I live in the U.K. which is currently around 18°C/34°F indoors so keeping the little one warm at night has been my main concern, I haven’t slept much worrying about it, Is there anything you could recommend? I saw mentioned the use of CHE bulbs on a night which I will look into getting today. I have a long uvb light & a basking light with two thermometers either side to make sure he has a gradient of basking, warm to cool.

With regards to feeding, everywhere mentions different things feeding 5 days and fasting 2? I’m not sure if this is correct or to feed every day, I was looking to house plants in the enclosure to add some shade & decoration to it, do I feed as well as these plants or does that depend on how much of the plants are eaten? I am thinking of buying a cuttlefish bone today, should I get calcium carbonate powder as well?

I have wanted a tortoise for 15 years now, and finally decide it was the right time to do so, I thought I knew lots about how to give them a healthy life but it turns out all my research has been conflicting. I have read the beginners guide on here which has really helped, these are just a few things I was still questioning. Any help will be greatly appreciated by me and the little one.

Thank you.

Hi and welcome,
Toms thread will help you get everything right - ignore any of the old information you have read and make this your main source of up to date advice.
You'll find www.thetortoisetable.org.uk useful for finding tort safe foods, but remember that just because they are safe they aren't always good to feed regularly. No fruit as tort system can't handle the sugars.
Until the weeds come back, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisions and Asda sell good bags of mixed CRISPY leaf salads, but you can add things like pak choi leaves, kale, spring greens etc for variety; lambs lettuce is very good. Florette Classic crispy salad is a very good mix but expensive but the above shops sell similar mixes you can add to. The thread will tell you more about Russians diet.

You can put a cuttlefish bone in his enclosure but the chances are your tort will ignore it most of the time until he fancies a nibble, so calcium powder is also good to have but only a tiny pinch a couple of times a week is needed on his food.

CHEs are good for night heat as they don't give any light - torts need darkness to sleep - but they should be run through a thermostat to keep temps even so your tort doesn't overheat.

If you post some pics of his enclosure you'll get good feedback and advice on making it as safe as possible.

 

[Maddoggy]

Welcome,stick with Tortoise Forum information.Try to follow Toms care sheets the best you possibly can and you will have a happy and healthy experience with you new tort.

 

[Evarosesel]

This is the enclosure, I opted for a night lamp rather than an CHE, I bought a tortoise block (for calcium) that seems to be enjoyed, I’m feeding lambs lettuce & kale, hopefully with the odd dandelion where I can find one, she has some slate under her basking light. And her UVB light is under he top layer, she seems to be enjoying it under that corner.

 

[Tom]

View attachment 353228
This is the enclosure, I opted for a night lamp rather than an CHE, I bought a tortoise block (for calcium) that seems to be enjoyed, I’m feeding lambs lettuce & kale, hopefully with the odd dandelion where I can find one, she has some slate under her basking light. And her UVB light is under he top layer, she seems to be enjoying it under that corner.

You've got a few issues to address there:
1. The substrate is much too dry and dusty. This can irritate their eyes, nasal passages and lungs. It needs to be damp. And its best if you hand pack it down so its not so fluffy.
2. Related to number one: Growing babies need humidity. There is no way to keep up the heat an humidity needed for a baby in an open topped enclosure. You need a closed chamber. Aka: vivarium.
3. This enclosure is very small. I don't know the size fo your tortoise, but you'll need something bigger pretty soon.
4. Those clamps holding your fixture always fail. When it does, you risk harming the tortoise and potentially burning your whole house down. I said "when" it fails, not if. Ask me how I know this... Secure that lamp. It needs to hang directly over head and you need to be able to adjust the height to get the correct temperature under it. It should not be at an angle.
5. Your tortoise is the first tortoise I have ever seen that will touch those calcium blocks, so that is great for you! No issue here. Just an observation.
6. What type of UV tube? What is the routing height? Did you check it with a UV meter?
7. What type of bulb in the basking fixture? It should not be an "intense" spot bulb, which is what is usually sold by pet shops.
8. Night lamp? As in a colored bulb? Those should not be used over tortoises. Tortoises have better color vision than we do. If you can see that light at night, they can too. It needs to be dark at night.

I know this is frustrating, but we just want to help you avoid the common problems. Questions welcome. Please read the link I left for you previously, and look for the care sheet at the bottom. It explains all of this.

 

[Evarosesel]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your reply, I will take on your advice and try to put these things in place. as for her size she is around 4 inches.
I got a night bulb which can’t be seen when turned on all of the CHE were cracked and broken otherwise I would have got one of those, I thought it was a better way to keep her warm than not having anything at all, but will try find a CHE which isn’t broken
I will look into the fixture of the bulbs & try to hang over head, a lot of the equipment came from her previous owners. The UVB is the Arcadia D3+ T5 12%.

 

[Kybry00]

Hi Everyone,

I’m new to this group, I just bought my new Russian tortoise yesterday from his/her previous owner, he/she is around 1yr 6-8months old. I live in the U.K. which is currently around 18°C/34°F indoors so keeping the little one warm at night has been my main concern, I haven’t slept much worrying about it, Is there anything you could recommend? I saw mentioned the use of CHE bulbs on a night which I will look into getting today. I have a long uvb light & a basking light with two thermometers either side to make sure he has a gradient of basking, warm to cool.

With regards to feeding, everywhere mentions different things feeding 5 days and fasting 2? I’m not sure if this is correct or to feed every day, I was looking to house plants in the enclosure to add some shade & decoration to it, do I feed as well as these plants or does that depend on how much of the plants are eaten? I am thinking of buying a cuttlefish bone today, should I get calcium carbonate powder as well?

I have wanted a tortoise for 15 years now, and finally decide it was the right time to do so, I thought I knew lots about how to give them a healthy life but it turns out all my research has been conflicting. I have read the beginners guide on here which has really helped, these are just a few things I was still questioning. Any help will be greatly appreciated by me and the little one.

Thank you.

Until you get the proper lighting I suggest keeping them warm from your body temperature so what I do is I put my legs over my tortoises and put the blanket over and they stay nice and snug and warm toasty

 

[TammyJ]

Until you get the proper lighting I suggest keeping them warm from your body temperature so what I do is I put my legs over my tortoises and put the blanket over and they stay nice and snug and warm toasty

You can't be serious? This is incomplete if not dangerous advice! My opinion.