Ca Desert tort vs. Russian Tort

[Watermarkcindi]

Hello everyone - I am a first time poster. I have a Russian tortoise (no clue of age, she wandered up our driveway 2 yrs ago) and a Hermanns tortoise (we purchased as a hatchling and is now 1.5 yr old). We recently acquired a Ca Desert Tort that my husband found at a deserted house he was appraising. We have had her approximately 5 months. We live in S. California so they are outside 90% of the time. We keep our backyard sliders open and the torts are free to come and go as they please. Bella, our Ca Desert Tort, hates to be outside. She is extremely personable and will follow me around the house and sit on my feet. She eats well, grazes in the yard and I supplement with green leaf, radicchio, tons of mallow, dandelion, endive, hibiscus etc. I also wet and sprinkle TNT and calcium supplement on her food twice a week. I do not have an indoor enclosure set up for her "technically". She chose a corner of our bedroom within her first few days of being here so I laid out a mat and hung a UVA UVB MVB 100 w bulb 12" above her shell for cooler days that she does not go outside. My question is, do they require soaks like my Russian and Hermanns? They always have access to water, indoor and out in several places but I have yet to see her go near it. I have been soaking her once a week for 15-20 minutes. TIA for your reply.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, Cindy, and welcome to the Forum!

It is my opinion that you are doing all your tortoises a disservice, first, by allowing them to share space in the yard (mixing species), and secondly, by allowing them (or her) to roam freely around the house with no dedicated enclosure.

A russian, a Hermanni and a desert tortoise would NEVER cross paths in the wild. This means that each species has evolved to live with the microorganisms inside its body, and those same micro organism may make the other species sick (or even dead).

Because their metabolism is so slow, it may take years for illness to manifest, and by that time you will have forgotten they may be sick because you mixed species.

To answer your question soaking is never wrong. Once my tortoises are big enough to live outside, I presume they will drink on their own, so I don't soak them anymore.

 

[Watermarkcindi]

Hi, Cindy, and welcome to the Forum!

It is my opinion that you are doing all your tortoises a disservice, first, by allowing them to share space in the yard (mixing species), and secondly, by allowing them (or her) to roam freely around the house with no dedicated enclosure.

A russian, a Hermanni and a desert tortoise would NEVER cross paths in the wild. This means that each species has evolved to live with the microorganisms inside its body, and those same micro organism may make the other species sick (or even dead).

Because their metabolism is so slow, it may take years for illness to manifest, and by that time you will have forgotten they may be sick because you mixed species.

To answer your question soaking is never wrong. Once my tortoises are big enough to live outside, I presume they will drink on their own, so I don't soak them anymore.

Thank you for your reply. All torts have their own dedicated area in the yard which is blocked off from each other. The only time they could possible see each other is coming into the house on their own, which only Bella does. The other two would stay outside indefinitely, but I bring them in at night. My Russian and Hermanns do have full enclosures indoors, it's just my Desert tortoise does not. As I do not know her history I let her take the lead on her needs and wants. We originally built her an enclosure for sleeping only but she was very unhappy and constantly trying to get out. She has a small area available for roaming and decided to choose a corner in the bedroom for her own. For all I know, she was never even outside with her previous owners so I am doing what I can to keep her happy and healthy. I do appreciate your concern as I would never want to do a disservice to any animal.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Welcome!

They can certainly get attached to how they were raised previously. Hopefully with time she will get comfortable spending some time outside, perhaps when things warm up again and there are plenty of fresh foods around. No matter how she is kept, they all benefit from some time outside.

Unless someone was illegally breeding tortoises, it’s likely she spent some formative time in the desert and should have some memories of it. Hopefully she’ll come around. It’s not like she doesn’t have many years to change her mind.

 

[Watermarkcindi]

Welcome!

They can certainly get attached to how they were raised previously. Hopefully with time she will get comfortable spending some time outside, perhaps when things warm up again and there are plenty of fresh foods around. No matter how she is kept, they all benefit from some time outside.

Unless someone was illegally breeding tortoises, it’s likely she spent some formative time in the desert and should have some memories of it. Hopefully she’ll come around. It’s not like she doesn’t have many years to change her mind.

That is what I am hoping for. I make her stay outside for a minimum of 4 hrs a day, as long as it is warm outside. She often stares at me through the screen but eventually walks away to nibble on some grass and find a place to relax. It's odd because she is pretty big, her shell measures 11.5" and she weighs just shy of 12#. Appears to be very healthy and eats well. But she has no scars or scratches or chips on her, anywhere. Her shell is in pristine condition. I've also noticed she does not climb or dig like my other torts do. Never tries to bury herself either. If someone had raised her indoors, I can't imagine how they could have abandoned her. We are just taking it slow with her, trying not to stress her out and give her a little latitude. She is so incredibly friendly and loves to be hand fed. Most times when I feed her she won't eat until I give her a few bites by hand. Seems someone loved her very much at one time. She was not tagged so we registered her immediately just in case we needed an emergency vet.

 

[ascott]

Hello everyone - I am a first time poster. I have a Russian tortoise (no clue of age, she wandered up our driveway 2 yrs ago) and a Hermanns tortoise (we purchased as a hatchling and is now 1.5 yr old). We recently acquired a Ca Desert Tort that my husband found at a deserted house he was appraising. We have had her approximately 5 months. We live in S. California so they are outside 90% of the time. We keep our backyard sliders open and the torts are free to come and go as they please. Bella, our Ca Desert Tort, hates to be outside. She is extremely personable and will follow me around the house and sit on my feet. She eats well, grazes in the yard and I supplement with green leaf, radicchio, tons of mallow, dandelion, endive, hibiscus etc. I also wet and sprinkle TNT and calcium supplement on her food twice a week. I do not have an indoor enclosure set up for her "technically". She chose a corner of our bedroom within her first few days of being here so I laid out a mat and hung a UVA UVB MVB 100 w bulb 12" above her shell for cooler days that she does not go outside. My question is, do they require soaks like my Russian and Hermanns? They always have access to water, indoor and out in several places but I have yet to see her go near it. I have been soaking her once a week for 15-20 minutes. TIA for your reply.

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You know what....you two will work out what works for you. While I do not promote free ranging tortoise in the house...I have always fantasized how awesome it would be if the men folk here (CDTs) just has free run of the house (like the dogs) and how awesome that would be ....oh wait, then I wake up and realize that it is not practical for the safety of the torts.

I have to say that for a couple of years when I worked at a Park...I did have two of the male CDTs , that I have here at my house ,living within an office building and privately built outdoor yard...they worked well in that setting while they were ...but do so much better now that each have their own yards....the old man would tuck his head and and use his Gular Horn to knock on the door near the end of the day to let me know that he wanted in from their outdoor patio...he would then go tuck himself in under a chair in the office and be there until the next morning when I would come in for work and he would tap the door to let me know he wanted out for the day.......the other tort would just stomp in and out following the old man.....

So, you may have a visitor tort....but please remember, the best thing you can do is to slowly wean the tort of off you and onto the life of a healthy tort that is outdoor most of the year (I mean, I would not recommend you brumating the tort outdoors but rather find a suitable indoor set up for winter brumation) and then indoors for their winter sleep.

My Grandmother had a CDT way back when I was little (I am 51 years old now)...she would always live in town (Los Angeles) and she always had some type of outdoor space so the tort could go out most of the year....however, when the cool weather would begin, "Tiny" would make its way to the indoors....and find its favorite spot for winter....under a bed, tucked into the corner in the coolest spot....the houses would usually have no carpet (wood) and older houses...so raised a bit off the ground, so cool under the house...and Tiny would remain there until the weather outdoors was good.....super cool the tort would know, even though indoors with no special set up, that it was time to come on out...then Grams would begin the routine of iceburg lettuce, romaine lettuce, scraps of veggies and then the tort would also graze on he grass in the small outdoor spaces...all the while the dogs would be out in the same space (crazy right?)....so while I would not promote dogs in the same free range space as the tort...there was all types of exceptions that worked....

I would say to get to know your tort...set boundaries that work for the two of you and any other animals or humans that live in the same household so that all thrive.....sometimes if you hit that square peg just the right way...it may eventually fit in the circle

 

[Watermarkcindi]

Thank you for this valuable insight. I do believe you have hit the nail on the head with "visitor tort." I am making it my main focus to have her feel secure in her outdoor area while knowing I am close by if she just needs a little rub. Although she still will not stay in her indoor enclosure (she claws and tromps all night long) she happily goes to her corner in my bedroom and goes to sleep on her mat. In the morning she walks to the edge of the mat and will then follow me outside. I do not want to stress her out, so this seems to be working for now. I likely misspoke when I said she was free roam, I was only allowing her to find an area she was comfortable in when the enclosure was not working out. It is a small area and I am always following her, trying to figure out what she is looking for. I realize the dangers of free roam, not to mention accidents that are bound to occur and I do not want to have to deal with. LOL Yesterday it was raining so hard, I checked on her temps and she seemed content to sit on her mat all day. Never even tried to follow me. Today she did get up and followed me outside, it was still cool so I just watched her and sure enough she turned around and went back to her mat. Their intelligence amazes me. I do not offer her food in the house and luckily she has never gone more than 2 days without it. I have offered her food in her enclosure but she never calms down long enough to eat. Not sure if this is correct, but I am really trying to connect outside to roaming and food source and not sure she will metabolize it well indoors. If she goes longer than that I will need another plan. I am anxious for summer to arrive. Thank you again for reaching out!