Enclosure size

[heathparmelee]

I just got my russian tortoise a week ago. I love him he's awesome. But I feel like his enclo user might not be big enough for him. He is about 4 inches and the enclosure is 41×27 inches

 

[Gillian M]

I cannot really figure out the size of the enclosure in the pic you posted. At the same time, one thing I am 100% sure of: the bigger the enclosure the better. These cute little animals are used to living in the wild where they roam around wherever they please without boundaries/red lights.

And a very warm welcome to the forum!

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

At first you are going to be bummed about what I have to tell you, but in the long run, you will have a happy healthy tortoise and a positive tortoise keeping experience if you make a few changes.

All of this is explained in more detail here:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Here is what I see initially:
1. Your suspicions are correct. You need something closer to 48x96" as a minimum for indoors.
2. It looks like you went to the pet store and got all the typical bad advice and products. First up is the ramped water bowl. Those are dangerous flipping/drowning hazards. Remove it ASAP. Terra cotta plant saucers sunk into the substrate work best.
3. Same with your food bowl. The sides are too tall and steep.
4. That dry substrate is a no go. They need something that can be kept a little damp to give them some moderate ambient humidity. Orchid bark works best and can be purchased in bulk for a lot cheaper at any garden center. You won't find it at the chain hardware stores.
5. Those deep dome double hoods are no good either. Home Depot ones work better and are cheaper. You want to be able to separate your bulbs to different areas of the enclosure, if you even need more than one bulb… which brings us to:
6. Did they sell you a coil type CFL bulb? The cfl screw-in type? Those can sometimes burn their eyes and should not be used. They are also not very effective.

Please give all this a read through and some thought and then come back with all your question.

 

[heathparmelee]

Alright, thank you for the help

 

[Lyn W]

Hi and welcome.
Sadly pet shops are motivated by profit and rarely know much about the care of the animals they sell or they just have very out of date information. You're not the first and you won't be the last to make a few mistakes so please don't take any do's and don'ts you're given too personally. It's only when we find websites like this with great up to date information from very experienced keepers like Tom that we can start to put things right and its worth the effort and extra cost because it will save you a fortune in vets bills later on and your tort will thrive.

 

[Oxalis]

I just got my russian tortoise a week ago. I love him he's awesome. But I feel like his enclo user might not be big enough for him. He is about 4 inches and the enclosure is 41×27 inches

Hi and welcome to the forum! Glad to hear you are loving your Russian tort already. I have one myself and he's my everything! Tom had some awesome advice. In addition to the orchid bark, coco coir (coconut fiber) is also a good substrate option, and I have found some of this in condensed blocks at stores like Petco before: http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcos...compressed-coconut-fiber-expandable-substrate, although I try not to support Petco because they don't seem to know what's best for the Russians they offer. But since I've joined this forum, I've learned so much and now my little dude is so much happier and healthier! Best of luck to you; keep asking questions!

 

[heathparmelee]

Thank you everyone ☺