Hello All

[adamk77]

Hello all. My name is Adam and I'm new to the forum. I wanted to reach out to introduce myself and give a little info about what reptiles I have. I have two bearded dragons and one Russian tortoise. One dragon is almost two years old, the other dragon is a year old and recently obtained my Russian tortoise a few weeks ago. The dragons both reach over a foot in length and the tortoises she'll is four and a half inches. I more or less rescued my tortoise from a big pet store. She had shell rot in a few places and was in what I would guess to be a five gallons aquarium. Hello again and I'm excited to swap information and advice about our reptiles with you all.

 

[Jay Bagley]

Hello all. My name is Adam and I'm new to the forum. I wanted to reach out to introduce myself and give a little info about what reptiles I have. I have two bearded dragons and one Russian tortoise. One dragon is almost two years old, the other dragon is a year old and recently obtained my Russian tortoise a few weeks ago. The dragons both reach over a foot in length and the tortoises she'll is four and a half inches. I more or less rescued my tortoise from a big pet store. She had shell rot in a few places and was in what I would guess to be a five gallons aquarium. Hello again and I'm excited to swap information and advice about our reptiles with you all.View attachment 230210View attachment 230211View attachment 230212

Hello and welcome!! That's awesome you were able to rescue your tortoise and offer it a better life.

 

[adamk77]

Hello and welcome!! That's awesome you were able to rescue your tortoise and offer it a better life.

Thank you. I feel she has it way better here than she did at that pet store.

 

[Jay Bagley]

Thank you. I feel she has it way better here than she did at that pet store.

You are correct!! Pet stores do not give them the greatest of care, and give bad care advice. You will like it here, I am new too and the advice I have gotten so far has helped alot.

 

[adamk77]

Very true. I have actually found a lot of good information on here and finally decided to start posting yesterday. I built her a four foot by three foot tortoise table out of some pressed wood I had laying around. It works pretty well for now, but I want to build her something a little better in the future.

 

[adamk77]

This is the Tortoise table I built for her.

 

[Jay Bagley]

This is the Tortoise table I built for her.View attachment 230221

That looks realy nice, here is mine. Building a closed chamber for my Sulcata now. Its a work in progress.

 

[adamk77]

That looks good. I wouldn't mind maybe following your build style a little when I build a better one later on.

 

[adamk77]

So far I have one uvb and one heat bulb on one side of the enclosure. I want to add more light to the cold side, but don't want to over do it. I have an led light bar I could use, but it is pretty bright and don't want to blind my tortoise.

 

[Jay Bagley]

That looks good. I wouldn't mind maybe following your build style a little when I build a better one later on.

Thankyou, they have sum great care sheets on here for Russian tortoises. I can honestly say I don't know a whole lot about them, but once everybody is awake you'll probably get some great feedback from those that do.

 

[adamk77]

Thankyou, they have sum great care sheets on here for Russian tortoises. I can honestly say I don't know a whole lot about them, but once everybody is awake you'll probably get some great feedback from those that do.

I'm counting on it. I'm sure a few others will say hello and kind of converse about different tortoise topics.

 

[Rusky]

So far I have one uvb and one heat bulb on one side of the enclosure. I want to add more light to the cold side, but don't want to over do it. I have an led light bar I could use, but it is pretty bright and don't want to blind my tortoise.

Very nice setup, and you have a beautiful Russian there! As far as the light is concerned, the compact uvb bulb should be changed as it can harm reptiles' eyes. Instead use a strip uvb light by ZooMed or Arcadia. You can use a small one, and then a regular fluorescent or led strip for the rest.

Also, that Repti Ramp water bowl has been known to cause some tortoises to flip over and drown, so I wouldn't risk it.

You might want to move the hide somewhere else, maybe on the side with the timothy hay, because Russians like to bask in the open right under the light. You can also add some rocks underneath the heat, and they will warm up nicely, and keep nails trim.

 

[adamk77]

Very nice setup, and you have a beautiful Russian there! As far as the light is concerned, the compact uvb bulb should be changed as it can harm reptiles' eyes. Instead use a strip uvb light by ZooMed or Arcadia. You can use a small one, and then a regular fluorescent or led strip for the rest.

Also, that Repti Ramp water bowl has been known to cause some tortoises to flip over and drown, so I wouldn't risk it.

You might want to move the hide somewhere else, maybe on the side with the timothy hay, because Russians like to bask in the open right under the light. You can also add some rocks underneath the heat, and they will warm up nicely, and keep nails trim.

Thank you for the advice. I didn't know that about the uvb bulb. I did however move the hide to the cool side today. I'm glad I did now. Lol. The water bowl I actually took out two days ago because it was taking up too much space, glad I did that too. Thanks again for the advice and compliment of my tortoise table.

 

[Rusky]

Thank you for the advice. I didn't know that about the uvb bulb. I did however move the hide to the cool side today. I'm glad I did now. Lol. The water bowl I actually took out two days ago because it was taking up too much space, glad I did that too. Thanks again for the advice and compliment of my tortoise table.

No problem. If you have any questions, this forum is the best place to ask. Have you identified the sex?

 

[adamk77]

No problem. If you have any questions, this forum is the best place to ask. Have you identified the sex?

Yes. She appears to be a female due to the asterisk shaped area under her tail, but from what I understand, both sexes will have that until the reach sexual maturity. Her shell is 4 1/2 inches long, but I know it is difficult to determine age based on shell size.

 

[Rusky]

Yes. She appears to be a female due to the asterisk shaped area under her tail, but from what I understand, both sexes will have that until the reach sexual maturity. Her shell is 4 1/2 inches long, but I know it is difficult to determine age based on shell size.

If she has a stubby triangle-shaped tail, she's female. My male is the same size and has a long, developed tail which he carries to the side.

 

[adamk77]

Her tail seems to always be straight. I've never seen it to the side.

 

[adamk77]

I just checked her out again. Her tail is straight. It is thicker toward the base and then becomes thinner half way down.

 

[Rusky]

Male vs. Female

 

[Alex Z]

Congratulations and welcome tonthe forum. Great save and love your beardies! I lost my rt last year. Found her dead in her enclosure. This is my new redfoot duplex. Its 7x3. I will be rebuilding it. I have slowed down because I am buidling the nursery. My wife is expecting. On the top deck, hoping to fill it with a new rt. There is one in my local petshop. Its in a pathetic state. Sharing exoterra setup with a frog and has like 1/8 of inch of soil.