HELLO FELLOW TORTOISE PEOPLE!!

[Mzee "Wise Old Man"]

Hey everybody, this is my first posting, and i am very excited to be the proud owner of a female Russian Tortoise. Thankful there are cool places like this to discuss husbandry. Here is a little background on myself, and Abigail.

My name is Shaun, i hail from Wisconsin US. I have always loved tortoises but never owned one. Now i do! I just saved Abigail from the evil Petco about a week ago. She is bright eyed, and has good weight to her. Her appetite is great, she eats from my hand already which is super cool. Poops seem solid and normal. Taking her to the vet for a check up in about a week.

When we had some 75-80 degree weather i took her out for exercise and she was booking, well for a tortoise. Inside however she burrows and sleeps a lot. Probably most of the day. I am building a tortoise table in a couple of weeks so unfortunately she is in a 40 gallon breeder tank for the meantime. I feed daily about a large handful of organic baby spring mix. Temps in the enclosure range from 90-95 on the warm side, and 70-80 on the cool side. Substrate is cypress mulch, but i think i will change that with the new table. I use the Reptisun Fluorescent 10 UVB bulbs, and a 150 watt ceramic heat emitter. I am in Wisconsin and the ambient temps in my home range from 60-70 degrees so i keep the heat on all day until right before bedtime. I leave the Flo UVB light on about 12 hours. She seems to have a healthy appearance, but there is one very small spot on the plastron that i am going to have the vet check out.

Well there is my story...look forward to hearing from you tortoise people.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum, Shaun!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[mattgrizzlybear]

WELCOME TO TFO!!!

 

[mainey34]

Hello and welcome. Thank you for sharing your story. Maybe you could take a pic of the area you are concerned about, we might be able to help...

 

[Jacqui]

i and welcome! Had you planned on getting a Russian or did you just kinda fall for this special one?

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. I would try to add more things to her diet then just the spring mix.

 

[kathyth]

Welcome!
Nice looking Russian!

 

[kanalomele]

Welcome to tfo. I am crazy for my Russians. Great choice!

 

[sibi]

Welcome....nice intro. Send us more pics...we all love pics, lots of them.

 

[TortieLuver]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Mzee "Wise Old Man"]

Thanks guys. As requested here are a few more photos. You can see the mark i am talking about on the plastron. In a couple of them. It seems dry and old, but i am going to have the vet look at it soon anyways.

I will definitely try and mix up the diet.

I definitely wanted a Russian since they seemed to be a relatively easy tortoise to keep, and they are supposed to be a really hearty species. Plus that is all evil Petco carries in my area. The didn't even have a hide in their enclosure at petco!

Thanks and any thoughts on the spot on the shell are welcome. Also are green pepper plant leaves ok for them to eat?

 

[Utah Lynn]

It looks like the "normal" wear and tear of a WC (wild caught) to me; otherwise, it's a nice looking Steppe.

 

[Mzee "Wise Old Man"]

For some reason the pics did not attach to the last post. Here is the spot on the plastron i am referring to, anyone think this is major??? Seems old and dry...but i am no expert.

 

[Yvonne G]

Looks like it might be a spot of shell rot or fungus. Clean it with a soft brush, dry it well, give it one treatment with Betadine, then after that dab some athlete's foot cream on it.

 

[Mzee "Wise Old Man"]

Looks like it might be a spot of shell rot or fungus. Clean it with a soft brush, dry it well, give it one treatment with Betadine, then after that dab some athlete's foot cream on it.

I will definitely pick up the betadyne, and cream. But since i have not had her more than 15 days Petco is going to foot the vet bill for her exam. Which is good because they actually use a really good reptile vet here that i would have taken her to anyway. Thanks.

 

[Jacqui]

Curious why you refer to Petco as evil?

 

[Mzee "Wise Old Man"]

Curious why you refer to Petco as evil?

I refer to most large corporations as evil, walmart "evil empire" Apologies if you are a petco worker, no offense was intended.

But in all honesty i thought that the enclosure that they were in was way too small, they had absolutely nothing in the enclosure to hide under, the temp was 80'F in the tank, and they housed one male and two females together. All of which i read seems improper. When i have the money i intend to go back and save the other two as well. They do however use a great reptile vet, and are going to foot the bill for Abigail's checkup since she may have a small case of fungus, or shell rot. Maybe they aren't evil, but they should have better enclosures for their Russians i think.