Help!! New tortoise owners?

Yvonne G

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Maggie: You're right, you can't count the growth rings on a tortoise for age like you can on a tree. Tortoises may have different growth spurts in a year, not just one. If he's more or less food deprived during a year, then all of a sudden provided with lots of food, then no food, then lots of food, he may have two or three growth rings that year. You CAN however, use the growth lines as a sort of guide to give you an ESTIMATE of the tortoise's age.
 

Maggie3fan

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I have no idea for any other tortoise species, it definitely wouldn't work and for captive bred it probably wouldn't work either. I just use it for wild caught russians. I was never sure if you could count them on a russian. However, after seeing that mine would only grow one line every year, (living more like a wild caught- brumating for several months, diet of weeds and flowers) and after seeing that yvonne also would usually reply to threads about people asking how old their wild caught russian is, saying they're around 10 years old, I put two and two together that for wild caught russians you can use the rings for just a very rough age. It's definitely not a definite, certain age and i'm sure occasionally they don't grow exactly one each year. @Yvonne G can you use the rings for wild caught russians?
In my first sentence I said..."I have always learned"...guess who I always learned from? Yep, my sister...the evil Yvonne G...years ago I had a few Russians and decided those little bodies were loaded with speed, and big Sulcata personalities...so I adopted them out and I have a love for Sulcata, so I wouldn't have talked to her about Russians... ?
 

MichaelL

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In my first sentence I said..."I have always learned"...guess who I always learned from? Yep, my sister...the evil Yvonne G...years ago I had a few Russians and decided those little bodies were loaded with speed, and big Sulcata personalities...so I adopted them out and I have a love for Sulcata, so I wouldn't have talked to her about Russians... ?
Hahah sulcatas are awesome. I've never had one, but I just know it?
 

BowzerMom0424

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Ok, here we go!
I agree that it's a he, and an adult Russian. That also means that he is wild caught. All those scuffs and dings are from his previous life in the wild. This is just FYI...doesn't make any difference in his care.

This is a link to our care sheet for Russians. It will answer most of your questions, especially re' heat and lights.

The tank he is in is much too small. Torts need a large amount of space. They have to walk a lot in order to digest their food. As Tom says in the care sheet, he needs a minimum enclosure size of 8ft x 4ft. And instead of a glass tank, he can live in a "tortoise table" that you would build. Lots of keepers get hold of a bookcase, remove the shelves, and line it with plastic, maybe an old shower curtain. Fill it with substrate and his "furniture" and you're good to go! Just make sure the sides can't be climbed...Russians are the Houdinis of tortdom!

His water dish is pretty, but not safe or convenient for him. Tort bodies don't bend in the middle, so those steep sides make it easy to flip onto his back. This can spell death to him, especially if he is in his water dish. Much better is a terra cotta flower pot saucer, big enough for him to lay in. Push it down into the substrate so it's flush with the substrate...easy to walk straight into and out of.

Take him outside as much as you want! In fact, he could live outside most of the year where you live if he had a large predator and escape proof enclosure. Just make sure he has shade available. They can overheat in our desert sun.

Inside, in the daytime, he needs a basking area around 100 deg. If he goes outside for an hour or two 3-4 times a week, he does not need any UV light. At night, he does not need heat if your house is at least in the 60's, and he has his basking light in the morning. At night, it should be dark. He doesn't want a nightlight. :D

Read over the care sheet, then come back with questions!
Ok!!! We have changed the water and added a loft, we are unable to make a bigger one now due to the virus and we researched some good ideas, and altered the light. He has been spending over an hour outside daily. He loves just wondering, resting, soaking in circles lol. Fun to watch. We will continue this daily as we are able.
 

BowzerMom0424

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Ok, here we go!
I agree that it's a he, and an adult Russian. That also means that he is wild caught. All those scuffs and dings are from his previous life in the wild. This is just FYI...doesn't make any difference in his care.

This is a link to our care sheet for Russians. It will answer most of your questions, especially re' heat and lights.

The tank he is in is much too small. Torts need a large amount of space. They have to walk a lot in order to digest their food. As Tom says in the care sheet, he needs a minimum enclosure size of 8ft x 4ft. And instead of a glass tank, he can live in a "tortoise table" that you would build. Lots of keepers get hold of a bookcase, remove the shelves, and line it with plastic, maybe an old shower curtain. Fill it with substrate and his "furniture" and you're good to go! Just make sure the sides can't be climbed...Russians are the Houdinis of tortdom!

His water dish is pretty, but not safe or convenient for him. Tort bodies don't bend in the middle, so those steep sides make it easy to flip onto his back. This can spell death to him, especially if he is in his water dish. Much better is a terra cotta flower pot saucer, big enough for him to lay in. Push it down into the substrate so it's flush with the substrate...easy to walk straight into and out of.

Take him outside as much as you want! In fact, he could live outside most of the year where you live if he had a large predator and escape proof enclosure. Just make sure he has shade available. They can overheat in our desert sun.

Inside, in the daytime, he needs a basking area around 100 deg. If he goes outside for an hour or two 3-4 times a week, he does not need any UV light. At night, he does not need heat if your house is at least in the 60's, and he has his basking light in the morning. At night, it should be dark. He doesn't want a nightlight. :D

Read over the care sheet, then come back with questions!
Thank you soooo very much!!! What do you use as substrate? I find that he's digging so much he may need more. I did read the 3-4" however I couldn't find the coco coir on Amazon and that's our only choice right now unfortunately.
 

jeneliza

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Thank you soooo very much!!! What do you use as substrate? I find that he's digging so much he may need more. I did read the 3-4" however I couldn't find the coco coir on Amazon and that's our only choice right now unfortunately.
I know PetSmart isn't the best for knowing the care, but they carry Coco air, but this is just a name brand, by eco earth, there is other brands as well, it's coconut fiber, so any brand that is made from Coco fiber would be the same, most come in brick you add water to so it expands, or already expanded dry, both are the same and need water added, but the brick needs alot more because it's compressed, honestly I prefer the bricks, it's cheaper, and I can use boiled water and let cool, I got some with bug eggs in it, one time and they hacthed in my encloser, ( not the good kind either, a type of bot flys, ) so now I buy the brick and add boiling water to kill anything that may have laid it's eggs, but this is very very rare and probably a store issue, but anyway you can order online from PetSmart, if you can't find it, or chewey.com, or pet supplies, or petco all will ship, or curb pick up, and they should have one brand or another,
 

jeneliza

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I know PetSmart isn't the best for knowing the care, but they carry Coco air, but this is just a name brand, by eco earth, there is other brands as well, it's coconut fiber, so any brand that is made from Coco fiber would be the same, most come in brick you add water to so it expands, or already expanded dry, both are the same and need water added, but the brick needs alot more because it's compressed, honestly I prefer the bricks, it's cheaper, and I can use boiled water and let cool, I got some with bug eggs in it, one time and they hacthed in my encloser, ( not the good kind either, a type of bot flys, ) so now I buy the brick and add boiling water to kill anything that may have laid it's eggs, but this is very very rare and probably a store issue, but anyway you can order online from PetSmart, if you can't find it, or chewey.com, or pet supplies, or petco all will ship, or curb pick up, and they should have one brand or another, and any other sub. That you need, between the four. Of them
 

BowzerMom0424

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I know PetSmart isn't the best for knowing the care, but they carry Coco air, but this is just a name brand, by eco earth, there is other brands as well, it's coconut fiber, so any brand that is made from Coco fiber would be the same, most come in brick you add water to so it expands, or already expanded dry, both are the same and need water added, but the brick needs alot more because it's compressed, honestly I prefer the bricks, it's cheaper, and I can use boiled water and let cool, I got some with bug eggs in it, one time and they hacthed in my encloser, ( not the good kind either, a type of bot flys, ) so now I buy the brick and add boiling water to kill anything that may have laid it's eggs, but this is very very rare and probably a store issue, but anyway you can order online from PetSmart, if you can't find it, or chewey.com, or pet supplies, or petco all will ship, or curb pick up, and they should have one brand or another,
Thank you so much!! Do you have a picture perhaps? I have attached the one I think is right however the directions don't say to add water... just mist. I want to get the most efficent one.
 

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jeneliza

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Yes that is right, however , you have to ask how much water you will need to add, because I have to have alot of moisture in my encloser , I have a redfoot, she lives in warm/ hot , forest , I am not sure how wet you will need your encloser, like I said what happened to me is very very rare, and most likely the store I got it from faults and it was a smaller local retailer, however, I have never had an issue with eco earth brand, so you may not need to boil it, I just do because I need it that wet and I now am paranoid, lol
 

jeneliza

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Yes that is right, however , you have to ask how much water you will need to add, because I have to have alot of moisture in my encloser , I have a redfoot, she lives in warm/ hot , forest , I am not sure how wet you will need your encloser, like I said what happened to me is very very rare, and most likely the store I got it from faults and it was a smaller local retailer, however, I have never had an issue with eco earth brand, so you may not need to boil it, I just do because I need it that wet and I now am paranoid, lol
This is the dry one, this might honestly be better for you, because you have a Russian, you may want to ask what other Russian owns, do when it comes to how much water to add,
 

jeneliza

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This is the dry one, this might honestly be better for you, because you have a Russian, you may want to ask what other Russian owns, do when it comes to how much water to add,
 

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jeneliza

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This is the brand I used last time, it's the same thing, only in brick form, and it's a different brand, I used this one because I get 50% off this brand, so I tried it, it's pretty much the same, I like eco earth a little better, but it wasn't bad, but eco earth brand in brick looks like this but the eco earth packaging,
 

KarenSoCal

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Thank you so much for writing this! Feeling overwhelmed at the moment. We have replaced the water and removed the lights for now until I can read the boxes more carefully.
Please don't feel overwhelmed! Yes, it is a huge amt of info, but it can be done in steps. You've done the water dish. The CFL type light can be replaced easily, and so can the heat bulb. You said you removed them...the basking temp by day still needs to be kept up to 100 deg. You can continue to use your old one until you get the flood type.

The new enclosure is the next most serious need. Get your hubby working on that! ;)

Don't feel bad...this is why I asked the questions that I did in my first post to you. We see pet stores leading people astray all the time. It's just sad that so many people never find good info, and their torts suffer the consequences.
 

KarenSoCal

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Thank you soooo very much!!! What do you use as substrate? I find that he's digging so much he may need more. I did read the 3-4" however I couldn't find the coco coir on Amazon and that's our only choice right now unfortunately.
I have never had to use substrate. My tort lived outside all summer and brumated all winter. I got him as an adult.

I've found many listings for coco coir on Amazon. Just search "coconut coir". I have no idea which is best.

Adult Russians don't need super high humidity in their enclosures, but some dampness never hurts.There is no recipe for how much water to put in. You just pour a couple cups in and mix it up with your hands until it is damp. Then put another thin layer of coco coir on top. That way the top layer is dry, with damp underneath it.
 

BowzerMom0424

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Please don't feel overwhelmed! Yes, it is a huge amt of info, but it can be done in steps. You've done the water dish. The CFL type light can be replaced easily, and so can the heat bulb. You said you removed them...the basking temp by day still needs to be kept up to 100 deg. You can continue to use your old one until you get the flood type.

The new enclosure is the next most serious need. Get your hubby working on that! ;)

Don't feel bad...this is why I asked the questions that I did in my first post to you. We see pet stores leading people astray all the time. It's just sad that so many people never find good info, and their torts suffer the consequences.
Thank you!!! I just had a notification that the UVB bulb won't be delivered until Friday. Should I have no UVB until then or put the old twist one back until it arrives? Thank you!!
 

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