Help with a few questions about my Russian tortoise

[natosha21]

Hi my name is Natosha I have a russian tortoise. His name is Soda Frog. My son got him for his 4th birthday and he got to name it and he chose Soda Frog. I have had Soda Frog for a little over a year. For the first few months he did not do much but now he is more active and has a lot of personality.
He recently has become a little too active for his cage, so we bought him a bigger one.
Can Anyone let me know a few things about these Tortoise.

1. How much heat do they need. I bought a 15 w 8.0 long bulb and a 100 w red light. is that ok. His new tank is wood so i can use his under tank heater.
Also can his bedding be the calcium sand? Or does it have to be bark?

What is the best thing for them to eat?

Thank you guys for your help

Natosha
San Bruno, CA

 

[stells]

Is the long bulb UV? i'd do away with the red light and get a normal 60w spot bulb tortoises need to bask and can't see the red light. that way you can also do away with the under tank heater.
Calcium sand causes impaction and really isn't ideal to use and as Russians love to dig neither is bark. If you can find it over there use a mix of 60% sterilised top soil and 40% childrens play sand.
The best thing you can feed is edible weeds and flowers dusted with supplement Reptocal being a good one.
Russians love time outside and do much better for it so maye you could build him an outside space?

 

[Jentortmom]

You do not need the under tank heater, they are bad to use for tortoises and turtles. A basking bulb and a the uvb bulb is all you need. You only need the lamps during the day. And as stells said use top soil and sand that way your little one can bury him/herself. On one end of the enclosure you can put timothy hay, my 3 love to hide in and on the timothy hay. Here is a great link that will tell you what to feed your little guy/gal, it also has a list of things you can plant so they graze as they wish. http://www.russiantortoise.org/ good luck.

 

[natosha21]

The 15 watt is a long buld and the 100w is red. Is the 100w too hot?

 

[Jentortmom]

You do not want red because the tort will not know to bask under it, get the clear bulb they are not that expensive and depending on your enclosure depends on the watts. I use 80 watts and they get plenty of heat from them.

 

[Josh]

welcome to tfo, natosha!

 

[Rees2]

Welcome to Tortoise Forum.org.

 

[Jacqui]

Welcome! Love the tort's name!!

Even if the bulb was a white one rather then red, it's not how much wattage, but how warm it gets the spot. Will depend on things like how far from the surface you have the bulb. You really should invest in something to know what your actual temps at tort level are in both the cool and warm end.

The reason they said the under tank heater was bad was because the heat should be coming from above the tortoise, not his belly to warm him.

The link above: http://www.russiantortoise.org/ and also http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/ are both good sites for Russian (horsfield) tort care information. They vary a bit in philosophy, but they are both great sites...along with this one.

I personally like using the bricks of bed-a-beast with 50% sand for my torts. Pretty much a personal choice between it and top soil.