Hows he looking?

[ben2684]

Having had Terence now for 5 months he has really settled in, it's too cold now for outdoor sunbathing but have brought him inside and after a few adaptions to a vivarium (removing the the front completely) he seems pretty happy, he has the run of the of the downstairs and I very often come home to find that he had made the most of it his character is straying to show now too... He'll do anything for rosé petal or two lol. I know his shell shape is less than ideal but his first owner over fed him slightly I think and he grew too fast, but it doesn't hamper him in any way. Just wanted everyone's opinion on him really to double check that I'm doing things right!!!! Thanks all

 

[wellington]

Just be very careful there is nothing on the floor he can eat. They will try anything. Other then his shell, like you mentioned, looking good.

 

[lynnedit]

He looks very alert, which is great. Say, with the front removed, do the temps in his area stay in the desired
range (basking, etc.)?
Nice to hear he is active.

 

[ben2684]

He has a basking spot, under that is a large piece of slate which gets warm also, around 31 degrees c under that, and with our winter very quickly setting and our hearing on the ambient temp in our house is never under 21c he seems to have a wander round for an hour or two, head back to his heat lamp for about 20 minutes and then he's off again!!! Have had to block off certain areas to prevent him getting stuck but so far so good I'm curious as to how anyone would suggest husbandry tips on how to get his shell to grow more normally??? Or is it stuck like that?? He's only 41/2

 

[biochemnerd808]

Hi,
your Terence is a cutie!

I do notice that he has a lot of pyramiding in his shell - this may have happened before you got him.
Pyramiding is a side effect of metabolic bone disease (MDB), and can be caused by lack of calcium + D3, lack of UVB, too much protein in his diet, too much food, and a variety of other things. It can't be reversed, but if diet, lighting etc are optimized, a lot of the effects will be lessened as he grows.

What do you feed him? What kind of lighting does he have? What kind of substrate does he have in his enclosure? (Not at all wanting to cross-examine you.... just trying to help).

~Katie

Having had Terence now for 5 months he has really settled in, it's too cold now for outdoor sunbathing but have brought him inside and after a few adaptions to a vivarium (removing the the front completely) he seems pretty happy, he has the run of the of the downstairs and I very often come home to find that he had made the most of it his character is straying to show now too... He'll do anything for rosé petal or two lol. I know his shell shape is less than ideal but his first owner over fed him slightly I think and he grew too fast, but it doesn't hamper him in any way. Just wanted everyone's opinion on him really to double check that I'm doing things right!!!! Thanks all

 

[lynnedit]

Just make sure he gets some sun in the summer (enclosure outside?), and/or good UVB inside, and a healthy diet with a calcium source.
He is getting a lot of exercise, which means it will be harder for him to overeat.

His deformity may partially correct over time, but if it does not, he is HAPPY and that is what matters.

 

[kanalomele]

It is rather rare to see a Russian with a pyramided shell. They are not prone to that, so his prior conditions had some other problems than just overfeeding. As young as he is his new growth should be much more smooth due to improved conditions, but he will probably always be a bumpy guy. Don't worry about it, keep him healthy now and he will be fine.

 

[ben2684]

His previous owner kept him in a 2ft by 2ft vivarium, fed him mainly shop bought salad mixes, cucumber and tomatoes!! And that's it. He now has cuttlefish bone which he nibbles at occasionally plus D3 supplement a couple of times a week. I have a uv light.. Not sure on brand but its a 10.0 which is currently on for 12/14 hours daily. I feed him a bit of a mixture... He had some shop bought mix (rocket, lambs lettuce and chard) plus I have cultivated some seeds that were sold as a specific tortoise mix, which he loves, he gets the odd (very small) piece of carrot as its his favourite and will literally chase me round the house when he knows I've got it!!! And every so often tortoise pellets (again only very sparingly as he LOVES them) maybe twice a week, fed by hand as a treat. He's not able to go outside at the moment as its so cold, but our kitchen gets sun for about two hours in the morning... And he loves laying and basking in that. We currently don't have a garden but are moving house when our lease is up for this reason, my partners dad has been notified he will be building a tortoise enclosure in the near future for outside. He has orchid bark in his house, but as I said previously it's open fronted so he an come and go as he pleases. I was given him as his previous owner (an ex work colleague) said he was attacking her other two (hermanns) tortoises, I was basically told that he was easy to look after and didn't need much but soon found that not to be the case!!!! I just want to make sure he's happy and healthy as I love having him... He's such a character!! He seems pretty happy... Is there anything anyone thinks I can do to improve further?? Sorry post is so long... Tried to give as much info as possible!!!

 

[biochemnerd808]

I'm glad you took him in, and as others said, it's good that he is so happy and now living with you!

A really good substrate for Russians is coconut coir (you can buy it as a dehydrated brick, and then you add water to make it expand), mixed with sand 1:1 by dry weight. The proper consistency is moist enough that you can barely make a ball, and if you squeeze it just a drop or two of water drip out. Just orchid bark is actually too dry - Russians are desert animals, but the humidity in their burrows are actually higher.

 

[ben2684]

Okay cool, I'll try that I mist the orchid bark daily with water. If switched over to the coir and sand would I need to do this too??

 

[biochemnerd808]

The coconut coir holds moisture MUCH better than the bark, so you probably won't need to mist daily. I add a cup or so of warm water every week and mix it up. Make sure you don't get just 1 wet spot that sinks to the bottom... haha, learned that the hard way. The top will get a bit dry, but as long as the lower layers are the right moisture, you'll have a happy tort.
In the basking (hot) area, I have flat rocks, rather than the coir. They get nice and warm, and I also feed my torts on it, so that wears their beak down a bit.

It's awesome that you are asking the right questions to take proper care of your tort. Good job!

Okay cool, I'll try that I mist the orchid bark daily with water. If switched over to the coir and sand would I need to do this too??

 

[ben2684]

Have ordered some thanks for the advice, much appreciated