I need help in setting up my russian tortoise habbit.
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hi sorry i havent been on for a day or so....rearranging the craft room can take up a bit of my time. lol sissy and i are doing great!! She has a great appatite.... and her new substructure finally came in today!! poor girl only had one bag in there so not nearly enough to really dig in. I got 3 bags so tomarrow i'll be cleaning out her house. we'll see if thats enough...i'll buy some more next month. I want to have enough to put frish in here house right after i take out the old to clean. that way she wont have to be somewhere else for to long while its drying. the store we got her at of course said all we needed was one bag geez!! we had to order it from chewy as we couldnt find it anywhere around here. I dont think i'll have to change it as often after i put the 3 bags in. i was woundering how ever is it normal for them to spend a lot of time in there dark spot? just want to make sure everything is all right. lol shes sunning herself right now and looking for food. i was reading in the care sheet we have to make sure not to over feed her, i usuly give her her greens in the morning and then again in the evening. also what about hey...I thought i read somewhere on here that hay wasnt good for them but then in the care sheet they said something about hey....i'll have to reread it to be sure of what it said. Shes getting to where she likes her soaks better now although she seems to have a bit of trouble walking in the plastic tub i have for soaking. now all she has in her house is her food ad water dishes and her hidy cave....should i put maybe some fake plants in there too? as far as i know and have read they dont do toys so not sure what to do for her to keep her from getting board in there. lol im looking on line to see if i can find some crochet or sewing patterns for turtle shells.....havnt found any yet but i'll keep searching. I cant wait until summer so i can build her her outdoor space she'll be able to eat grass an stuff and it will be a bit bigger. we will also inlarge her inside house in time too. so how are you and menageriegrl doing?
So, a couple of things. . . If your using Orchid bark as the substrate, pretty much all you do is spot clean the poop/urates (Pee), you really don't need to replace it periodically. And as far as Feed,
1. a rule of thumb some folks use is to feed the amount that would fit in their shell.
2. Hay is fine, they need a high fiber diet: Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things.
and...
3. Yes, some folks put Fake plants in their enclosures, Just watch that lil Sissy, doesn't start to eat them. There are many safe Live plants you can add, but you have to be careful as many of the potting soils used, have chemicals that are not good for tort's.
4. And yes, they don't use "Toy's".
1. a rule of thumb some folks use is to feed the amount that would fit in their shell.
2. Hay is fine, they need a high fiber diet: Grass, weeds, leaves, flowers, and succulents. Feed them a huge variety of these things.
and...
3. Yes, some folks put Fake plants in their enclosures, Just watch that lil Sissy, doesn't start to eat them. There are many safe Live plants you can add, but you have to be careful as many of the potting soils used, have chemicals that are not good for tort's.
4. And yes, they don't use "Toy's".
Sissy is a lucky little tortoise, and I'm sure she will have lots of fun digging away. I think you may have misunderstood about overfeeding - tortoises are grazing animals, so I think it's ok for her to eat leaves of any kind as much as she likes - but I'm not sure about pellet foods. And I think hay can go mouldy.
Is the floor of Sissys soaking tub slippery ? If so, you could roughen the surface up a bit, so her feet will grip better.
I looked up the information about crochet tortoise shell covers from an old calendar I had -you could check out
www.freecrochettutorials. com + tortoise cosy -or possibly tortoise sweater - there seem to be several sites.
Fake plants are useful if Sissy wants to be away from the light, and they can look pretty, but make sure she doesn't eat them !
Angie x
I do full feed with all of my critters. Even my house rabbit and none of them are overweight, including my Russian. He gets an all you can eat salad daily. Kibble a couple times a week and a supplement now and then. I feel if they have the sad situation of being in captivity, they should at least have the benefits of being in captivity. If they are in the wild and mother nature allows it ??❄️?? they can eat whenever they want. But mother nature is fickle. I did make a fake tree for my lil guy and he loves it. It's in his indoor enclosure and he uses it in the summer in the morning before his outdoor excursion. I used a Mason jar filled with pretty rocks. Then I poked holes in the plastic lid to insert the leaves/ limbs. The Mason jar is tall and heavy enough that my little tort is stuck with it like it or not ? ?
Thanks for the info and for setting my mind at ease. she does seem to enjoy the 2 bags of bedding better then the one.... I might try 3 bags at a later date but if i do i will defently have to lock the top. lol which is ok as we have slide door locks on. Iv noticed today and yesterday that shes not eating as much as she was....so either shes secure in the knowlage that there will always be food in her house when she wants it or shes not crazy about the new greens we put in....turip grees cale and mustard greens..... shes had the cale before but the turnip greens and mustard greens is new. she like all my other children human or other wise will learn to eat what she is given. lol this is not a restrant. im sure she wont go hungry.....none of my other children have....I still have a few carrots left ( after making homemade split pea soup) so iv given her a very little bit of that a few days ago.... I might put a little bit in with her new food and see if it intices her.... ahh there she is lol shes decided to try her food again lol shes not gobbleing it down but she is eating it lol humm i think shes decided to like it after all....that or shes really hungry which isnt likely lol shes really chowing down now lol and thanks for the hint on sissys soaking tub....I have all kinds of sand paper and a couple of different electric sanders....so we'll get that done this afternoon and i will defently check out the free sights for the tortus shell cosys... I cant wait to make some!! iv finally got the craft room reorgnized so i can find things easer lol but first i have to get the wood burner out and finish the toy box i made for my daughter and her new puppy for her birthday. Shes had 3 dogs of her own since she s been on her own....a sharpi a bull dog ( who died a few months ago from sesuzers) and she just got a bloodhound puppy. Iv got a picture of each kind of dog and before i cut them out I need to wood burn the details on them then i have 3 bones to wood burn each dogs name on to put under each woodburned and cut out dog.... were going up to see her saterday so id best get to it!!! lol always so much to do and so little time!! lol I was going to try to make an outfit for our larger dog to wear when we go up but i dont think i'll have enough time... lol
So, a little bit about introducing new foods . . . Chop, Chop, Chop!
Chop the food's that she likes, into small pieces and feed it to her. Then Sloooowly introduce a lil bit of the other Chopped greens that she doesn't seem to care for in with the stuff that she likes.
It may take a bit of time, . . .
But eventually she will eat some of the stuff she does not care for since it's mixed in with the stuff that she does like. Just take your time. Eventually she will be accustomed to the mixture's you provide....
Chop the food's that she likes, into small pieces and feed it to her. Then Sloooowly introduce a lil bit of the other Chopped greens that she doesn't seem to care for in with the stuff that she likes.
It may take a bit of time, . . .
But eventually she will eat some of the stuff she does not care for since it's mixed in with the stuff that she does like. Just take your time. Eventually she will be accustomed to the mixture's you provide....
yup thats just what i did, a wee bit of the lettice she likes and a tiny bit of carrot...before she knew it she had eathen everything on her plate. iv never had a child of any spices who liked to try new things
sounds like a great idea!! i'll have to look around and see if i have any mason jars left around here....I dont do canning like i used to...lol
Lots of food companies sell their products in canning jars. I've been using the classico spaghetti sauce jars to freeze a little bit of homemade chicken broth. Honey growers is another one that uses canning jars. Actually any jar works. I just like the ones that a standard plastic lid will fit and that cleans up perfectly clear. I'm not sure you even need a lid because the leaf stems won't move around in the rocks anyway. I bought a bag or two of rocks in the floral craft area of Walmart just to get the darker color. I only bought them because they were small and round enough to allow me to put the leaf stems in and stable easily. Sapphire likes it and hasn't even attempted to move it. He just hangs out under it.
well i spent the day looking for and saving what few patterns i could find for making tortoise shell covers. Once I get the basic pattern down and sized for sissy i'll be able to make any kind of cozy I want....even sewn ones. I also read a few reviews on how people feel about them.....and as with cloths for any animal there are various opions. The only animal i dont make cloths for is my little bird....if she were bigger i would proubly would make her a little something. This being said let me add that any clothing you make for any animal MUST NOT construct there natral movement. That seems to be one of the greatest concerns. You MUST measure you animal and at least for dogs and cats there are instructions on line that tell you how to do this....they cant be to tight or to loose which would cause your pet to stumble , get caught up in or tangled in it in any way. Making cloths for animals must be done as carefuly as you make cloths for yourself or other humans. The second concern is that cloths keep the animals from growing there winter coat or in the case of tortoises prevent them from getting the sunlight they need. No animal should where cloths of any kind all the time!! There bodies are desigined to handle the envirement they live in. This being said it does no harm to an animal if the cloths fit properly and as long as they are used for short periods of time. I take pictures of my animals in there cloths....and i put them on my pets when i want to make them look even cuter then they already are. when we want to dress up so to speak. There are some exceptions....My service dog sheba has a nice warm winter coat i made her. She wears it when we are outside in the cold...Her hair has always been thin and shes always had a blaud spot. Now that she is 17 years old She has lost a lot of her hair and much of her skin is exposed to the sun....so she also has a very light dress she wears in the summer when we go for walks....so that her skin dosnt burn. When made or store bought cloths fit comfortabley and are not left on them for to long it dosnt harm them. There are some ways you can tell at least with dogs and cats if they are wearing there cloths to long....when sheba was young she became very ill....and was always shriving from being cold....I had to learn this the hard way...I kept her light dress on for a couple of days hoping to make her more comfortable....she started loosing her hair and develping sores....her skin couldnt breath properly....after talking to the vet i discovered it would have been better to just put a light blankit on her that she could move around under and when she needed to crawl out from under. I have never made that mastake again....and even now sheba injoys crawling under the covers now and then for awhile. With tortoues i would think there shells would start to show signs of weaking...what else I dont know but as long as you dont over do it and just dress them up now and then and for short periods of time they should be alright. i know im new here so I hope nobody minds my writeing this kind of post
Did you manage to visit your daughter today -and of course, did you manage to get her presents finished in time ?
You must be very talented to do all these crafts - any chance of seeing a photo or two ?
I totally agree about not leaving animals dressed up for long - I just make Zola hats for brief photo-opportunities -he wouldn't tolerate them for long, but the photos are great for making cards from.Some of his friends who he sends cards to really love to have them, and keep them on display year after year. ! I have read of people who like to have something distinctive on their tortoises' shell,when outside, but you don't want them missing out on getting sunlight, - at least, not if you live in the UK, like me !
How is Sissy doing ?
Angie
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