Idgy

[jenlewisbodine]

I posted a while ago about my baby girl. Idgy is a Russian Tortoise. She is a PetSmart tortoise which means she was kept in a dark small terrarium. I had her in a glass tank like they did, felt sick about it so I deflected my PTSD on her and thought I could put her in a pool and she’d be happier- well she wasn’t unhappy but couldn’t control temps. Soooo, she is now in a great wooden open terrarium where she is now truly happy.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello there! Idgy is adorable!

There are a few things I think you’ll appreciate the heads up on, the substrate in your indoor set up isn’t appropriate, any kind of moss is an impaction risk, hay is prone to moulding and Russians aren’t actually grass eaters, but either way shouldn’t be enticed to eating substrates.
I’m going to include some information below you’ll hopefully find helpful and can apply to your set up or upgrade in time if neededyou may know some of it already, but I include everything for new members who come across threads.

As adults they need a minimum of an 8x4 enclosure, roaming is vital to tortoise health, it aids digestion and strengthen their muscles.

I’m going to talk through an example of an appropriate indoor set up, it includes the correct levels and equipment etc, including the appropriate indoor uv

Basking light should be an incandescent floodlight(example attached) on a 12 hour timer.

Basking temperature directly under the floodlight should be 95-100f. The rest of the enclosure should be ranging 75-80 during the day.

You may also wish to add ambient lighting on the same timer, providing shady areas with hides and safe plants.

Then CHE/CHE’s(ceramic heat emitters) always on a thermostat, for night heat if your house drops below 60’s at night. Set the thermostat for a night temperature place the probe in their cooler end, plug the che into it and the thermostat into the mains, it’ll be plugged in 24/7 but will only turn on when the temperature drops. Feel free to do checks to see if they’re necessary.

Any indoor Uv should be a t5 fluorescent tube, avoid the compact and coil uv bulbs, they don’t give out enough uv and can hurt the tortoises eyes. The uv can be on a 4 hour timer from noon. I’ve attached examples of the two brands to go for and some examples of how to mount them. The Arcadia comes with the reflector fitting, the reptisun needs it buying separately

With lighting always avoid anything labelled halogen or mercury vapour.

Large dome fittings(wide not deep) help project the heat down, just don’t rely solely on the clamps, they can fail! Always hang securely

For substrates, either coco coir, dampened and packed down by hand as a base, with a layer of orchid(fir not pine) bark or forest floor on top, or just the orchid bark/forest floor. Never use anything with sand mixed in, no top soils and no kinds of moss. The problem with top soil is unless you’ve composted it yourself, you don’t know what kind of plants have gone into it, it could be something toxic. Sand can irritate the eyes and be an impaction risk, moss is an impaction risk too.

You want to aim to have the bottom layer of substrate damp, to do this pour lukewarm water into the corners, not loads but enough to dampen the entire bottom layer. To stop that top layer getting too dry/dusty, mix the substrate now n then. Check your monitors and substrate to do the pours as and when needed.

I’d personally recommend you make your own base to go as big as you possibly can for the space you have. The closer you can get to an 8x4 size the better.

When making your base, just make sure the material is safe, some use flower beds, or take a large bookcase, take out the shelves and lie flat, or just make their own, for all these options I’d line with cheap pond liner to protect the base, making sure the liner goes up the sides too and make sure those sides are deep enough! They can be professional escape artists

I’ve also included examples of stands people make/buy to hang their lighting, use a temperature gun to determine how high the basking bulb needs to be, the uv I suggested needs to be mounted 18-20 inches from the substrate(the Arcadia, double check reptisun)

For a water dish a shallow terracotta saucer is considered safest, they have grip in the event your tortoise flips themselves, most pet store options are a known hazard.

I’d also always recommend getting your hands on a temp gun, they’re SO handy when setting up a new environment or for checking your monitors are correct

Diet wise, perhaps you’ll find this link below helpful! Maybe you could buy seed online and plant in your own organic soil the tortoise doesn’t have access tooyou want to stick with leafy greens and weeds for these guys, no fruits

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

Hopefully some of this helps!