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[caldo0779]

What species, size and age tortoise are we talking about?

I posted a picture of him and they said he was a juvenile prob still months old idk and also it’s a Russian tort

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Is it this tortoise? https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-and-his-enclosure.216456/#post-2129735

 

[Tom]

I posted a picture of him and they said he was a juvenile prob still months old idk and also it’s a Russian tort

I went and looked at your previous picture. You have a full size, wild caught, imported, adult Russian. You need a minimum of 4x8 feet. A 50 gallon tub would only be suitable for a tiny baby tortoise that just hatched.

Here is the care info you need:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome. We will help you get him all set up correctly.

 

[caldo0779]

I went and looked at your previous picture. You have a full size, wild caught, imported, adult Russian. You need a minimum of 4x8 feet. A 50 gallon tub would only be suitable for a tiny baby tortoise that just hatched.

Here is the care info you need:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome. We will help you get him all set up correctl

I went and looked at your previous picture. You have a full size, wild caught, imported, adult Russian. You need a minimum of 4x8 feet. A 50 gallon tub would only be suitable for a tiny baby tortoise that just hatched.

Here is the care info you need:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome. We will help you get him all set up correctly.

are you sure he is a full grown when we first got him there was another one next to her and it looked way bigger I could show more pictures if needed

 

[Tom]

From @caldo0779
"are you sure he is a full grown when we first got him there was another one next to her and it looked way bigger I could show more pictures if needed"

Yes. I am sure. It is likely that yours is a male, and the other was a female. Females are much larger in this species.

Even if my guess is incorrect, tortoises grow at different rates for a wide variety of reasons, and they can reach different sizes for a wide variety of reasons to. Have you ever stood next to a NBA center or an NFL linebacker? I'm going to guess they are significantly larger than you are.

 

[caldo0779]

From @caldo0779
"are you sure he is a full grown when we first got him there was another one next to her and it looked way bigger I could show more pictures if needed"

Yes. I am sure. It is likely that yours is a male, and the other was a female. Females are much larger in this species.

Even if my guess is incorrect, tortoises grow at different rates for a wide variety of reasons, and they can reach different sizes for a wide variety of reasons to. Have you ever stood next to a NBA center or an NFL linebacker? I'm going to guess they are significantly larger than you are.

 

[caldo0779]

So something like this would be big enough?

 

[Tom]

So something like this would be big enough?View attachment 374951

Book cases like this are often recommended, but I don't think these are a good way to go. The backs of these are very thin, flimsy, and usually made of some type of particle board that is going to disintegrate as soon as water touches it. They require so much modification to work, that I don't find it practical or sensible. Also, the depth when standing up, which becomes the wall height when you lay it down, is usually too low once you add in several inches of substrate.

I find it much easier to get a 4x8 foot sheet of plywood, add some 16 inch tall sides to it, put legs on it, and call it good. Its very easy to add an over head beam to hang your lights from too.

 

[caldo0779]

What’s the best basking light and the best heat lamp for a Russian tort?

 

[Tom]

What’s the best basking light and the best heat lamp for a Russian tort?

Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.html A good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

 

[PalestTortie]

Thanks, does help me look at my tortie in a different light 🙂