Hi everyone,
Me and my brother got two tortoises for our birthdays around five years ago. Both of us could not house them with us so they stayed at our parents (in a vivarium with little room to walk). Now I have my own flat so I decided to take both of them and try to give them a better life. I have read quite a lot of posts and care sheets on the forum but I still have a few questions. I'll try to give you as much info as possible for you to hopefully give me some pointers.
Tortoises:
- 2 female (I was told) (unseparated since they were babies)
- around 5 years old
- russians (I believe - see photo for confirmation)
- first one (Rex): 308 grams, 12x10cm - loves walking around and burrowing - really good eater
- second one (R2D2): 141 grams, 8x7cm - loves basking and relaxing - slow eater
Enclosure:
- see photo (I've changed things a tiny bit since I took this - the little terra cotta bowl is now a second water bowl instead of a food bowl - the slate under the basking lamp is removed because the temp was too high with it there and I bought an actual thermometer instead of the one you can see in the picture)
- 200x80cm
- 1 UV lamp
- 1 basking lamp
- 2 water bowls
- 2 eating spots
- 3 hides (one is used by R2D2, the others seem useless)
- 1 calcium block
- lamps: 13h on, 11h off on a timer
- substrate: 3cm of garden soil
- temperature: 21°C on the coldest side (to the opposite of the basking lamp) and 38°C under the basking lamp (it's an open tortoise table so the lowest temp possible is the flat temperature that drops to 19-20°C at night)
Nutrition:
- lamb's lettuce (mostly)
- dandelion (when I can find them)
- cucumber
- zoomed grassland pellets
- all of this in a salad
- occasionally something can be added if the tortoise table website says it's okay and I find it
Routine:
- lights on at 6am
- 20 minutes bath at 7am (while I clean their enclosure, bowls, mist the enclosure, ...)
Rex always poops in the water but R2D2 does it when she eats
- food after the bath
- then whatever they want to do (most of the time they bask for a good hour, then walk around then go in a hide or try to get under the substrate, then I'm gone for work and don't really know what they do. I think one of them goes for lunch on the leftovers around 2pm.)
- lights off at 7pm
Here are all of my questions:
1. should I separate them?
I have read that they shouldn't be kept together but very little reasons are given in those posts so I don't know. They don't seem to not like each other, they just keep to themselves mostly. I have implement two eating spots and two drinking bowls in case they don't want to share.
2. if I have to separate them, ideally I would get the same size enclosure for the second but I can not (not enough room in my flat)
I have read that at the minimum they would need an enclosure 8 x length of their shell (so minimum 96cm) by 4 x length of their shell (minimum 48cm). So dividing the already existing enclosure in two should be enough (100 by 80cm), should I do that until I find a better solution for them? I do have a decent balcony that I might be able to use in the future for them to be housed outside but for now they will be kept inside at least until the end of winter.
3. I don't think the substrate is deep enough, I was thinking of adding the same quantity of soil as I already have and top that up with a layer of orchid bark, this should give them a depth of 8-10cm, is that okay? it should also give them a better humidity because I don't think the soil does even if I mist it four times a day.
If you want to give feedback on other things based on the given info, please do.
And if you need more info, just ask and I will do my best to answer.
Me and my brother got two tortoises for our birthdays around five years ago. Both of us could not house them with us so they stayed at our parents (in a vivarium with little room to walk). Now I have my own flat so I decided to take both of them and try to give them a better life. I have read quite a lot of posts and care sheets on the forum but I still have a few questions. I'll try to give you as much info as possible for you to hopefully give me some pointers.
Tortoises:
- 2 female (I was told) (unseparated since they were babies)
- around 5 years old
- russians (I believe - see photo for confirmation)
- first one (Rex): 308 grams, 12x10cm - loves walking around and burrowing - really good eater
- second one (R2D2): 141 grams, 8x7cm - loves basking and relaxing - slow eater
Enclosure:
- see photo (I've changed things a tiny bit since I took this - the little terra cotta bowl is now a second water bowl instead of a food bowl - the slate under the basking lamp is removed because the temp was too high with it there and I bought an actual thermometer instead of the one you can see in the picture)
- 200x80cm
- 1 UV lamp
- 1 basking lamp
- 2 water bowls
- 2 eating spots
- 3 hides (one is used by R2D2, the others seem useless)
- 1 calcium block
- lamps: 13h on, 11h off on a timer
- substrate: 3cm of garden soil
- temperature: 21°C on the coldest side (to the opposite of the basking lamp) and 38°C under the basking lamp (it's an open tortoise table so the lowest temp possible is the flat temperature that drops to 19-20°C at night)
Nutrition:
- lamb's lettuce (mostly)
- dandelion (when I can find them)
- cucumber
- zoomed grassland pellets
- all of this in a salad
- occasionally something can be added if the tortoise table website says it's okay and I find it
Routine:
- lights on at 6am
- 20 minutes bath at 7am (while I clean their enclosure, bowls, mist the enclosure, ...)
Rex always poops in the water but R2D2 does it when she eats
- food after the bath
- then whatever they want to do (most of the time they bask for a good hour, then walk around then go in a hide or try to get under the substrate, then I'm gone for work and don't really know what they do. I think one of them goes for lunch on the leftovers around 2pm.)
- lights off at 7pm
Here are all of my questions:
1. should I separate them?
I have read that they shouldn't be kept together but very little reasons are given in those posts so I don't know. They don't seem to not like each other, they just keep to themselves mostly. I have implement two eating spots and two drinking bowls in case they don't want to share.
2. if I have to separate them, ideally I would get the same size enclosure for the second but I can not (not enough room in my flat)
I have read that at the minimum they would need an enclosure 8 x length of their shell (so minimum 96cm) by 4 x length of their shell (minimum 48cm). So dividing the already existing enclosure in two should be enough (100 by 80cm), should I do that until I find a better solution for them? I do have a decent balcony that I might be able to use in the future for them to be housed outside but for now they will be kept inside at least until the end of winter.
3. I don't think the substrate is deep enough, I was thinking of adding the same quantity of soil as I already have and top that up with a layer of orchid bark, this should give them a depth of 8-10cm, is that okay? it should also give them a better humidity because I don't think the soil does even if I mist it four times a day.
If you want to give feedback on other things based on the given info, please do.
And if you need more info, just ask and I will do my best to answer.
