Is our tortoise really 9 months old?

[TankTortoise]

Hi all,

We recently become first time horsfield tortoise parents/family.

We adopted Tank the tortoise from a registered breeder here in the UK. He was advertised as 9 months old. We made sure to read a lot of books/forum regarding how to looks after them best before adopting one.

My main questions is he is currently 135g! I’ve read a few post where they discussed weight depending on their age and found that our number seems to be quite high for a 9 month old! Is it possible he is older than what was said?

Just for background, we’ve had him for 3 weeks. Since coming to us, he has been eating well. Twice a day, morning and evening. Mostly fresh dandelion leaves with calcium dust for food. He gets baths a few times a week. Very active and alert. His house is large with a hot and cool side. Shallow water bowl. He has a hiding cave he likes to dig down and sleep. We take him out everyday to run around our living room and explore.

 

[Ink]

Can you post a picture of your tortoise?

 

[TankTortoise]

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm pretty sure he's under a year, so 9 months sounds good tome.

He could stand to be living in a more humid environment. Russians don't pyramid easily, and he's pyramiding.

 

[TankTortoise]

I'm pretty sure he's under a year, so 9 months sounds good tome.

He could stand to be living in a more humid environment. Russians don't pyramid easily, and he's pyramiding.

Could you please advise how I could stop this?

What would be the ideal humidity for this home? Books I’ve read and breeder advice was 45-50%, which we currently have at the moment (46/47).

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

View attachment 382911

He does look under a year but if very pyramiding bless him, this could be a combination of incorrect bulbs and too dry an environment. That substrate definitely needs switching, no top soils or reptispoils.

Hopefully you’ll find this thread I made useful! It covers equipment, levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better!

Housing young Russian/Herman

Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes some other closed chamber options

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, probably the most important, this one is also really good to familiarise yourself with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

I hope they help! Happy to answer any further questions after you’ve read them! Welcome to the forum

 

[TankTortoise]

He does look under a year but if very pyramiding bless him, this could be a combination of incorrect bulbs and too dry an environment. That substrate definitely needs switching, no top soils or reptispoils.

Hopefully you’ll find this thread I made useful! It covers equipment, levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better!

Housing young Russian/Herman

Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes some other closed chamber options

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, probably the most important, this one is also really good to familiarise yourself with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

I hope they help! Happy to answer any further questions after you’ve read them! Welcome to the forum

Thank you so much!! Glad I’ve reached out now rather than later when it would have been too late.

Just looked at the photos from the breeder and sadly, he was already looking like this.

It’s all just confusing as everything we’ve read so far has been contradicting of each other, so hard to tell which advice to follow. The breeder gave us a care sheet and had follow this as thought he would be correct considering he is raising them. Top soil was recommended!

I’ve ordered a new substrate anyway and will renovate his house tomorrow when it arrives!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you so much!! Glad I’ve reached out now rather than later when it would have been too late.

Just looked at the photos from the breeder and sadly, he was already looking like this.

It’s all just confusing as everything we’ve read so far has been contradicting of each other, so hard to tell which advice to follow. The breeder gave us a care sheet and had follow this as thought he would be correct considering he is raising them. Top soil was recommended!

I’ve ordered a new substrate anyway and will renovate his house tomorrow when it arrives!

Yeah unfortunately most breeders, stores and even most vets are following very outdated information when it comes to tortoise care, there’s definitely multiple ways of doing things, but on here every possible care method has been tried by multiple members over many years, during that time the more well known folks have been able to learn what things cause issues and report on them. You honestly can’t go wrong using this place as your only source of information, speaking from experience it saved me SO much confusionalways feel free to challenge any answers to get the information you need! And there’s a plethora of useful stuff on here to do your own research into things

 

[TammyJ]

Welcome , and all the best advice is right here for you and your tortoise!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum, you have gotten some good advice already!