Is this a healthy tortoise ?!?

[Cait]

I have a heat bulb,a hide sawdust bedding and a separate compartment in my tortoise table I feed mrytle a daily mixture of iceberg lettuce and carrot and the occasional dandilion with a sprinkle of calcium powder I have a water bowl in there and bath her twice a week yet I feel that she isn't completly healthy because her shell looks a little yellow on the outside ? Sh is currently 7 years old

 

[Lyn W]

Hi and welcome you are in the right place to find out all about tort care from experienced keepers worldwide.
I'm not good at IDing torts so what species is she and where are you located? That will help you get the correct advice as climate plays a big part in the sort of care and equipment you need to provide.
Just a couple of things you may need to change - sawdust isn't recommended as substrate as it is very dry and probably like sand can get on the torts food and cause impaction.
Also if she is kept indoors she will need a uvb source not just heat. I use a mercury vapour bulb (MVB) which gives heat light and essential uvb for digestion and growth in one bulb. If it is cold at night in your area you may need night heat too such as a ceramic heat emitter (CHE) which just gives heat as torts need darkness to sleep.
I have read that iceberg lettuce isn't good for torts and there are better types of lettuce and more variety of leafy greens available if you have to rely on shop bought food but dandies and other safe weeds are good.
There are great caresheets for most species here under 'Species Specific' which will tell you all about diet, temps, humidity and substrate etc.; see also www.thetortoisetable.org.uk for tort safe foods.
The Beginners Mistakes thread (link below will help you avoid problems experienced by others and the Enclosures thread has lots of great ideas.
It's a lot to read but well worth it to give your tort the best and safest home.
If you post pics of his enclosure members will be to suggest any improvement needed so that your tort is happy and healthy.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. As mentioned, the substrate/sawdust needs to be changed. Use plain dirt that has no fertilizers or pesticides or coconut coir. Diet needs to be better too. Iceberg ice fine as a treat but not as part of a regular diet. Check out the link that was given above for more items. If your night temps where your Russian is located drops below 60 at night then night heat is needed otherwise it's not. Day time temps should be 75-80 and a basking spot of 95-100. The mercury vapor bulb mentioned above does all. If you post a pic of the enclosure we can help you fix other things that might be wrong. Also the enclosure size should be minimum of 4x8 feet

 

[Cait]

Thank you for your advice and help will take a look at those links , change her bedding to soil change her diet and add a mercury vapor bulb she is a horsefeild tortoise and here are some pics of her enclosure

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hello and welcome

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

There is no way for us to assess how healthy this tortoise is just from a picture. The care, feeding and housing you describe is not correct though, so the health could probably be better.

Please read these for proper care and feeding of a horsfield tortoise:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[RosemaryDW]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for working to give your tortoise a long and healthy life!

The care sheets linked above may seem like a lot to take in at first but they absolutely will get you on the right track. In addition to the info on heating, substrate, and diet, look at the info for water bowls and for soaking your tortoise. She may be pretty dry on that substrate and in need of hydration.

Hope to see you back soon!

 

[Mr Buster]

I plan on once a week to stay away from romaine lettuce and cilantro and try just putting in a little timothy hay and and a few mazuri pellets and rose leaves.

Get timothy hay from walmart, cheaper than petunsmart. Iceburg lettuce is not good for Russians from what I read.

It looks like you have your light at an angle. That could hurt his eyes cause he looks straight into it. The light should shine down and not an angle.

 

[leigti]

Chances are the tortoise won't eat the hay. Maybe but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Mr Buster]

Because I decided to go against the grain in this community and substrate with play sand, I read the fiber in the hay is almost essential to Buster's diet. Taking into account that many species of torts spend their entire life on and in sand I am not buying into the arguments of eye and skin irritation.

Buster is readily and easily borrowing into the sand and seems comfortable on it.

 

[Tom]

...I am not buying into the arguments of eye and skin irritation.

Are you buying in to the fact that sand causes sand impaction and kills tortoises? No?

Don't worry. You will...

 

[Mr Buster]

Are you buying in to the fact that sand causes sand impaction and kills tortoises? No?

Don't worry. You will...

Hence placing fiber in the diet and keeping his food off the sand.

 

[JoesMum]

Hence placing fiber in the diet and keeping his food off the sand.

And how do you plan to raise the humidity to healthy levels with such a dry substrate.

There's more than one reason we recommend a substrate like orchid bark or coco coir.

Stopping food from being dragged into the sand is near impossible. Raising humidity without an evenly damp substrate is another.

A third reason is that Russians love to tunnel and dig. Sand is far too dry for this.

 

[Tom]

Hence placing fiber in the diet and keeping his food off the sand.

Many tortoises that get sand impacted live outside and eat grass, weeds and leaves. About as "high fiber" as you can get. A high fiber diet doesn't stop sand impaction. Not being housed on sand and accidentally ingesting small amounts daily, is what stops sand impaction. Can't get sand impacted if there is no sand.

You are making a mistake by thinking that you somehow know more than veteran tortoise keepers that have seen dozens of tortoises die of sand impaction over several decades. Your tortoise will pay the price for your failure to understand this. You will eventually learn what others are telling you, but it will be too late for your tortoise at that point.

 

[Mr Buster]

I am not thinking I know more than veteran tortoise keepers here. It is just that I am going with the opinions offered by other tortoise keepers.

As for humidity levels, those levels can be adjusted just as well by changing the size of the water bowl in the cage as it is by adding certain substrates and I hardly consider dehydration an issue when I am soaking Buster for a half hour or more every morning. Russian Tortoises can also easily flush out small amounts of sand especially if they get proper fiber.

I believe in following the advice given to me that the greater threat is not sand, but moisture in some substrates even grass that lead to shell rot. Yes, if you rinse and throw in wet iceberg lettuce on the sand then a tortoise will get impacted due to the amount of ingestion. In the wild these tortoises are eating weeds that are above the substrate but in fact many are borrowing and spending their entire lives on sand and even hatch in it.

 

[Tom]

I am not thinking I know more than veteran tortoise keepers here. It is just that I am going with the opinions offered by other tortoise keepers.

As for humidity levels, those levels can be adjusted just as well by changing the size of the water bowl in the cage as it is by adding certain substrates and I hardly consider dehydration an issue when I am soaking Buster for a half hour or more every morning. Russian Tortoises can also easily flush out small amounts of sand especially if they get proper fiber.

I believe in following the advice given to me that the greater threat is not sand, but moisture in some substrates even grass that lead to shell rot. Yes, if you rinse and throw in wet iceberg lettuce on the sand then a tortoise will get impacted due to the amount of ingestion. In the wild these tortoises are eating weeds that are above the substrate but in fact many are borrowing and spending their entire lives on sand and even hatch in it.

Russians do not get shell rot on grass or damp substrate.

Again, you will see that you are wrong about the sand, eventually.

 

[Lyn W]

I am still learning about tortoise keeping, and if long time keepers point out any potential risks with any equipment, substrate, diet etc that they know about from experience or research and kindly share, then I certainly wouldn't gamble with my torts health and ignore them - he is too precious.

Of course we all have personal choice and preferences, but it's our torts who actually have to live in the conditions we provide. Hopefully in the long run they benefit, rather than suffer, from those choices.