Need help with age/type with tortoise

rs104418

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Joined
Jan 15, 2019
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Pennsylvania
So, long story short, we bought a supposedly russian tortoise and I believe that's what he is, but I don't know if he is captive bred or wild and I definitely don't know if hes 8 months old as the vendor said. I am a snake person, but had a RES as a kid living with parents (that is still just as awesome as he was 15 yrs ago!). I went to a local convention to acquire a new pet such as a gecko and had my research and setup done for this species. Now my oldest son fell in love with this tortoise and I decided to buy him and all necessary cage supplies with plans to build table (which I purchased wood today). Now as I liked to think I am a good reptile mama I feel completely dumb for purchasing an animal to appease my son without having proper knowledge to even give the animal a good health check first. Or that this animal is likely not captive bred or as young as I thought and what else could the man have lied about. I feel horrible for the little guy and am determined to give him the best habitat and diet as possible. He's had a good soak last night and ate his greens. He has coconut coir mix tortoise sub that another vendor sold for tortoises specifically. He has a wooden hide and water dish that is not too deep or big. His cage (for my original gecko plan) is too small hence the table plans which I want to make 4x3 feet provided that he is a russian tort and thats a good bit of space for him. I am good at wood working and this will not take me long. His basking temp is about 97 and ambient is 75 (which I may need to correct I just keep finding conflicting temo info). He sleeps all day basically though, and I've had to wake him up to get him to eat or move about. He also seems to like nestling in my shirt and hanging out while I relax with the TV which is really cute. I am worried for him, kind of kicking myself but determined to make it right and give him a great quality of life. But hoping I don't have to make the drive to my far away exotic vet but if need be I will.

Any thoughts on general health by appearance would be so greatly appreciated! His shell measures about 5 inches vertically and 4 across with the best measuring attempts I could get while he was moving. Have no clue how old he is. Also, we've had him for three days.

20190115_100303.jpg
 

rs104418

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Jan 15, 2019
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Thanks for advice! Holy cow yeah at least I have enough wood on hand to make a bigger table as well. I will read that thoroughly.
 

Maro2Bear

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Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
Greetings up North

Sure does look like you have urself a Russian tort there.

Heres some good info from TFO - https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

My guess is for sure it is Wild Caught and just one of the many brought to the general pet market.

Since you are handy, many will tell you to make your enclosure a few more feet larger in overall size. No sense making one now....and then re-doing.

Make sure you have the temps and lighting set up right. Too many folks don’t watch the temps and torty will want to brumate. Same with lighting....minimum 12-14 hours or so (timers are great).

Good luck, there are lots of folks with Russians.

Ps - i see Yvonne beat me to the info!
 

rs104418

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Jan 15, 2019
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Thank you for response! I cannot believe they need so much space but apparently they are also not supposed to sleep all the time. His urine and stool look healthy I assume it may be a temp issue so i will try to monitor that better, thank you again!

It makes me sick reading about how many are captured from their habitats. Poor babies.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
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Hello and welcome!

I really can't tell if this one is WC or CB. It looks pretty clean and the carapace is in great shape. You got a good looking one.

Its pretty normal for them to be dormant and want to sleep a lot during this time of year. Ordinarily, they'd be hibernating in winter. Your temperatures sounds great. Be sure the lights are on for about 13 hours a day, and you may need to add more lighting to convince his little tortoise brain that its not time to hibernate.

There are four elements to heating and lighting:

  1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt floods from the hardware store. I run them on a timer and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them.
  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. You'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT.
  3. Light. I use florescent tubes or LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most tubes at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish.
  4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. If you want it anyway, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height.
In addition to the other linked thread, this one might have some useful tips too:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
 

rs104418

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Jan 15, 2019
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Thank you everyone!! I raised temp a little and he came out for breakfast without me having to wake him up!! Its great seeing his little face in the morning bright eyed!
 

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