New Baby Russian Tortoise

[MoonchildDave]

Greetings all!

I'm Dave and my wife is Vicki. She had been wanting to get a Russian tortoise for quite some time now, and with her birthday being just around the corner, I finally relented. She's been very excited ever since I told her it was a go - and she's been doing a ton of research ever since. Well, this past Tuesday was the day... Fred (tentative name) finally showed up from Tortoise Town (she wanted a "well-started" captive bred male). And yesterday he went on his first trip to the local vet just to get a clean bill of health. Vet said he was good to go and looked very good.

As we've both been researching I think we've got a good grip on the care of the little guy for the most part - and I have a feeling I'll be building an outdoor enclosure for him come next spring.

Right now, I'm wondering if the lighting we have for him is enough. I'm thinking that we may need additional lighting (but I'm wondering what people would recommend - another MVB or just some kind of regular floodlight or a tube). Also, I'm wondering what kind of temps/humidity we should have going for him. I know it should be humid (I'm thinking 70-80%ish from what I've read). Right now, we have a 100w MVB for UVA/B, and a 60W CHE. I just ordered a 150W CHE as the 60W is not getting me the 80-85degree consistent temp for his humid hide). I'm attaching pics (as it seems like everyone loves pics)...

Substrate is organic top soil, with coco coir on top. There's also some sphagnum over that in his hide. He gets soaked daily, and he and the enclosure get misted down several times a day. The lighting is on a 12/12 schedule. The aquarium is a 75 gallon (4' x 1.5'). We also ordered some TNT from Carolina Pet Supply to sprinkle on his food (the vet recommended 3x week).

 

[Minority2]

Here are some useful and important links regarding to Russian tortoise care and beginner mistakes. Most of your questions can be answered by reading the care sheet here:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Tortoise Town has a lot of bad reviews from tortoise owners in this forum. Their tortoises were started incorrectly and a good portion of them did not live past a year because of it. Keep up with the soakings and feel free to report any signs of trouble.

Young Russian tortoise do really require ceramic heat emitters of any kind in an indoor enclosure unless your night time temperatures fall below 65-60F. They're not a species of tortoise that requires or benefits from night time heating.

1. What is your basking spot, warm side, cool side, and overnight low/cool side temperatures?

Yes, keep humidity levels at 70-80%.

2. Are the mesh sections around the lamp fixtures cut out so that the mesh is not physically blocking any part of the bulb and or the circumference of the lamp hood?

Materials such as metal, plastic, and glass will physically block out UV(B) rays. The finer the mesh, the more UV(B) gets blocked out.

3. Your "tortoise advertised" resin water dish is not actually ideal for tortoises. The lip around the dish catches quite easily and will flip over often. Plant saucers are usually recommended because they're heavy and they submerge well into the substrate to allow ease of access for young tortoises. Provide only enough water so that your young tortoise doesn't accident drown themselves in.

4. Are you planning on doing any indoor planting inside your enclosure?

Make sure you decorations and plants do not get in the way or your tortoise's designated walking area. Because your current enclosure's width is so narrow; your growing tortoise may end up trampling and or destroying everything in it's path.

Some people like sphagnum moss. I myself have tried it but never saw the need for it. I mix the substrate in my indoor enclosures often so my substrate is always kept in a damp state throughout the entire area and hide boxes.

 

[MoonchildDave]

Yep, we had read both of those links. Also, this seemed to be a fairly good/extensive care sheet:

http://tortaddiction.blogspot.com/2014/12/baby-russian-tortoise-care-sheet-also.html

Basking is 91-93, warm side 87-89, cool side 76-78, overnight lows around 71-73, hide is set for 80 on the thermostat.

Mesh sections are not cut out, but it's a fairly open metal mesh (Exo Terra Screen Cover for Hinged Door, 60 Breeder/75 Gallon from Amazon). We just ordered some 36 gauge foil to help close off much of the top to help regulate the humidity. As for the water dish, we liked the look and depth of it, but to stabilize it I was going to epoxy a plant saucer to the bottom to give it the extra weight and be able to sink it into the substrate for added stability.

Right now, we only have the 2 live plants in the enclosure (an African violet, and some cat grass) - I don't foresee adding a whole lot more.

 

[katieandiggy]

I agree with all that has been said, my only observations are:
Your substrate looks too dry, you need to wet it. Spraying is not enough it will just dry out within an hour. You need to tip a jug of water over it and mix it up with your hands. Keep your humidity around 50-70%
I would maybe put some more plants in there that your tortoise can hide under.

Keep up the daily soaks

Russians do not need any overnight heat as long as your temps don’t drop below 65f I’ve never heated mine at night until autumn/winter when it just gets a little too cold in my house in the early hours.

 

[Minority2]

Yep, we had read both of those links. Also, this seemed to be a fairly good/extensive care sheet:

http://tortaddiction.blogspot.com/2014/12/baby-russian-tortoise-care-sheet-also.html

Basking is 91-93, warm side 87-89, cool side 76-78, overnight lows around 71-73, hide is set for 80 on the thermostat.

Mesh sections are not cut out, but it's a fairly open metal mesh (Exo Terra Screen Cover for Hinged Door, 60 Breeder/75 Gallon from Amazon). We just ordered some 36 gauge foil to help close off much of the top to help regulate the humidity. As for the water dish, we liked the look and depth of it, but to stabilize it I was going to epoxy a plant saucer to the bottom to give it the extra weight and be able to sink it into the substrate for added stability.

Right now, we only have the 2 live plants in the enclosure (an African violet, and some cat grass) - I don't foresee adding a whole lot more.

The link you provided uses many pictures and information from tortoise forum. There are however, some advice that I don't personally agree with. These days I just tell new owners to only use tortoise forum to make it simple for them because almost all of the information given here has been field tested, the results replicated, confirmed, and the obtained data is then discussed in great detail.

I've already given you my opinion on the mesh screen.

Raise the basking temperature to 95-100F. A wider range of temperature around the enclosure allows the tortoise more choices to choose from when they're thermoregulating.

Some people advise against having a overnight heated anything for tortoises that are supposed to experience drops in temperatures. The over reliance on a night time heating fixture may change how they react and adapt in new environments. This is one of the reasons why I don't recommend placing a basking spot directly under or too close to the warm side's hide box.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to you and Vicky to the Forum!

Aw, he's just a little baby! Remember, baby tortoises are prey, so the more hiding places, plants, "furniture" you can place around the enclosure the safer he'll feel when he's out and about.

I like to keep my baby enclosures an overall 80-85F degrees, with a very slight drop at nighttime.

Baby Russian tortoises don't need a whole lot of humidity like, for instance, the sulcatas and leopards, but it does help their shells to grow smoothly if they have a bit of humidity in there.

One of our members has put together a care sheet for young russian tortoises. Take a look: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/b...or-other-herbivorous-tortoise-species.107734/

 

[MoonchildDave]

We've got the basking area up to 95 now - that's about as warm as we can seem to get it with the Powersun 100W UVB (unless we cut a hole in the top of the lid and lower it some, which I haven't ruled out). I did think that adding a little more light than just the one bulb might get him a little more active though, so I purchased one of these:

Anyray LED PAR38 E26 (90-Watt Equivalent) E27 10W Flood Light Dimmable IP65 Wet Location (Cool White)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HXNNISM/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I liked that it was dimmable so I could have it automatically ramp up in the morning and back down in the evening like a normal day. Any harm in this? I know the CFL bulbs can damage their eyesight, but I hadn't seen anything about LED doing that. It also doesn't really add any heat to his enclosure at all - so it works well adding a little more light to the cool end. And I figured that having a bulb designed for a wet location would work with the humid environment.

I also found this... which works really well for wetting down the substrate and plants:

MyLifeUNIT Bottle Cap Sprinkler, Dual Head Bottle Watering Spout, Bonsai Watering Can for Indoor Seedlings
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M6E9QK9/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20