New tort. Not sure what type.

[Kimberly & Zosia]

I have read so much about torts in the last week I feel like my brain is going to explode! But there is nothing like hearing from experienced tort owners! Ok, so I bought my tort this morning from petsmart. I know what they were feeding him was wrong because he has never had fresh veggies or fruit, so I have offered him a plate of : diced carrots, tomato, celery, cucumber, and romaine. He wont touch it! He was also in cedar chunks, which I know is toxic. Hephaestus is now in a organic top soil, repti- calcium sand 50/50 mix with timothy hay strewn around. He is very active and crawling all over the bin. I have a repti-sun UVB/UVA spiral light and a 90w heat lamp. He has a mini soaking dish in his habitat with him. He will be getting a plastic kiddy pool with the same substrate mix for outside play on Thursday. Also, he pooped on my hand today and it looked like a red/brown clay. Normal?? Whew! So after reading all this, any advice or pointers would be great!

 

[dmmj]

Russian tortoise, get a good shot of the tail and underside, and we can sex it.
Chamge the diet from fruits and veggies, to leaves and flowers of various plants. hibiscus, mullberry, grape leaves, dandelions are all good choices.

 

[Kimberly & Zosia]

 

[tortadise]

Looks female to me.

 

[Kimberly & Zosia]

Well, I guess Ill be changing HER name then... lol

 

[dmmj]

I gotta agree, looks female.

 

[Kimberly & Zosia]

thank you for all your feedback, I will be starting an herb garden tomorrow and grow the things she needs to eat. Most of the things I have found that russians eat we have as plants here at my house so its not going to be as hard as I thought!
Gotta figure out how to change my name on here, or would I just need to make a new account?

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello and welcome to the TFO fromAZ . Anyone of the Mod.can change anything you like they want you happy ! Just ask


Sent from my iPhone using TortForum

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Welcome. Now that you know what you've got, you can really get going on your RT care research. That substrate needs to hold some moisture, not be completely dry, so the hay straw could get moldy. Just compost it & don't replace it.

 

[lismar79]

Did you say you are using a spiral bulb? If so please return it, they are known to cause blindness. Also a terra cotta plant saucer works great as a water dish & they are cheap in any gardencenter.

 

[Yvonne G]

thank you for all your feedback, I will be starting an herb garden tomorrow and grow the things she needs to eat. Most of the things I have found that russians eat we have as plants here at my house so its not going to be as hard as I thought!
Gotta figure out how to change my name on here, or would I just need to make a new account?

Please go to your 'in box' and start a Conversation with our admin - Josh - and he will change your username.

 

[Kimberly & Zosia]

Just got off the phone with "the turtle lady" at petsmart. She told me if I dont continue to feed Zosia (Zo-sha) (russian Goddess of Beauty) the freeze dried and pellet food that my baby will starve to death and it will be my fault! Zosia has never had fresh food of any kind except bananas. She buried herself yesterday and is still like that this morning. Do I need to dig her out and put her under her heat lamp? She didnt eat anything yesterday or this morning either... any advice?

 

[Yvonne G]

What a total idiot. She doesn't deserve the sobriquet - turtle lady.

Buy the food the tortoise is used to eating. But also buy a head of something good, like maybe escarole. Chop up some escarole into very tiny pieces and mix it all in with the pellets. Slowly, over time - maybe even months - decrease the amount of the pellets and increase the amount of greens. The tortoise will eventually eat greens and certainly will not starve to death. Take a look at the Russian tortoise care sheet at the top of the russian section. Tom has listed a whole bunch of food items you can use. Don't get stuck using only one or two kinds, and your tortoise will develop a taste for anything growing.

 

[Yvonne G]

It takes a while for tortoises to get used to living in a new habitat. Just make sure everything is correct - temperatures, lighting, etc. - and give her time.