New Tortoise, New Everything

[lorenam]

Hi, I'm new to this site! I recently got a new tortoise, a Russian Tortoise I believe, from a friend who longer wanted it (she sorta just gave it to me) and I accepted because I want to take care of him. I soon realized that there is a lot that I don't know and the further research I did the more I felt overwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, I still want to take care of him but I need some help. The enclosure that my friend gave me is a glass tank and is too small. I know I need to get him a better enclosure, but I don't know where to get an affordable and good one. He also needs new water and food dishes and from what I have read also new substrate. I would also appreciate some advice about a prooer diet. I'll post picture of his enclosure and I would appreciate any advice you could give me. Thank you!

 

[wellington]

An inexpensive option for enclosure is a pop up portable greenhouse or a raised garden table/bed.
Clay saucer for water and orchid/fir bark or coconut coir for substrate or a combo of the two.
I'll post a pic of the enclosures I'm talking about.
Also, how old and big is he?

 

[Ink]

Cute Russian. Welcome to the forum.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Could you send a photo of the underside of your tortoise? Carapace length and weight will also help to determine its age and gender.

 

[lorenam]

An inexpensive option for enclosure is a pop up portable greenhouse or a raised garden table/bed.
Clay saucer for water and orchid/fir bark or coconut coir for substrate or a combo of the two.
I'll post a pic of the enclosures I'm talking about.
Also, how old and big is he?
View attachment 372247View attachment 372248

Thank you so much! He's about 10 inches big and unfortunately my friend didn't know his exact age, so I don't know how old he is

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

If he/she is 10 inches, it is very likely that she is a female, but a photo of the underside of the tail will confirm this.

Please check out these links:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[lorenam]

Could you send a photo of the underside of your tortoise? Carapace length and weight will also help to determine its age and gender.

Of course!

 

[Ink]

Congratulations on your boy!

 

[wellington]

Yep, it's a boy. Big boy at 10 inches. He is definitely an adult and needs a 4x8 foot enclosure and 50% humidity.
To measure, you measure the bottom shell from head to tail not counting the head or tail though, just the shell.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Yeah, 10 inches carapace would be a really big boy!

 

[lorenam]

Yep, it's a boy. Big boy at 10 inches. He is definitely an adult and needs a 4x8 foot enclosure and 50% humidity.
To measure, you measure the bottom shell from head to tail not counting the head or tail though, just the shell.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm afraid I'm a tortoise snob. It is my opinion all tortoises should live outside. When outside is not feasible he needs the largest, most natural habitat you can provide indoors. Wellington suggested a mini greenhouse, but, in my opinion, because your tortoise is a russian, and full grown, a greenhouse isn't necessary. When your tortoise needs hot and humid, the greenhouse is the way to go, but a full grown russian doesn't need all that humidity. BUT the enclosure DOES need to be as big as you have space for. You can buy a couple of large plastic totes and cut out opposing ends, fitting them together to make one large tote (not set in stone, just giving you an idea). I use plastic so I can moisten the substrate.

I like to feed on a large ceramic tile and I provide water in a clay plant saucer large enough for him to fit into if he so desires.

Read the care sheet and ask for explanations. We're happy to help.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I second with @Yvonne G You could also build a large wooden box on top of plywood sheets and waterproof it with some pool liner (this is what I did to mine). With a humid hide and humid substrate adult Russians can live in a open top enclousure.

 

[wellington]

I'm afraid I'm a tortoise snob. It is my opinion all tortoises should live outside. When outside is not feasible he needs the largest, most natural habitat you can provide indoors. Wellington suggested a mini greenhouse, but, in my opinion, because your tortoise is a russian, and full grown, a greenhouse isn't necessary. When your tortoise needs hot and humid, the greenhouse is the way to go, but a full grown russian doesn't need all that humidity. BUT the enclosure DOES need to be as big as you have space for. You can buy a couple of large plastic totes and cut out opposing ends, fitting them together to make one large tote (not set in stone, just giving you an idea). I use plastic so I can moisten the substrate.

I like to feed on a large ceramic tile and I provide water in a clay plant saucer large enough for him to fit into if he so desires.

Read the care sheet and ask for explanations. We're happy to help.

No, a greenhouse is not needed for an adult, but it's a cheap, not to unpleasant to look at option. Plus you can see the tortoise thru them, unlike the totes that are much uglier and not see thru.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

The most important thing is to choose the enclosure style that you can make the biggest, not so the aesthetics. There are a lot of cheap options, just pick what works for you.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hi welcome to the forum!
If you don’t have safe secure area you can build an outdoor enclosure, my personal recommendation is you make some sort of base, just make sure the material is safe, or a large 8x4 bookcase with the shelves removed laid flat, or even a flower bed(pic included) for all these options simply line it with some cheap pound liner to put your substrate in, you can then make your own stands out of timber for his uv and lights. Just make sure the sides are high enough to prevent escaping! They’re renowned for it😂

Out of interest, what lights are you using specifically? Avoid anything labelled halogen or mercury vapour, for his basking light you want a incandescent floodlight(pic attached)
The basking temp should be 95-100f(36-37) directly under the lamp. The rest of the enclosure should be ranging 75-80, though I think in this sized set up you’ll struggle getting the optimal temperature gradient. The floodlight needs to be on a 12hour timer. What are your day temps reading for both basking and throughout enclosure?

What are your night temps? If your house stays above 60f at night, you won’t need a CHE(ceramic heat emitter for night heat)

What are you using for uv? You’ll need a t5 tube fluorescent strip bulb, I’d personally recommend the Arcadia brand 12%, mounted 18-21 inches from substrate, it comes with a built in reflector fitting as to not waste any uv light, I’ll include some photos of the kind of stands people use to fit those. That can be on a separate 4hr timer from noon.

Humidity needs to be around 50%. I’d recommend getting some monitors that measure both.

I’d also recommend getting a temp gun, very handy when setting up a new environment and it’s good to double check your monitors are reading correctly.

How’s his diet been?

What substrate is it you’re using? Looks like mulch which is fine🙂

For a water dish I’d get yourself a large shallow terracotta saucer, they’re considered the safest, the dish you have could be a bit of a hazard.

I know first hand how easy it is to become overwhelmed with research, there’s so much misinformation and outdated care out there. All I can say to that is, here your in the best possible place for the most up to date, correct care information that results in healthy tortoises, stick with us and we’ll get you on the right track! Ask any questions you need to that come up, we’ll help guide every step of the way. One set at a time, you got this!😊

 

[lorenam]

Hi welcome to the forum!
If you don’t have safe secure area you can build an outdoor enclosure, my personal recommendation is you make some sort of base, just make sure the material is safe, or a large 8x4 bookcase with the shelves removed laid flat, or even a flower bed(pic included) for all these options simply line it with some cheap pound liner to put your substrate in, you can then make your own stands out of timber for his uv and lights. Just make sure the sides are high enough to prevent escaping! They’re renowned for it😂

Out of interest, what lights are you using specifically? Avoid anything labelled halogen or mercury vapour, for his basking light you want a incandescent floodlight(pic attached)
The basking temp should be 95-100f(36-37) directly under the lamp. The rest of the enclosure should be ranging 75-80, though I think in this sized set up you’ll struggle getting the optimal temperature gradient. The floodlight needs to be on a 12hour timer. What are your day temps reading for both basking and throughout enclosure?

What are your night temps? If your house stays above 60f at night, you won’t need a CHE(ceramic heat emitter for night heat)

What are you using for uv? You’ll need a t5 tube fluorescent strip bulb, I’d personally recommend the Arcadia brand 12%, mounted 18-21 inches from substrate, it comes with a built in reflector fitting as to not waste any uv light, I’ll include some photos of the kind of stands people use to fit those. That can be on a separate 4hr timer from noon.

Humidity needs to be around 50%. I’d recommend getting some monitors that measure both.

I’d also recommend getting a temp gun, very handy when setting up a new environment and it’s good to double check your monitors are reading correctly.

How’s his diet been?

What substrate is it you’re using? Looks like mulch which is fine🙂

For a water dish I’d get yourself a large shallow terracotta saucer, they’re considered the safest, the dish you have could be a bit of a hazard.

I know first hand how easy it is to become overwhelmed with research, there’s so much misinformation and outdated care out there. All I can say to that is, here your in the best possible place for the most up to date, correct care information that results in healthy tortoises, stick with us and we’ll get you on the right track! Ask any questions you need to that come up, we’ll help guide every step of the way. One set at a time, you got this!😊

Thank you so much! I'm still using the light my friend gave me so I'm not sure what it is exactly, I'll change it as soon as I can. The temperature of his enclosure never goes below 60 during the night and during the day it ra get from 80-95 degrees. For his diet, he's been eating a variety of turnip greens, collard greens and I also give him yellow squash and green pepper.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you so much! I'm still using the light my friend gave me so I'm not sure what it is exactly, I'll change it as soon as I can. The temperature of his enclosure never goes below 60 during the night and during the day it ra get from 80-95 degrees. For his diet, he's been eating a variety of turnip greens, collard greens and I also give him yellow squash and green pepper.

Yeah get them switched to the right bulbs and get yourself a t5 uv bulb if keeping him indoors, I’d go for the Arcadia personally🙂

Temps sound good as long as the enclosure isn’t up to 95 all over, just under the bulb, then the rest in the 75-80 range during the day👍but for the diet don’t feed the squash or pepper! For more ideas and info on diet, check out this website

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

 

[Tom]

Thank you so much! I'm still using the light my friend gave me so I'm not sure what it is exactly, I'll change it as soon as I can. The temperature of his enclosure never goes below 60 during the night and during the day it ra get from 80-95 degrees. For his diet, he's been eating a variety of turnip greens, collard greens and I also give him yellow squash and green pepper.

Please the click on and read the threads from post number 6 above.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Also he’s going to need a size upgrade asap! He’s a big boy for a Russian! Needs at least 8x4 foot roaming space, bigger the better, hopefully my previous reply can give you an idea of setting something more appropriate up🙂