Hello,
I recently bought a Russian Tortoise, who my girlfriend has named Mr Pumblechook (I voted for Captain Awesome but got overruled).
I read round a bit before building my first tortoise table and came up with this:
It was four feet by two, with a UVB/UVA lamp at one end at a height of 1 foot from the substrate, and about 3 inch depth of hemp substrate with some playsand/soil mix in the corner. I found Mr Pumblechook spent a lot of his time scrabbling at the wooden base, trying to burrow deeper, so I have built him a new and improved house with a deep end -
The shallow and hot end has hemp substrate to 2-3 inches deep, the deep end is a bit over a foot deep and filled with a mixture of topsoil and playsand.
I got back today and after some increasingly panicked digging, found a very mucky tortoise about 9 inches down. I expected him to make a tunnel, but he was completely buried. I got him out and popped him in a bath, and he doesn't seem any the worse for wear.
Does anyone have experience with Russian tortoises burrowing habits? Should he be making himself a little tunnel or is total immersion normal? Perhaps I have the substrate mixture wrong or too dry? I'm assuming I can rely on his little tortoise instincts to not suffocate himself..
I recently bought a Russian Tortoise, who my girlfriend has named Mr Pumblechook (I voted for Captain Awesome but got overruled).
I read round a bit before building my first tortoise table and came up with this:
It was four feet by two, with a UVB/UVA lamp at one end at a height of 1 foot from the substrate, and about 3 inch depth of hemp substrate with some playsand/soil mix in the corner. I found Mr Pumblechook spent a lot of his time scrabbling at the wooden base, trying to burrow deeper, so I have built him a new and improved house with a deep end -
The shallow and hot end has hemp substrate to 2-3 inches deep, the deep end is a bit over a foot deep and filled with a mixture of topsoil and playsand.
I got back today and after some increasingly panicked digging, found a very mucky tortoise about 9 inches down. I expected him to make a tunnel, but he was completely buried. I got him out and popped him in a bath, and he doesn't seem any the worse for wear.
Does anyone have experience with Russian tortoises burrowing habits? Should he be making himself a little tunnel or is total immersion normal? Perhaps I have the substrate mixture wrong or too dry? I'm assuming I can rely on his little tortoise instincts to not suffocate himself..