Russian reassurance ....

[tortoise_addict]

I just need a little reassurance that I am being a good mom to these kiddos.
A friend of mine sent my son a Russian Tortoise for his Birthday. She is a complete sweetie. She will eat out of your hands and is not shy at all. We were instantly in love. He named her Tinkerbell. I have no clue if she is WC or CB? She is a little over 4 inches on the under side of her shell. She had pin worms and was treated and is all better now. She eats like a pig and burrows and sleeps most of the time (that was till Pan came along). I have no back ground info on her other than she is female and we love her. She was really clean and out going when she arrived via FEDEX from a herp show in New York.
Then there is Peter Pan. We got this guy off craigslist a month ago. He was owned by some boys for two years. He had no heat lamp or UVB. He lived in a dirty 20L glass tank for two years. He got no fresh greens and only pellets.
He is very shy and hisses all the time. He hated to be touched and even looked at. He was amazingly parasite free. He had clear watery nose when he first got here but seem to go away in a couple days and has yet to return. He loves his basking spot.
I introduced him to Tink after his quarantine period last weekend. He hated her and ran. She instantly was in love and followed him. She never hardly ever leaves his side now. She licked him and smelled every inch of him the second they met. It was the cutest thing ever. He had really thick black skin and I am guessing years of dried poop on him. I bought some tortoise lotion stuff from Petsmart and cover him in it twice a week. It has helped peel huge hard chunks off his skin and has revealed nice baby soft golden skin but he has a ways to go. His shell looks better too. It was really dry and little cracks all over. He never got vitamins or calcium and they have no history of him prior to there owning him.

This is what I am doing:
3x3 tortoise table. (I will graduate them in a month or two and give that one to my golden greek baby)
2 MVB T- Rex basking bulbs.. There basking is 95-100 and the cooler end is about 72.
Heat tape on the hot end of the table but rarely see them on it.
I put on a red night heat bulb at night to keep there table about 72. They burrow on the cold side in there log house.
They have organic soil mixed with forest floor.
They always have fresh water and they are in it 2-3 times a day.
They get fresh greens twice a day. (arugula, escarole, endive, red leaf lettuce, collards, turnips, spring mix, country greens and all is organic). They get hand fed treats of either squash, carrott, apple, avacodo or whatever fruit or veggie we eat that day. Pan will devour an entire avacado if I let him. Not sure if its good for them?
I dust there greens with Reptile Life Vitamin and Mineral Dusting Powder with Calcium D3. It has a lot of lactobacillus and good pro biotics in it. It smells sweet and they like it.
They clear two plates of greens a day both times dusted.
Tink will relish a superworm but have only allowed her to eat a couple because I am not sure they are good for them. She will take my fingers off trying to get it.
I guess that is about it.
There substrate is deep enough they completely disappear when they burrow in it.
Any changes that need to be made please let me know. I know Peter Pan probably needs something extra to make up for his lack of care from his previous home.
Thanks!

Edit:
Tinkerbell head bobs peter pan every now and then... Whats that about?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Tortoise_Addict: I've heard that avacado is NOT good for tortoises, however I just now GOOGLE'd it and came up with conflicting answers. The head bobbing can either be a dominance thing done by a female to another tortoise, or a breeding thing done by the male to the female. And your Russian tortoises are vegetarians and should not be offered super worms. Both tortoises look very nice in the photos...healthy and well-kept. Good job!!

Yvonne

 

[egyptiandan]

Almost everything looks good.

You don't need the heat tape or the red light at night, unless your house goes below 60F at night.
I would cut out all fruit and the avacado. The avacado is to high in fat for them.

Your doing a great job with everything else.

Danny

 

[Clementine_3]

I dust there greens with Reptile Life Vitamin and Mineral Dusting Powder with Calcium D3. It has a lot of lactobacillus and good pro biotics in it. It smells sweet and they like it.
They clear two plates of greens a day both times dusted.

That is a lot of D3, you shouldn't have to supplement the D3 at all if you are using UVA/UVB bulbs. Too much D3 is not at all good, it builds up and can do more damage than good. The same is true of some of the vitamins and minerals, some will build up and some will pass through their systems. You are feeding them a good diet and they should get what they need from that. Additional pure calcium could be sprinkled on their greens and a vitamin/mineral supplement (no D3) could be used sparingly.
I recently got a Greek tort that was in similar conditions as Peter Pan and give him vitamins/minerals only once a week and calcium a few times a week...too much of a good thing is not always a good thing
Your little guys are cute as the dickens!

 

[tortoise_addict]

Thanks everyone. I will cut out theD3, avacado and superworm treats. I will also stop using the heat tape and night bulb. They are always awake before me at 7am. They are usually waiting under the red heat bulb when I get up. Then they head straight to there food bowl and wait for me to fill it. They are the first thing I feed in the morning. After they eat they bask. ITs the same routine with these guys. So I will see how it goes with the heat bulb off. The room is about 68 at night.
Thanks so much for reassuring me that I am headed in the right direction with these kids.