Russian tortoise age?, calcium supplements

[Saclzp]

Hello,
2 questions. How can I determine how old my Russian tortoises are...1 female, 1 male.
Is it advisable to give calcium supplements?
Both tortoises are out in sun/shade all day, are fed a variety of greens and other veges daily...so are the supplements still necessary?
Would appreciate any help...thank you.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

I give mine calcium once a week and keep a cuttlebone for them in the pen at all times. I don't know if the supplements are necessary, but I feel better knowing they are getting some calcium - just in case. As far as I know, there's not really a way to determine the age, but I may be wrong here. Hopefully someone will chime in ...

 

[dmmj]

Personally I would just leave cuttle bone out there and let them supplement themselves. As far as age goes, without knowing when they were hatched there is no definite way of knowing just guesses.

 

[GBtortoises]

I very rarely (nearly never) have seen my Russian tortoises consume calcium. Even so, I always make it available to them to consume as they want to. For babies and very young tortoises (under 4") I keep calcium carbonate powder in their enclosure in a small, shallow lid along with small broken pieces of cuttlebone. For adults I use broken up cuttlebone pieces. I've never seen my adults consume it, but have seen very young tortoises occasionally do so. It could just be mine and that they are getting enough calcium as part of their regular diet.

As far as age it is difficult to know exactly how old your tortoises are unless they were captive born and you have the actual birthdate (or at least birth year) from the breeder. Captive born tortoises almost always grow faster than their wild caught counterparts so while bigger in size, they will often be younger. Wild caught tortoises are often very weather worn and look much older than they may be. This is especially true of Russian tortoises. If you want to post some photos of them we can all probably make some fairly close guesses on age.

 

[Saclzp]

Thanks everyone. We actually do keep a cuttlebone in their food dish at all times...they don't seem to be interested. Can you give them too much calcium? I was contemplating sprinkling powder on food once a week.

 

[wrmitchell22]

Thanks everyone. We actually do keep a cuttlebone in their food dish at all times...they don't seem to be interested. Can you give them too much calcium? I was contemplating sprinkling powder on food once a week.

Once a week seems like a fine amount, I don't have russians, but I break off pieces of the cuttle bone and scrape powder off of it onto Boulders food once a week. You could try that.

 

[Saclzp]

Thank you all so much for your advice.
It was very helpful.
Linda