Setting up for a Russian Tortoise - Constructive comments welcome

[Cathie G]

Something I do with Sapphire when I bring him to his inside enclosure for the night is put him in a spot where he'll have to walk by his food tile on his own. He throws a little hissy fit when I first place him in. But then he'll stroll to his house and when he comes across food he usually eats. My main concern is that there is enough food available every time he's hungry.😄

 

[David Steere]

Something I do with Sapphire when I bring him to his inside enclosure for the night is put him in a spot where he'll have to walk by his food tile on his own. He throws a little hissy fit when I first place him in. But then he'll stroll to his house and when he comes across food he usually eats. My main concern is that there is enough food available every time he's hungry.😄

@Tom @Alex and the Redfoot @wellington

This is my state of mind.

1. Each morning at 7am I put food in Sandy's food dish. The amount is as big as Sandy. And at night I end up throwing 1/2 of the food away. And my fear was if I do not put Sandy in front of dish every two hours I will end up throwing away 3/4 of the food away. ( Diet: Salad mix of the following. Grape leaves, Violet leaves, Dandelion leaves, Escarole, Mazuri Original 5M21 Tortoise Food ( 6 pellet mashed ) and Zoo Med Natural Grassland Tortoise Food ( 2 pellets mashed. ). Mix it all together really good.
2. Also Sandy is only above ground from 7am to 3pm. Than she digs deep and is gone until morning. Not sure if this is a concern. Enclosure is around 75-80 degrees. Basking 90-100 degrees. Sandy moves around all of the enclose now. Hides under plants and behind pots. Have trouble finding Sandy sometimes.

Maybe I am worrying about nothing. Sandy is growing, moving, hiding and alert.

 

[wellington]

Something I do with Sapphire when I bring him to his inside enclosure for the night is put him in a spot where he'll have to walk by his food tile on his own. He throws a little hissy fit when I first place him in. But then he'll stroll to his house and when he comes across food he usually eats. My main concern is that there is enough food available every time he's hungry.😄

This is fine as long as there is still a basking light on for a few hours.

 

[wellington]

@Tom @Alex and the Redfoot @wellington

This is my state of mind.

1. Each morning at 7am I put food in Sandy's food dish. The amount is as big as Sandy. And at night I end up throwing 1/2 of the food away. And my fear was if I do not put Sandy in front of dish every two hours I will end up throwing away 3/4 of the food away. ( Diet: Salad mix of the following. Grape leaves, Violet leaves, Dandelion leaves, Escarole, Mazuri Original 5M21 Tortoise Food ( 6 pellet mashed ) and Zoo Med Natural Grassland Tortoise Food ( 2 pellets mashed. ). Mix it all together really good.
2. Also Sandy is only above ground from 7am to 3pm. Than she digs deep and is gone until morning. Not sure if this is a concern. Enclosure is around 75-80 degrees. Basking 90-100 degrees. Sandy moves around all of the enclose now. Hides under plants and behind pots. Have trouble finding Sandy sometimes.

Maybe I am worrying about nothing. Sandy is growing, moving, hiding and alert.

Are you noticing the same type of food left?
Feeding the exact same thing every day is a bit boring. Maybe take some of it away and change things up from day to day.
Sounds like she's pretty normal and as long as she's growing/gaining weight, I wouldn't worry so much.

 

[Tom]

Everyone has different ways of thinking about such things. I don't beg a healthy normal animal to eat. I let them eat. My wife will chase a finicky dog around the house with food. I will give the dog 5 minutes to eat its food and then I pick up the bowl and put it away if it doesn't eat it. Guess what happens after they willing choose to skip a few meals?

Same with tortoises. If my tortoise left half its food, I'd only offer it 25% the next day or two or three. Guess what happens when they see a full meal on day four... They eat all of it.

 

[SinLA]

Everyone has different ways of thinking about such things. I don't beg a healthy normal animal to eat. I let them eat. My wife will chase a finicky dog around the house with food. I will give the dog 5 minutes to eat its food and then I pick up the bowl and put it away if it doesn't eat it. Guess what happens after they willing choose to skip a few meals?

Same with tortoises. If my tortoise left half its food, I'd only offer it 25% the next day or two or three. Guess what happens when they see a full meal on day four... They eat all of it.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...

 

[David Steere]

Are you noticing the same type of food left?
Feeding the exact same thing every day is a bit boring. Maybe take some of it away and change things up from day to day.
Sounds like she's pretty normal and as long as she's growing/gaining weight, I wouldn't worry so much.

Sandy's favorite food is Mazuri. Sandy does eat the rest also. I use place Sandy's food separately but last week I started to mix the food all together. I have stopped placing Sandy by the food and noticed today Sandy was at the dish three or four times.

 

[Tom]

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...

No. I'm a professional behavior modifier. That's even worse!

 

[David Steere]

@Tom @wellington @Alex and the Redfoot @Yvonne G

I seen the horror stories on this forum about Rats.

So we live in the country and I just saw a Rat go through our foundation this morning! Yard is clean, no food, nothing to attract them so no idea why the Rat is here.

Going to setup Rat traps, poison but until I get it together I am worried about Sandy. Picture is where the Rat could enter my bedroom in basement. Enclosure is right between each opening!

Questions about Sandy:

1. Do I have to worry about Sandy during the day when the lights are on I am in and out all day? Can tortoise stay in enclosure like normal? Check in every few hours and work from home on computer.
2. Any suggestions about getting rid of Rats?
3. Special accommodations for Sandy during this time?
4. Sandy digs in deep around 3pm or 4pm is it okay to unbury if needing to move?

Anything I forgot and should do? Any advise to this problem would be great!

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

I didn't have to deal with rats (yet), so cannot give any useful advice. Maybe @ZEROPILOT can also help (he certainly dealed with them, I remember what happened to some poor rats in his redfoots enclosures).

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I didn't have to deal with rats (yet), so cannot give any useful advice. Maybe @ZEROPILOT can also help (he certainly dealed with them, I remember what happened to some poor rats in his redfoots enclosures).

Rat traps? Yes.
Rat poison? No. Some tortoises will eat a slow moving or dead Rat. And also get poisoned.
I think I've been lucky because here in south Florida there is just so much for rats to eat that they simply do not bother with my tortoises. There are rats at night. I see them using the overhead powerlines as a highway.
If I set 6 snap traps tonight, I'd have 6 rats in them tomorrow. There are that many. But for the most part, there have been no issues. A Rat did once chew through a pond liner. And a Rat did once pop up out of a toilet at 3am. But otherwise I just ignore them.

 

[wellington]

The rats I get have never bothered my tortoises. But there has always been food left over for them to eat instead of my tortoises.
Early this spring I had a guy come out and set rat bait boxes to kill the rats because they're were too many of them and they were coming out during the day and playing in the yard lol.

 

[wellington]

Rat traps? Yes.
Rat poison? No. Some tortoises will eat a slow moving or dead Rat. And also get poisoned.
I think I've been lucky because here in south Florida there is just so much for rats to eat that they simply do not bother with my tortoises. There are rats at night. I see them using the overhead powerlines as a highway.
If I set 6 snap traps tonight, I'd have 6 rats in them tomorrow. There are that many. But for the most part, there have been no issues. A Rat did once chew through a pond liner. And a Rat did once pop up out of a toilet at 3am. But otherwise I just ignore them.

Coming thru a toilet, holy crap, no way! Rats don't scare me, but that sure would.
I tried snap traps and electric traps and neither caught anything. I went with the poison. I did a daily sweep of the tortoises yards before they could be let out. I don't think my tortoises though would eat a dead animal as much as a RF might.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Coming thru a toilet, holy crap, no way! Rats don't scare me, but that sure would.
I tried snap traps and electric traps and neither caught anything. I went with the poison. I did a daily sweep of the tortoises yards before they could be let out. I don't think my tortoises though would eat a dead animal as much as a RF might.

I can confirm that Redfoot will eat anything slow enough to bite