Soon to be Tort Mom!

[_The_Beast_]

Hello Everyone
Long-time lurker, first time poster, and getting really excited to welcome a little russian/horsefield tortoise to our home in two weeks! He/she is coming from a captive breeder in Canada and will be 3 months old when they arrive. I've been researching on this forum for over a year and have found the information to be invaluable, particularly the stickies on care and lighting. The little one's vivarium is set-up, temp and humidity tested, and ready to go! I'm in Southern Ontario, Canada, and this will be our first tortoise. We have a 10 year old cat and have previously had chinchillas (hence the profile pic), so it's been interesting to go from the rule of thumb being 'make sure the temps are cold enough' to 'make sure the temps are warm enough'! We've decided on 'Walter' for a boy and 'Lily' for a girl, so we'll probably be alternating between them for the first few years or so until we know lol.
Thank you everyone for contributing to making this incredible trove of knowledge possible!

 

[Tom]

Well you have been here a while, but since this is your introduction: Hello and welcome! Congrats on the new baby too! Walter/Lily will have a great life with you.

You've probably already seen this one, but I will link it for you anyway, and perhaps other lurkers will find it helpful too. There is a heating/lighting breakdown and a temperate species care sheet near the bottom:

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

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome and congrats. Be sure to post pics when your little one arrives.

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and all the best with your new tortoise when it comes. I have brothers and their families in Toronto - Oakville and Scarborough.

 

[_The_Beast_]

Our little one arrived this morning! Walter-Lily is three months old and has the sweetest little grump face. Here a pic of them settling into their closed chamber baby home (4x3, coco coir, deep substrate, and its holding heat and humidity fantastically). We're in love!