[split] kidsdad's question

[kidsdad]

New to Site Probably not suppose to post here though i will try. Have a relative who has Russians and has been looking for 2 females. Yesterday I stumbled on a Craigslist site that stated Females. SO we picked up three. Two for the relative and one for my son. From the information i have been told and read I have reason to believe one is male. Smaller tortoise longer tail and it is held to the side. this particular tortoise is also not as active as others and has not eaten to our knowledge yet. I am not sure if scared, cold, or other. He was real light and was told to place in 1/2 in of water as may be dehydrated. Did so last night for 1/2 hour again this morning and was told to do one more time tonight then TOLD NOT to keep doing it.. WHen in water very active..
How can I tell if male/female
How can I tell its age?
How can i tell if cap/wild?
WHy is it so still? will move but not like others

The person that sold them swears he is a breeder and he sold me females only. I would assume the gentle man is in his 30's.. an have found his name in relation to sponsored functions and such in the area to do with Tortoises turtles and Reptiles.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi 'dad' and welcome to the Forum!

Your pictures look like a female tortoise to me.

What kind of foods are you offering her? Also, she may need to be de-wormed.

 

[kidsdad]

Hi 'dad' and welcome to the Forum!

Your pictures look like a female tortoise to me.

What kind of foods are you offering her? Also, she may need to be de-wormed.

thank you for replying.
Picked up a spring leafy mix. We have three until we pass the other two off two an aunt who has a few. The other two are eating very well and more movement. they all have pooed and it was dark. The one in the pic has not eaten at all to our knowledge and was real light so we placed in 1/2 inch water couple times. was told to help hydrate.
is there a miracle food they can not resist?
How or why do you think its a female?
how old would you think?
would you say originally wild or born in captivity?
How do you deworm where do you get meds?

 

[Yvonne G]

It's probably wild caught, and that's why I assumed it has worms (parasites). It is a young tortoise, not quite full grown, but not a baby. Russian tortoises usually like Spring Mix. Is the tortoise warm enough? They won't eat if they're not warm. Male russian tortoises have pretty big, fat tails, even when they're smaller, like yours is.

If you can get a stool sample, it would be a good idea to take it to a vet to check for worms.

I would set this tortoise up in a smaller, hospital tank with an overall temperature of around 80-85F degrees. Make sure there is a hiding place so the tortoise can get away from the light. Soak it every day for about a half hour. In fact, buy some Gerber strained carrots and soak the tortoise in the baby food mixed with a little bit of warm water, every day for about 30 minutes.

If you do take this tortoise to the vet, don't allow the vet to give it an injection of vitamin A (usually called A,D,E)

It may just be that the tortoise is stressed out from the move, but it sounds to me as if she is a little under the weather.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Tortoises get excited over red and orange foods, so offer the little fellow some chopped up red bell pepper mixed in it's food...once warmed up, he might show more enthusiasm.

Soak him every day for a week, then 2-3X a week...hydration is important.

 

[kidsdad]

Thank you for the continuing info. I will separate then I can tell if eating and to get accurate stool sample. AS for male or Female I was previously told Short tails that are not tucked when they walk are females and long skinny tails that may tuck when walking are males??????
I will post pictures of all three If you dont mind give me your opinion on sex

I take all information in and try to work with it,...

 

[kidsdad]

Here are pictures of all Three What would assume each is M/F?

 

[biochemnerd808]

It is a little hard to see just from the top... my guess right now would be that the first two are female, the third might be male. To be sure, I'd need to see the undersides of the tails. The vent (where poop etc comes out) in males is shaped like a slit and is at the tip of the tail. The vent of a female is closer to the body, and is shaped like a pucker, or an asterisk (*).

I posted some pics in this thread of some 'typical' male and female RTs... there are slight tail size and shape variations... and older males have longer tails. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/post-631877.html#pid631877 (scroll a little to my comment that has the pics... if you click on each pic, it will show you an enlarged version in the next tab).

I concur with the advice of separating the 'light one' that hasn't eaten yet. It may not be eating because the others are bullying it, or because it is ill. It may have parasites (if one has them, they likely all have them). I would recommend that you call several vets to see how much it would cost to just have a fecal for each tortoise run, to test for parasites. I found a dog/cat vet that will run the test without requiring an office visit... and they cost half as much for the test as our reptile vet ($26 rather than $63). If the fecal tests positive for parasites, you can always take the results to the reptile vet, and they will help you treat them.

The proper treatment for tortoises with worms is fenbendazole, which is available as a paste for horses by the brand 'panacur' or 'safeguard' in feed stores. However, since you don't have experience with proper dosage etc, I absolutely recommend that you work with a vet on this. You don't want to kill your tortoises with an overdose of worming meds...

 

[kidsdad]

3 more pictures Hope I understood what you want to see

largest
Middle
Smallest

Again thank you for your time and efforts

 

[Spn785]

I think all three are female, but they may be too small to tell for sure. how big are they?

 

[kidsdad]

They are all around 4 inches in diameter
How Old would any one assume they may be?

 

[Spn785]

You never really know, but I would assume somewhere between 2 and 4. This also means that they are probably to young to really tell. There is actually only three ways to know for sure. If your tortoise lays eggs it is female, if it "flashes" you, it is male, or some vets can do an edoscopy to tell.