Tortoise Tips

[PattyCake]

I am looking to add another member to the family and obtain a tortoise or box turtle in the near future. I'm thinking of a Russian Tortoise and have been researching like crazy for the past couple days. If anybody here has experience with these amazing animals I'd love to hear some tips and care advice from them.

Thanks
Patrick

 

[kinyonga]

Not with Russians but had three toed (terrapene carolina triunguis), three keeled (pyxidea mouhotii), ornate wood (rhinoclemmys pulcherima manni), eastern boxies (Terrapin Carolina carolina), hinged (kinixys) and a few others. Also hatched snapping turtles.

 

[PattyCake]

Not with Russians but had three toed (terrapene carolina triunguis), three keeled (pyxidea mouhotii), ornate wood (rhinoclemmys pulcherima manni), eastern boxies (Terrapin Carolina carolina), hinged (kinixys) and a few others. Also hatched snapping turtles.

That's quite a lot of chelonians you've owned! Are there any special diet, lighting or environment requirements?
And how big of an enclosure would they need at adult size?

Sorry for the flood of questions
Patrick

 

[fluxlizard]

I keep a couple of eastern box turtles and live in their native range.

I've researched russians but never kept them (on my list for "someday").

I think the russians would be easier, maybe, in Canada. Easterns are made for hot and fairly humid summers and cool, but not super-cool winters. Here in nature they are always found near soggy land- whether that be ditches for runoff on the side of the road or near swamps and marshes and poor draining soil. So they need humidity and they eat lots of insects and worms and things. Russians are grass eaters, and cold hardy and like it a bit dryer. Grass and weed eaters are always going to be less of a pain to keep fed (My sulcata graze in a pasture all summer and eat mostly hay in the winters with some other greens for supplemental feed. I think russians would be similar but would hibernate all winter and only need a summer pasture so feeding would be easy- just get an area 20'x10' or something for russians, maybe even a bit less and let weeds grow in it. I planted my sulcata pasture with horse pasture seed and just toss more seeds on bare spots at the end of each summer and early spring when the weather and ground are wet).

That's my opinion anyway. My boxies eat the same insects as my chameleons, and I feed them a bit of rep-cal box turtle food and throw them mulberries and blackberries and stuff from time to time as well. Plus all the insects and weeds they want in their pasture.

 

[kinyonga]

I provided them all with a source of UVB lighting (Repti-sun 5.0) and a basking light in a dome fixture (regular household incandescent light bulb) of a wattage that put the temperature in the basking area to the right temperature.

I fed them an assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies and a little fruit and a little cooked chicken....but I think with Russian tortoises you give them those greens plus an assortment of weeds and grasses...and ALMOST NO veggies and NO meat and NO fruit at all. I don't know much about the Russian tortoises.

I dusted them with the same supplements and frequency recommended for the veiled chameleons.

I kept them in a variety of cages depending on the group and size of the tortoises. Each cage had a "pond" with a drain and wetter and dryer areas and lots of hides. I didn't use plants because they would eat them but there were rocks and logs, etc in the cages. The fact that the ponds drain makes it easier to keep the water clean.

I really enjoyed them all. They're such interesting creatures!

Ask all the questions you want...no guarantee I can answer them all.

 

[PattyCake]

Thanks guys! The information was very helpful and I think I'm all set. I'm leaning really heavily toward a pair of Russian tortoises now. Going to save up for the proper materials and hopefully I'll be able to start building an outdoor DIY tortoise enclosure in the spring.

Thanks again
Patrick