Enclosure Progress & some questions 🐢

[sunny_27]

I envy this tortoise! And Sunny is so handsome!

Besha's routine is pretty simple:
1. Wake up at 5.40-6AM
2. Do nothing (except a couple of yawns) and looking out of the hide.
3. At 6.15 stand near usual food dish place. Moving closer with each minute to make it obvious that she's hungry.
4. At 6.45 get into her water dish (I should fill it with fresh clean lukewarm water by that time!). Soak 15-20 minutes.
5. Do some strolls around the enclosure.
6. Climb pothos, scratch the glass doors until I let her on the walk outside.
7. Do some tortoise business until 11.30.
8. Nap, because sun is too fierce.
9. 3PM - up and running... Maybe.
10. 5:30PM - last snack then tuck in for the night.

I do weightings and visual checkup on Tuesday mornings before taking her outside, add calcium supplements on Fridays, multi-vitamins - on Tuesdays. I soak her irregularly daily or every other day (no strict schedule here but she likes to bath and often sits in the water dish) - often 1-2 times in the middle of the day when I move her from outside back in the enclosure to cool down or warm up. For a Russian tortoise you don't so much soaks or he will be mad at you

Awee, Besha! What a beautiful name and I checked your media and she is such a cutie!! Thanks for sharing about her routine and how you take care of her on a daily basis. This is all so helpful to know and compare to what I should be doing with Sunny.

Question about food. It sounds like you feed her twice a day, once in the morning and once at night? I think I read that Russians are grazers and I've noticed that Sunny is very food motivated and seems to want to eat like 5 times a day. He ate ALL of the sprouts we planted for him over two days. Today I gave him what I thought was a large breakfast (like a handful of the testudo mix), a snack when he went to his outside enclosure, and then another handful in the evening. Is that too much or not enough? Should Russians always have food available so they can do their natural grazing behavior?

Also we got him the little cuttle bone thingy but he doesn't seem to try and bite it or anything, he just ignores it completely. Would it be better to get him the powder and sprinkle it on his food? What are the other multi-vitamins you give Besha?

Here is a cute picture I got of him when outside he has definitely armed up to me and comes to the edge of the enclosure when I call for him, I'm not sure if it's just because I give him food and he started taking it form my hand but he definitely seems more comfy now 🐢💚

 

[sunny_27]

LOVE the pics! Sunny is gorgeous and this enclosure is amazing. My Russian is only 8 months, so does more sleeping and gets daily soaks.

Routine currently looks like:

• 7:00am Basking light comes on
• 8:00am Room lights and tort is sometimes coming out of their hide
• 8:30 ~ 9:30am (depending on whether tort is being extra lazy or not) Bath Time! Followed by supervised adventure and engagement time in a separate enclosure for about 30 minutes. Afterwards we're back in our main enclosure. Breakfast is also served after bath time.
• 10:00am Breakfast has been consumed and it's time to bask or loaf on the wheel
  
  
• Loafing with intermittent trips to get some more noms, 'run' on the wheel, and go from wheel to basking area. Occasional rampage around the enclosure. Sometimes tort is exceptionally lazy and just basks through the afternoon before consuming a bunch of food right before bed.
  
  
• 3-5pm Eat more food, 'run' on wheel if haven't already done so (uses the wheel almost every day for an hour or so).
• 4-6pm-ish Back to bed!

Hello there! Thank you so much for you compliment awee! Yours is still a baby ♥️ we aren't sure how old Sunny is since we believe he was bought from a pet shop and we don't know how long his previous owner had him before he was surrender to A Critter's Chance here in Indy. He only spent 3 months at the rescue and then came to us. We think he is full grown though.

Ohh I checked out your media because I was curious about your wheel! How fun! I've noticed that Sunny is mainly staying on the top level of his enclosure, but I'm hoping he explores more of it and becomes more comfy using the ramp. He used it today just fine but went back up. I'm wondering if he just really enjoys his basking rock. So far he has spent a lot of time there 🌞

Your tort also sounds very good motivated! Do you always have food available for them or do you only take it out at the meal times?

Thanks so much for sharing 🐢💚

 

[sunny_27]

Forgot to mention weigh day! Friday morning before bath time is when we do weigh ins and measure shell growth We also get a gentle shell scrub with a toothbrush (extremely hated experience) on Fridays as all that digging and stomping leads to a messy little dude.

What kind of scale do you use? And oh goodness, I'm sure Sunny won't be find of getting his shell scrubbed either 😅

 

[sunny_27]

Edward's current routine:

7 am: Lights go on
7-9 am: Grazing and basking. Walking up and down the ramp.
9-11 am: Nap
11 am - 13 pm: Digging and making a mess. Trying to climb on top of the hide etc.
13-18 pm: Outdoor time in the outdoor enclosure, grazing and patroling
18-19 pm: Soak (3 times a week) and one last snack, some digging and of to bed

I weigh him on Fridays after the soak.

Awe Edward! What an awesome name for a tort! Thanks for sharing about Edward's routine

Did you have to do anything to get your tort used to the ramp? Sunny doesn't use it unless I place him toward one direction or the other.

He sounds like a happy boy! 🐢💚

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Awee, Besha! What a beautiful name and I checked your media and she is such a cutie!! Thanks for sharing about her routine and how you take care of her on a daily basis. This is all so helpful to know and compare to what I should be doing with Sunny.

Question about food. It sounds like you feed her twice a day, once in the morning and once at night? I think I read that Russians are grazers and I've noticed that Sunny is very food motivated and seems to want to eat like 5 times a day. He ate ALL of the sprouts we planted for him over two days. Today I gave him what I thought was a large breakfast (like a handful of the testudo mix), a snack when he went to his outside enclosure, and then another handful in the evening. Is that too much or not enough? Should Russians always have food available so they can do their natural grazing behavior?

Also we got him the little cuttle bone thingy but he doesn't seem to try and bite it or anything, he just ignores it completely. Would it be better to get him the powder and sprinkle it on his food? What are the other multi-vitamins you give Besha?

Here is a cute picture I got of him when outside he has definitely armed up to me and comes to the edge of the enclosure when I call for him, I'm not sure if it's just because I give him food and he started taking it form my hand but he definitely seems more comfy now 🐢💚View attachment 371789

Thank you! Besha appreciates the compliments!

I have food dish available through the day, so she always can take a bite. She just does prefers "serious meals" twice a day, but during a day she does some "drive-ins" - walks through the dish and chomps a leaf or two.

Feed Sunny as much as he can eat Food should be always available. By the end of the day there should be a little bit left in the dish. If everything's eaten - add more next day. He has decent space to walk and his diet is good so there is no risk of overfeeding.

They can ignore cuttlebone for months and then devour it in a few days. However, sprinkling a tiny pinch of calcium powder over greens once a week is recommended. I also use ZooMed Reptivite to even out nutrient deficiences (MinerAll is another good one supplement, but hard to find outside US) in Besha's ration. Both calcium and vitamins I give are without D3 (she gets enough natural UV).

I use kitchen scale to weight Besha. I put a bowl on the scale and then tortoise inside the bowl. Another way is to place a small bucket upside down and put a tortoise on top.

If he comes out to you, perhaps you are a "food god" now. That's fine.

He will get used to walk the ramp. This will take some time but they completely understand how it works

 

[_The_Beast_]

What kind of scale do you use? And oh goodness, I'm sure Sunny won't be find of getting his shell scrubbed either 😅

We use a digital food scale 🫶

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Awe Edward! What an awesome name for a tort! Thanks for sharing about Edward's routine

Did you have to do anything to get your tort used to the ramp? Sunny doesn't use it unless I place him toward one direction or the other.

He sounds like a happy boy! 🐢💚

I also use a digital food scale for Edward, place a carrier on it and tare the carrier before weighing him.

Edward has always been fairly exploratory and a good climber so he got used to the ramp pretty quickly on his own (in under a day), but I bet this is also a personality thing.