Hello all! On sunday, i bought a male russian tort from the pet store. his name is Karl Smirnov. he has a cage and everything, and seems to be slowly(hah! pun)adapting to his new environment. He eats romaine lettuce, fresh dandelion leaves, and kale. because he is my first tortoise, i was wondering if you all had any tips on raising Karl to be a happy male tort. thank you all!

Welcome to the forum! Can you tell us where about in the world are you, it makes a difference when giving suggestions about care for your tortoise. I have three Russian Torts, they are awesome little guys. Tell us a little bit about the habitat you set up for your new guy.

Welcome

Hi and welcome! Congrats on your new Russian. What made you decide Russians were the ones for you? Can you show us his enclosure? Does or will he have an outside one? Keep in mind Russians are great climber, so make wonderful escape artists. Keep adding more and more variety to his diet, too.

(08-14-2012 05:27 AM)Laurie Wrote:  Welcome to the forum! Can you tell us where about in the world are you, it makes a difference when giving suggestions about care for your tortoise. I have three Russian Torts, they are awesome little guys. Tell us a little bit about the habitat you set up for your new guy.

well, we have a 50 gallon tank with a carved out log. mulch on the floor and a few flat rocks + water dish. i know a glass tank is unsuitable for tortoises, but that was all they had at the pet store. i will save up money for a better cage. made of wood from zoo med
this is him in my yard

(08-14-2012 05:32 AM)Jacqui Wrote:  Hi and welcome! Congrats on your new Russian. What made you decide Russians were the ones for you? Can you show us his enclosure? Does or will he have an outside one? Keep in mind Russians are great climber, so make wonderful escape artists. Keep adding more and more variety to his diet, too.

yeah , i know he needs some variety. he has a glass 50 gallon tank. (unsuitable i know.) but he is outside under supervision most of the time, and we usally put him in his cage for eating and sleeping. i will try to buy a zoo med wooden enclosure
this is him in my yard. (we live in virginia)
/Users/kdepeyrot/Desktop/KARL.jpg

(08-14-2012 05:38 AM)Dunsparce Wrote:  

(08-14-2012 05:32 AM)Jacqui Wrote:  Hi and welcome! Congrats on your new Russian. What made you decide Russians were the ones for you? Can you show us his enclosure? Does or will he have an outside one? Keep in mind Russians are great climber, so make wonderful escape artists. Keep adding more and more variety to his diet, too.

yeah , i know he needs some variety. he has a glass 50 gallon tank. (unsuitable i know.) but he is outside under supervision most of the time, and we usally put him in his cage for eating and sleeping. i will try to buy a zoo med wooden enclosure
this is him in my yard. (we live in virginia)
/Users/kdepeyrot/Desktop/KARL.jpg

oh yeah...his cage is inside. i know it is unsuitable for him. i am sort of worried but it is hard. i am in middle school, so i try my hardest to keep him happy

The first five posts are moderating, so they are only shown with Mod approval. We deleted all the duplicates, so your fine.

oh good. how many leaves a day does he need? his shell is only 4 inches long (or longer..maybe 5 in?)

Hello, welcome and congratulations. You glass tank is fine, but depending on the size of your tortoise, it might be a bit small. Lots of us use glass tanks. Nothing wrong with them. In my signature are some links that might give you some ideas for making a nice outdoor enclosure for him. Outdoors is best, especially at this time of year. Sleeping inside is fine too.

thanks tom. whew, i thought i was a bad owner

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i uploaded Karls pic for my profile so you could see him
only temorary though

Welcome, Julien!

Welcome!

Welcome!

A really easy fix for glass tanks is covering the sides with paper as a visual barrier. Also a easy outdoor enclosure is a plastic kiddy pool. You should add organic girl organic spring mix, or any other brand of spring mix, to his diet(it's mixed kinds of lettuce that my tort loves). Hope this helps!

This is mine outdoor enclosure
[ATTACH]26128[/ATTACH]

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chester tortoiseson Wrote:A really easy fix for glass tanks is covering the sides with paper as a visual barrier. Also a easy outdoor enclosure is a plastic kiddy pool. You should add organic girl organic spring mix, or any other brand of spring mix, to his diet(it's mixed kinds of lettuce that my tort loves). Hope this helps!

This is mine outdoor enclosure

Also what I do for feeding, is I give him a pile of leaves about the size of this shell