Good Price?

[Kikwi]

What is a good price for a baby/hatchling russian tortoise? i'm told its better to start with a baby, and i find that russians are way more expensive than other types of tortoises, except for in petstores but they arent healthy or captive bred from the petstore. I know its going to be a costly task, but i wanted to get an estimate of what i could be spending with the price of the tort included, what is a goo price and where can i find it for that price? as far as i can tell there arent many breeders here on the site either. im thinking of getting a good heating set up that isnt just a cheap budget buy, and maybe trying to find a bookshelf to i can make a tortoise table that can fit in my room (which sadly isnt the biggest but it has room )

 

[Alexio]

I would think for a hatching Russian\ up to a year or so in the 150-250 range but I would think about 200.( not including shipping) This would be for a started the right way any not dry started captive bread and not wild caught. As to where to find them you could try tortoisesupply.com or so to the for sale section on this forum now is about the time people are starting to hatch out, ( might be a lil early for russians if they were hibernating though. Again this is only the tort and not any supplies at all. Those can really vary.

 

[Jodie]

The tortoise is the cheap part. Russian hatchling are usually $100-$200. The set up is easily several hundred to over a thousand. Depends on what you want to do. Spring eggs will start hatching soon. At least I am hoping mine will.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

It does look like Russians are in the $150-$250 range.
Most pet shops sell adults. Some are quite old. Most are wild collected. A lot of them are ill.
Finding someone selling their own babies would seem like a great idea and might be a bit more money.
Russians and other tortoises are much easier to care for and much hardier once they've reached a certain age. I would try to find a yearling and not a hatchling if I was a new tortoise keeper.
And remember....DONT get two.

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

It does look like Russians are in the $150-$250 range.
Most pet shops sell adults. Some are quite old. Most are wild collected. A lot of them are ill.
Finding someone selling their own babies would seem like a great idea and might be a bit more money.
Russians and other tortoises are much easier to care for and much hardier once they've reached a certain age. I would try to find a yearling and not a hatchling if I was a new tortoise keeper.
And remember....DONT get two.

There are a couple members here that breed Russians. Russians have multiple eggs so they wont be sold out too fast, i believe a member on here has yearlings for sale still.
An open top enclosure is great but babies need humidity and that will be hard to achieve with an open top.

 

[kanalomele]

I have had some of my Russians for 20+ years and they can be a more challenging species to breed successfully. Females have small clutches of 1-6 eggs and rarely lay multiple times throughout the breeding season. They are aggressive little hormonal jerks to each other and injuries are not unusual. My babies are typically in the $150-$200 range and I earn every penny of it. They are bright, healthy,social and eat everything you put in front of them because I put everything in front of them. Good breeding shows.

 

[TortoiseWarrior]

I like to hit the $200 dollar range when I sell.

 

[Tom]

What is a good price for a baby/hatchling russian tortoise? i'm told its better to start with a baby, and i find that russians are way more expensive than other types of tortoises, except for in petstores but they arent healthy or captive bred from the petstore. I know its going to be a costly task, but i wanted to get an estimate of what i could be spending with the price of the tort included, what is a goo price and where can i find it for that price? as far as i can tell there arent many breeders here on the site either. im thinking of getting a good heating set up that isnt just a cheap budget buy, and maybe trying to find a bookshelf to i can make a tortoise table that can fit in my room (which sadly isnt the biggest but it has room )

I see several misconceptions in your post here. Just wanted to point these things out, as it might help you in your quest.

1. Russians are one of the cheapest species to buy, if not the cheapest.
2. It is generally not better to start with a baby. Its better to start with an older more established tortoise.
3. You are correct about the pet store ones being mostly wild caught and generally less healthy and/or adaptable.
4. There are at least a dozen russian breeders on this site and active. Maybe even more. There is not one of them that I would recommend against. As far as I've seen all of them do a good job.
5. Somewhere around $500-600 should get you off to a good start.
6. Tortoise tables can work well for older tortoises, but the open-ness makes them too dry for growing babies who need some moderate humidity. Babies will fare better in a closed chamber.

Hope this all helps.

 

[TortoiseWarrior]

I see several misconceptions in your post here. Just wanted to point these things out, as it might help you in your quest.

1. Russians are one of the cheapest species to buy, if not the cheapest.
2. It is generally not better to start with a baby. Its better to start with an older more established tortoise.
3. You are correct about the pet store ones being mostly wild caught and generally less healthy and/or adaptable.
4. There are at least a dozen russian breeders on this site and active. Maybe even more. There is not one of them that I would recommend against. As far as I've seen all of them do a good job.
5. Somewhere around $500-600 should get you off to a good start.
6. Tortoise tables can work well for older tortoises, but the open-ness makes them too dry for growing babies who need some moderate humidity. Babies will fare better in a closed chamber.

Hope this all helps.

When you were talking closed chambers, I thought you were talking sulcatas and leopards. I didn't know you were talking Russians too. Your talking ALL hatchling babies up to a year or two?

 

[Tom]

When you were talking closed chambers, I thought you were talking sulcatas and leopards. I didn't know you were talking Russians too. Your talking ALL hatchling babies up to a year or two?

The overly dry conditions caused by an open top under heat lamps is not good for babies of any species. Closed chambers do not necessarily mean "high" humidity. They just make it easy to maintain whatever humidity level you want. I would not keep a russian or CDT as humid as a sulcata baby, but they do need more humidity than they will get in an open topped enclosure under heat lamps.

 

[TortoiseWarrior]

Well thank you for clearing that.

 

[Tom]

Well thank you for clearing that.

My pleasure! Good question fuel the conversation and keep the tortoise talk coming.