Hello from California!

[Fireluv007]

Hello everyone!

I'm from Santa Ynez, CA (about 2 1/2 hours north of LA). I raise and breed alpacas, and also crested geckos. I'm new to tortoises, but certainly not new to reptiles or animals!
I just recently purchased a tort... a Russian according to PetCo, but I can never believe any of what they say.
I have him set up in an indoor 50gal sterlite container, with a UVB lamp on one side... temp gradient from 92 under the lamp to 70 on the other side. I have him on coconut coir substrate, about 3" deep, though I think I need it deeper. I read in a lot of places that it's okay to mix with playsand, and other places say sand is a big no-no. Suggestions?
We live on a ranch, and we grow a lot of our own veggies/plants, so he's got an organic mix of fresh greens - grape leaves, hibiscus flowers(his absolute favorite!), turnip greens, a little bit of squash, tiny bit of grated carrot, aloe vera, agave, and other random stuff we plant. And of course we have an endless supply of orchard and bermuda grass hay.

I can keep going on and on... just wanted to introduce myself!
I'll try to get some pics of the little guy soon!

 

[Missy]

Hello and welcome

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome!

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Here's a few suggestions:
I don't like or use the sand or sand mixes. Some do and like it, but I've seen too many impacted tortoises to risk it. 50 gallons is pretty small. Bigger would be better. Tortoises are somewhat like horses in that locomotion and exercise helps to move things along in the digestive tract. A bigger enclosure would allow more movement....which brings me to my next suggestion: An outdoor enclosure. There is no substitute for natural sunlight. You can make an enclosure on the ground out of cinder or slumpstone blocks, custom build something with wood and or wire or use a $15 kiddie pool from Wal-mart. There is no limit to what you can use as long as: 1. Its escape proof. 2. Either predator proof or always supervised. 3. Always has some shade and hides available. They don't have to live out there all the time, but I use my sunning enclosures almost daily and bring the smaller tortoises in at night.

BTW, its fantastic that you grow your own food. I've just started doing this on a larger and larger scale too.

Good luck and keep those questions coming. None of us were born knowing this stuff.

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum Taly

Danny

 

[kimber_lee_314]

Welcome - I'm also from So Cal - about 30 minutes east of L.A. Always glad to have more So Cal people here!

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Fireluv007]

Hello and welcome!

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Here's a few suggestions:
I don't like or use the sand or sand mixes. Some do and like it, but I've seen too many impacted tortoises to risk it. 50 gallons is pretty small. Bigger would be better. Tortoises are somewhat like horses in that locomotion and exercise helps to move things along in the digestive tract. A bigger enclosure would allow more movement....which brings me to my next suggestion: An outdoor enclosure. There is no substitute for natural sunlight. You can make an enclosure on the ground out of cinder or slumpstone blocks, custom build something with wood and or wire or use a $15 kiddie pool from Wal-mart. There is no limit to what you can use as long as: 1. Its escape proof. 2. Either predator proof or always supervised. 3. Always has some shade and hides available. They don't have to live out there all the time, but I use my sunning enclosures almost daily and bring the smaller tortoises in at night.

BTW, its fantastic that you grow your own food. I've just started doing this on a larger and larger scale too.

Good luck and keep those questions coming. None of us were born knowing this stuff.

Thanks for the suggestions! Very helpful!
The 50 gallon is a temp enclosure until I can build a tort table for him, which will be significantly bigger. As for outdoor enclosures, that's in the works right now. Wont be able to put him there 24/7, because even our summer nights get pretty cold - in the low 50's. I've been looking at a lot of different pics of people's outdoor enclosures and trying to figure which would work best for us.

I do have a question though, on taking a tort back and forth from an indoor to an outdoor - I know it shouldn't be so much bigger that they stress when putting them back inside, but wont the simple move from indoor to outdoor, every day, be a stressful thing on a tort? It takes them long enough to acclimate to a new situation in general, it seems like it would be even worse to confuse them with two different enclosures? Hope that question made sense.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Taly:

Welcome to the forum!!

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome!

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Here's a few suggestions:
I don't like or use the sand or sand mixes. Some do and like it, but I've seen too many impacted tortoises to risk it. 50 gallons is pretty small. Bigger would be better. Tortoises are somewhat like horses in that locomotion and exercise helps to move things along in the digestive tract. A bigger enclosure would allow more movement....which brings me to my next suggestion: An outdoor enclosure. There is no substitute for natural sunlight. You can make an enclosure on the ground out of cinder or slumpstone blocks, custom build something with wood and or wire or use a $15 kiddie pool from Wal-mart. There is no limit to what you can use as long as: 1. Its escape proof. 2. Either predator proof or always supervised. 3. Always has some shade and hides available. They don't have to live out there all the time, but I use my sunning enclosures almost daily and bring the smaller tortoises in at night.

BTW, its fantastic that you grow your own food. I've just started doing this on a larger and larger scale too.

Good luck and keep those questions coming. None of us were born knowing this stuff.

Thanks for the suggestions! Very helpful!
The 50 gallon is a temp enclosure until I can build a tort table for him, which will be significantly bigger. As for outdoor enclosures, that's in the works right now. Wont be able to put him there 24/7, because even our summer nights get pretty cold - in the low 50's. I've been looking at a lot of different pics of people's outdoor enclosures and trying to figure which would work best for us.

I do have a question though, on taking a tort back and forth from an indoor to an outdoor - I know it shouldn't be so much bigger that they stress when putting them back inside, but wont the simple move from indoor to outdoor, every day, be a stressful thing on a tort? It takes them long enough to acclimate to a new situation in general, it seems like it would be even worse to confuse them with two different enclosures? Hope that question made sense.

I've been doing it nearly every day with a variety of species for 20 years and it has never caused me any problem. I usually have very large outdoor enclosures for small torts. 15x30' is about the norm for me. For babies, I use covered tubs or kiddie pools because we have big, sneaky, hungry ravens around. Once they get 3-4" they start going into the bigger pens built on the ground with slumpstone blocks. All of mine just get used to the routine, whatever it is.

 

[Fireluv007]

Good to know! Thanks Tom.

 

[Jacqui]

Hi! *waves*

Nice to have you. So very lucky to be able to grow food for him yourself. As to the playsand mixed in with the coir. I use it now with just about all my tortoises. Every substrate has some issues with it and I just don't think the sand has that much higher risks then any other. You just have to use "common" sense and keep your animal well hydrated (which you should any how, not just because of the substrate). I like it because it seems to be easier for them to dig into and holds the humidity well.

Time outside is best. I do leave mine outside during the summer 24/7, but normally bringing them in and out does not cause them issues. Russians as a general rule, adjust pretty easily.

So very glad to have you and look forward to pictures (and not just of the tortoise! )

Jacqui

 

[spikethebest]

Isn't there is a small uncontrolled airport in San Ynez? And Chumash casino over there.... maybe I might want to drop by. I wouldn't mind flying in if you pick me up. I can help you out with your Russian. Just an idea. I love a reason to go flying.

 

[Fireluv007]

Thanks for your opinion, Jacqui! I mixed a little bit of playsand in with the coir, just about 15% or so, and it /does/ seem like it's a nicer mixture, and it doesn't seem to bother him any.

Isn't there is a small uncontrolled airport in San Ynez? And Chumash casino over there.... maybe I might want to drop by. I wouldn't mind flying in if you pick me up. I can help you out with your Russian. Just an idea. I love a reason to go flying.

Hee! Yeah, there is a small airport here... and the casino is 5 min away from our ranch. I may have to take you up on that offer sometime in the future!

 

[spikethebest]

sounds like a plan to me!!! PM me or email me and let me know when. If you ever come down to Santa Clarita, you can come here as well. And I can think of a Ranch that might be open to visitors as well.....

 

[Laura]

Another Californian!!! Welcome.. I have Llamas and goats to name a few!
If you have a ranch... you should look at Sulcatas! AWSOME torts!

 

[Fireluv007]

Another Californian!!! Welcome.. I have Llamas and goats to name a few!
If you have a ranch... you should look at Sulcatas! AWSOME torts!

Thanks for the welcome, Laura! Where abouts in CA are you at?
We definitely have enough room for a Sully(our first choice), but we're considering moving to TX(with even more acreage!) in a few years(3+), so we'll probably wait until after we've moved. It's one of the reasons its taking me a while to figure out an outdoor enclosure for my RT... I need to make one that will be fairly easy to take apart when we get ready to sell the place.