I need help in setting up my russian tortoise habbit.

[Viola B]

Welcome to this forum. This is a great place to learn what is best for your tortoise. Sometimes the winter months make it hard to find nice weeds, etc. from outdoors for your tort to eat. I look for endive, radicchio, collard greens, spring mix, kale, romaine, etc. in the store. Get a good mix . Varity is important for their diet.
I have a Russian and she is 3 yrs old. I have an indoor enclosure that is big and roomy for the winter months and an outdoor enclosure when it warms up that is also big. Russians may be small but they need lots room to move around.
Enjoy your new tort. We all worry at first, but you will feel confidant soon.

 

[Cathie G]

Thats a great idea. We basicaly already have everything we need to make sassy an outside inclouser. As a woodworker scroll sawer and wood carver we have tons of wood around here lol....and of course we have lots of wire left over from making her indoor house. Theres a spot right under my livingroom windo that we could make an inclourser for her. Id proubly put a wood floor on it then potting soil and grass seed so she couldnt dig out but would be able to graze. Wouldnt be any harder then making a flower bed except itd be inclosed with screening. id drill some drain holes in it of course like i do outdoor flower containers I make so the rain could drain out some and not leave a soggy mess. Humm wounder if i could make it in the shape of a turtle....would just have to inlarge the pattern some and screening is felxable.... i'll think more on that i have lots of time to plan one out before summer... providing spike agrees to let me do it. we have an acer of land and he just hates it when i bulid stuff for the yard that has to be mowed around and then weed wacked around. lol the mowing ist to bad as we have 2 ridding lawnmowers but he wont let me do the weed wacking anymore as it takes me to long. lol humm defently something to think more on. I'll put a soft toothbrush in with her stuff and see if she likes it. Spike went to the store and got several different greenns that were on the care sheet so i chopped them all up into sort of salid for her and put it in a plastic container with a lid hopefuly that will keep it frish longer.... he forgot to get the bigger container for her to soak in but we can get that tomarrow. I agree with you this sight is just what i needed! I wish i had found it sooner as most of the research i found on line was outdated and wrong. Sissy would have had an easer start in her new home if we had....but she seems to be thriving despit our rough start. lol now off t read my other messages to see if anyone answered on how munch and how often to feed her.

My little guys enclosure just sits on a really old brick patio. I could throw dirt and seeds in but I don't have to. Weeds have been growing up around the bricks for so many years that they are pretty much covered in dirt and edible weeds. I feed my little Russian usually a pile of salad bigger than him every day and if he eats all that I'll feed him more. Some days I just wind up throwing it away but it's hard to say what day they'll be starving. So I just do regular care every day the same. If sissy likes the Tortoise pellets I don't know about that. I've only recently found one that my little guy will tolerate. I can see how a tortoise could become overweight with too much of that. I consider the pellets as a supplement just to make sure my guy is getting enough vitamins. So I just sprinkle one half teaspoon of softened Mazuri LS on his salad two or three times a week. Also in the winter I'll sprinkle a little bit of repti cal now and then on his salad. Just a lite dusting, not too much, kind of like powdered sugar. Since he gets outside most days in the summer I don't use it in the summer. I'll have to look up your thread on it ?

 

[Dragon]

My little guys enclosure just sits on a really old brick patio. I could throw dirt and seeds in but I don't have to. Weeds have been growing up around the bricks for so many years that they are pretty much covered in dirt and edible weeds. I feed my little Russian usually a pile of salad bigger than him every day and if he eats all that I'll feed him more. Some days I just wind up throwing it away but it's hard to say what day they'll be starving. So I just do regular care every day the same. If sissy likes the Tortoise pellets I don't know about that. I've only recently found one that my little guy will tolerate. I can see how a tortoise could become overweight with too much of that. I consider the pellets as a supplement just to make sure my guy is getting enough vitamins. So I just sprinkle one half teaspoon of softened Mazuri LS on his salad two or three times a week. Also in the winter I'll sprinkle a little bit of repti cal now and then on his salad. Just a lite dusting, not too much, kind of like powdered sugar. Since he gets outside most days in the summer I don't use it in the summer. I'll have to look up your thread on it ?

humm now thats an idea....the airea im thinking about is just a dirt patch between the house wall and sidewalk leading up to the house. Its not as big as a patao i dont think but it is quite large. That would slove the digging problem with out having to worry about a wood floor roting. And spike already knows how to lay down a cement pateto.... my sister was over this morning and she was just fasanated with sissy. lol i have put less of the pellets in with her food. I made a small bowl of leafy veggi salid for her next time i might just give her one of the kinds we got for her so she will have a varity. well i see spike is cleaning up some things so best go see what i can do to help him lol

 

[zolasmum]

humm now thats an idea....the airea im thinking about is just a dirt patch between the house wall and sidewalk leading up to the house. Its not as big as a patao i dont think but it is quite large. That would slove the digging problem with out having to worry about a wood floor roting. And spike already knows how to lay down a cement pateto.... my sister was over this morning and she was just fasanated with sissy. lol i have put less of the pellets in with her food. I made a small bowl of leafy veggi salid for her next time i might just give her one of the kinds we got for her so she will have a varity. well i see spike is cleaning up some things so best go see what i can do to help him lol

It sounds like little Sissy is going to have a great life with you - and if you do come across a problem, you can be fairly sure someone else has had the same problem in the past, and can help you. If you can weigh her regularly, you can keep a check on whether she is gaining weight - that is always reassuring ! I think you have a pretty good diet worked out for her already - there isn't really any need to give her pellets , except for an occasional one sprinkled on her food for a change. Our Hermann has never liked them - he is 21now, and doing well without them - he just likes leafy things - we mix up several sorts each time.
Cuttle bone is good if she will eat it - it has calcium in it, and if she bites on it , it will help keep her beak trimmed. Zola went wild about it when we first got him, but eventually lost interest - so now we have to take him to the vet to have his beak filed down there instead !
By the way, if you already have terracotta plant saucers, if you scrub them, soak them in water overnight, then give them another scrub I'm sure they would be safe for Sissy.
Angie

 

[Dragon]

It sounds like little Sissy is going to have a great life with you - and if you do come across a problem, you can be fairly sure someone else has had the same problem in the past, and can help you. If you can weigh her regularly, you can keep a check on whether she is gaining weight - that is always reassuring ! I think you have a pretty good diet worked out for her already - there isn't really any need to give her pellets , except for an occasional one sprinkled on her food for a change. Our Hermann has never liked them - he is 21now, and doing well without them - he just likes leafy things - we mix up several sorts each time.
Cuttle bone is good if she will eat it - it has calcium in it, and if she bites on it , it will help keep her beak trimmed. Zola went wild about it when we first got him, but eventually lost interest - so now we have to take him to the vet to have his beak filed down there instead !
By the way, if you already have terracotta plant saucers, if you scrub them, soak them in water overnight, then give them another scrub I'm sure they would be safe for Sissy.
Angie

thank you so much!! your post has made me feel so much better and confadent that we are taking care of her properly! I think iv said this before but i'll say it again lol anytime I get an animal iv never had before i find out everything i can about them and there care before i get them and then i generaly buy a book on them I can read as i never get all the info i need first time around. Computers have cerently made this a LOT easer and with forums like this when i can find them I can be extra sure that im doing the right things as well as get ideas and info that might not be in a book..... this is the first time my months of research didnt make me as perpaired as I had hoped to be... a lot of miss information and outdated information. This group is great!! I had a red eared slider a few years ago and loved him! and yes he did thrive in our home too....I gave him and all his equement to a first grade teacher here for there school pet....and during them summer he gos home with her and lives there with her other turtles...Spike is in his 70 and even though im only in my early-mid 60s I have copd. iv had emphizma for decades that has turned into copd over the last few years. iv started loosing my upper body strength so cleaning his aquram was just getting to hard for us to clean. Even though we used a buckit to empty most of the water spike still had to lift and the aqurium and move it over to the washroom sink and hold it so i could wash it out....and then of course we had to refill it. the only thing that saved uswas the wheels on the table we kept the aquruem on... so we could wheel the hole thing into the wash room. lol Since spike and i are not going to get any younger and the copd will countue to get worse not better we did what we felt was best for spock.... and hes still thriving in his new home.i missed spock so much spike said we could look into land turtles.... with the substructer we can take it out by gloved hands and put it into a bag and carry it to the wash room sink or if its to heavy bring in the cart from the gragrage and put it on that to wheel to the washroom sink. Then we can clean it and set it out to dry before putting it back in.... Actually when its time to clean it im going to buy another couple of bags of sub structure so can put clean dry sub structure back in her box while what was taken out is drying. at least thats the plan im sure if were missing something someone here will let us know. lol spike went out and got a bigger plastic tub this afternoon and sissy got her second soaking. im not sure if she likes it or not...she seems to have some trouble moving around in it and the water.... perhaps she will get better at it with pratice. She seems to work her way into a coner and stay there, even if i pick her up and help her out of the corner she just works her way back to the corner... I dont think she was ever soaked before just the amount of dirt in the water after her first soak...tells me either she hadnt been soaked in a long long time or that was her first time. After i put her back in her house she sat under the heat lamp for awhile and she is sleeping i think in her little cave...i feed her a second time in the evening between 5 and 6. About how much SHOULD she weigh? we could see if we can weigh her on the bathroom scale.

 

[Sarah2020]

Hello im new my bf and i researched russian tortoises befor we got our little lady today. We bulit a wood and screen habbit for her and bought everything we needed to set it up at the store when we picked her up. Now we are confused. We have the uv lamp and the heat lamp but they also had us get a reptisun terrarium hood? We showed them a picture of the habbit we built so they knew what we have our question...so we put the heat lamp and the uv lamp on the screened side of the habbit and where do we put the terrarium hood? we also have herptivite multivitamins which they told us to use1 tsp of and calcium with vit.d3 that says 2 tsp. the instructions say to mix the 2 together with her viggies...do we do that every day? I have printed out several care sheets but none of them mention these things. also is there anything we should know or do asides from the things in my question?

RE....herptivite multivitamins which they told us to use1 tsp of and calcium with vit.d3 that says 2 tsp. This is far too much, both important along with heat and the UVB light but should be a light dusting on fresh veg 1 or 2 times a week max. I am sure you have read the care sheet by now and that will also help.

 

[zolasmum]

thank you so much!! your post has made me feel so much better and confadent that we are taking care of her properly! I think iv said this before but i'll say it again lol anytime I get an animal iv never had before i find out everything i can about them and there care before i get them and then i generaly buy a book on them I can read as i never get all the info i need first time around. Computers have cerently made this a LOT easer and with forums like this when i can find them I can be extra sure that im doing the right things as well as get ideas and info that might not be in a book..... this is the first time my months of research didnt make me as perpaired as I had hoped to be... a lot of miss information and outdated information. This group is great!! I had a red eared slider a few years ago and loved him! and yes he did thrive in our home too....I gave him and all his equement to a first grade teacher here for there school pet....and during them summer he gos home with her and lives there with her other turtles...Spike is in his 70 and even though im only in my early-mid 60s I have copd. iv had emphizma for decades that has turned into copd over the last few years. iv started loosing my upper body strength so cleaning his aquram was just getting to hard for us to clean. Even though we used a buckit to empty most of the water spike still had to lift and the aqurium and move it over to the washroom sink and hold it so i could wash it out....and then of course we had to refill it. the only thing that saved uswas the wheels on the table we kept the aquruem on... so we could wheel the hole thing into the wash room. lol Since spike and i are not going to get any younger and the copd will countue to get worse not better we did what we felt was best for spock.... and hes still thriving in his new home.i missed spock so much spike said we could look into land turtles.... with the substructer we can take it out by gloved hands and put it into a bag and carry it to the wash room sink or if its to heavy bring in the cart from the gragrage and put it on that to wheel to the washroom sink. Then we can clean it and set it out to dry before putting it back in.... Actually when its time to clean it im going to buy another couple of bags of sub structure so can put clean dry sub structure back in her box while what was taken out is drying. at least thats the plan im sure if were missing something someone here will let us know. lol spike went out and got a bigger plastic tub this afternoon and sissy got her second soaking. im not sure if she likes it or not...she seems to have some trouble moving around in it and the water.... perhaps she will get better at it with pratice. She seems to work her way into a coner and stay there, even if i pick her up and help her out of the corner she just works her way back to the corner... I dont think she was ever soaked before just the amount of dirt in the water after her first soak...tells me either she hadnt been soaked in a long long time or that was her first time. After i put her back in her house she sat under the heat lamp for awhile and she is sleeping i think in her little cave...i feed her a second time in the evening between 5 and 6. About how much SHOULD she weigh? we could see if we can weigh her on the bathroom scaleI

It doesn't really matter how much she weighs now - what matters if she is regularly gaining a little bit of weight over time -if she is, you know she is doing ok. It does sound as though she isn't used to being soaked, so that will do her a lot of good. She also takes in water through her vent when soaked, which is good for her too. With her food, I would suggest you just give as much as she will eat each day, in several amounts, and you will soon get an idea of how much she wants.She could probably do with some good wholesome food - not just lettuce and carrot !
Angie

 

[Cathie G]

humm now thats an idea....the airea im thinking about is just a dirt patch between the house wall and sidewalk leading up to the house. Its not as big as a patao i dont think but it is quite large. That would slove the digging problem with out having to worry about a wood floor roting. And spike already knows how to lay down a cement pateto.... my sister was over this morning and she was just fasanated with sissy. lol i have put less of the pellets in with her food. I made a small bowl of leafy veggi salid for her next time i might just give her one of the kinds we got for her so she will have a varity. well i see spike is cleaning up some things so best go see what i can do to help him lol

My only critique is since you have a dirt area ready bricks would be ideal. It would be way easier on the both of you and the tort still can't dig out. You just put an inch or two space between them and weeds will plant themselves ?. That's why my patio wound up being a nice tort enclosure floor. Dirt and weeds will totally cover it in notime at all. I got sick of trying to clean it off sooo... solution is s

 

[Dragon]

Thanks!! and since we have some bricks around here I wont have to buy to many mor bricks!!.... if you have a picture of your outdoor habatat could you post it? That would give us an idea of just how to build one. Now i think i read somewhere that once your tort is in a larger habbatat they will never be sastified with there in door home again if its smaller.... is this true? eventuly we will inlarge her inside home but until we do should i make her outside home the same size as her inside home? were on ss so cant just go out and buy everything we need at one time. Our year old med sized dog Bonnie was digging around the fence of the dog yard so we put bricks along the inside of the fence to keep her from digging holes that would eventuly let her get out of the dog yard....sounds like the same princable except sissy will need a top to her tort yard so nothing can jump in and get to her.... on another note....When we first got sissy she would everything i put in her food dish right away, both in the morning and then again around 5. Last night she only nibbled at her 5 oclock food a little bit and left the rest untouched. Is this normal as she gets used to her new home? I ask because i have rescued a lot of animals over the years and many like our one year bonnie (dog) were severaly abused before I got them and at first they would eat everything in there food dish regardless of how much i put in it no matter how often i refilled there bowl....Then after they KNEW there was ALWAYS going to be food for them They would slowly start eating only what they needed to not be hungry. im woundering if this might be the case with my dear sissy. She lookes healthy no runny or watery eyes nose, no redness or sores anywhere on her....but perhaps they didnt feed her enough? or i could be concerned for nothing and she might just not been as hungry last night. lol I havent had her long enough to really know whats normal for her and whats not, and she my first tort so dont have any experence to draw upon either. lol

 

[Dragon]

It doesn't really matter how much she weighs now - what matters if she is regularly gaining a little bit of weight over time -if she is, you know she is doing ok. It does sound as though she isn't used to being soaked, so that will do her a lot of good. She also takes in water through her vent when soaked, which is good for her too. With her food, I would suggest you just give as much as she will eat each day, in several amounts, and you will soon get an idea of how much she wants.She could probably do with some good wholesome food - not just lettuce and carrot !
Angie

We have gone out and gotten 4 different types of greens for her from the list of foods she can eat from the care of torts we found on here, so she now has more of a varity.... and since learning the carrots arent the best for her she just gets a small amount of carrots every now and then as a treat. I will try to get her carrot tops next time. each time we have to get food for her we will get a few different kinds of things so she will have a varity. I do wish they had smaller bags of the vegs....spike and i dont eat much in the veggie group so im sure she wont be able to eat all the leafy vegs we get her befor they spoil....but we do what we can lol I also plan on buying the seeds to plant in flower pots from saras? sight which will also give her a running supply of different things to eat as I can switch out what we buy with what we grow to help her get a larger varity of food in her diet. I love this sight!! so full of the correct information i need! and nice people who are friendly and more then willing to help those of us who dont really know what were doing lol. sissy and i are very glad we found this sight and very grateful for all the help we get here

 

[zolasmum]

We have gone out and gotten 4 different types of greens for her from the list of foods she can eat from the care of torts we found on here, so she now has more of a varity.... and since learning the carrots arent the best for her she just gets a small amount of carrots every now and then as a treat. I will try to get her carrot tops next time. each time we have to get food for her we will get a few different kinds of things so she will have a varity. I do wish they had smaller bags of the vegs....spike and i dont eat much in the veggie group so im sure she wont be able to eat all the leafy vegs we get her befor they spoil....but we do what we can lol I also plan on buying the seeds to plant in flower pots from saras? sight which will also give her a running supply of different things to eat as I can switch out what we buy with what we grow to help her get a larger varity of food in her diet. I love this sight!! so full of the correct information i need! and nice people who are friendly and more then willing to help those of us who dont really know what were doing lol. sissy and i are very glad we found this sight and very grateful for all the help we get here

I think you are doing great, and I don't think you need to worry about Sissy eating too much. In the wild, tortoises are grazing animals, so they eat as much as they want all day long. I prepare a box of food for Zola every morning and top his dish up at intervals through the day - some days he eats more than others, but it is all salad leaves, so it isn't stuff he can over-eat on. You will learn what Sissy likes pretty quickly, I'm sure. It will be lovely for her to have a choice of different things, and it will be very good for her. If she doesn't seem to like something you put out, try it again in a few days - she may be a bit worried about new foods. If you keep to the lists of suitable foods, she will be fine. We have ended up eating more salad things than we ever used to, because we get them for Zola - maybe you and Spike will do the same !
Angie

 

[Cathie G]

Thanks!! and since we have some bricks around here I wont have to buy to many mor bricks!!.... if you have a picture of your outdoor habatat could you post it? That would give us an idea of just how to build one. Now i think i read somewhere that once your tort is in a larger habbatat they will never be sastified with there in door home again if its smaller.... is this true? eventuly we will inlarge her inside home but until we do should i make her outside home the same size as her inside home? were on ss so cant just go out and buy everything we need at one time. Our year old med sized dog Bonnie was digging around the fence of the dog yard so we put bricks along the inside of the fence to keep her from digging holes that would eventuly let her get out of the dog yard....sounds like the same princable except sissy will need a top to her tort yard so nothing can jump in and get to her.... on another note....When we first got sissy she would everything i put in her food dish right away, both in the morning and then again around 5. Last night she only nibbled at her 5 oclock food a little bit and left the rest untouched. Is this normal as she gets used to her new home? I ask because i have rescued a lot of animals over the years and many like our one year bonnie (dog) were severaly abused before I got them and at first they would eat everything in there food dish regardless of how much i put in it no matter how often i refilled there bowl....Then after they KNEW there was ALWAYS going to be food for them They would slowly start eating only what they needed to not be hungry. im woundering if this might be the case with my dear sissy. She lookes healthy no runny or watery eyes nose, no redness or sores anywhere on her....but perhaps they didnt feed her enough? or i could be concerned for nothing and she might just not been as hungry last night. lol I havent had her long enough to really know whats normal for her and whats not, and she my first tort so dont have any experence to draw upon either. lol

I'll post a picture of Sapphire's enclosure. It's very easy to do. You can also make it one you can take down in the winter if you want. It's made with 1×12" boards the length you want. I put metal braces in the corners to hold it together. Then attach your lids with hinges and your done. I like the padlocks because not even a raccoon can get one of those open ? Once I can figure out where he is I can just simply open the lid and pick him up for bedtime. Sapphire is so used to being inside at night and the winter I don't really have a problem with the different enclosures with him. When it starts warming up underground though he knows and literally begs to go outside. He does that by trying to stand up as tall as he can into my hand if I'm giving him a shell rub.? or even if I'm not. I know that little begging gimic. It's so cute. Some days Sapphire will eat every scrap on his tile and that's when I put a bit more out. Some days he doesn't eat hardly anything but I don't like an empty food dish so I put out his regular stuff every day. Just in case. The thing I have come to know is what time of day he'll be out wanting to eat though. Certain days he'll be out really early but others he'll sleep in. It has to do with the amount of sunshine and the way the air feels it just feels like a perfect Tortoise day. I like full feed the same as you. But I don't think Tortoises think like that. They either want to eat it or they don't but I always want him to have that choice so if he eats everything I'll put a bit more out.

 

[Dragon]

I'll post a picture of Sapphire's enclosure. It's very easy to do. You can also make it one you can take down in the winter if you want. It's made with 1×12" boards the length you want. I put metal braces in the corners to hold it together. Then attach your lids with hinges and your done. I like the padlocks because not even a raccoon can get one of those open ? Once I can figure out where he is I can just simply open the lid and pick him up for bedtime. Sapphire is so used to being inside at night and the winter I don't really have a problem with the different enclosures with him. When it starts warming up underground though he knows and literally begs to go outside. He does that by trying to stand up as tall as he can into my hand if I'm giving him a shell rub.? or even if I'm not. I know that little begging gimic. It's so cute. Some days Sapphire will eat every scrap on his tile and that's when I put a bit more out. Some days he doesn't eat hardly anything but I don't like an empty food dish so I put out his regular stuff every day. Just in case. The thing I have come to know is what time of day he'll be out wanting to eat though. Certain days he'll be out really early but others he'll sleep in. It has to do with the amount of sunshine and the way the air feels it just feels like a perfect Tortoise day. I like full feed the same as you. But I don't think Tortoises think like that. They either want to eat it or they don't but I always want him to have that choice so if he eats everything I'll put a bit more out.

Thanks!! like i said being a woodworker theres always wood around here and if its not the size or thickness i want or need i can often find wood i can cut to size....and if not well i always love going to the lumber yard! lol Thanks for explaining the eating habbit of torts....lol all animals tend to have there own eating habbits and once im fimular with them i dont worry as much. lol this sight is a God send for me as i can get the info i need a lot faster which saves me some worry time. lol I have and have had a lot of rescue animals and many of them have been abused so i watch there eating habbits and everything else more closely. lol guess it rubs off with my other animals to...spike always tells me I need to learn to relax more....lol some how at my age i dont see me changing life long habbits lol good to know im doing the right thing making sure she has food in her dish to eat when and if she wants it and not having a regular routine so to speek is normal for torts... lol Id just google these questions but since i did all that research before getting sissy only to find out most of its out dated or wrong i dont trust them anymore. I know sissy likes and wants to eat first thing in the morning....like before i get up lol as she sits on her food dish and looks out the plexglass at me until i get her her food....which she has already trained me to give her even before i get my first cup of coffee lol shes been in her cave most of today....perhaps just resting and feeling less scared and getting comfortable and relaxed in her new home. If i seem overly nervious and cauious its because i have panic anxity disorder with agoraphobia....Iv found lots of ways of dealing with it over the years but i still seem overly anxhious to most people. if it gets on your nerves just let me know.

 

[Dragon]

I think you are doing great, and I don't think you need to worry about Sissy eating too much. In the wild, tortoises are grazing animals, so they eat as much as they want all day long. I prepare a box of food for Zola every morning and top his dish up at intervals through the day - some days he eats more than others, but it is all salad leaves, so it isn't stuff he can over-eat on. You will learn what Sissy likes pretty quickly, I'm sure. It will be lovely for her to have a choice of different things, and it will be very good for her. If she doesn't seem to like something you put out, try it again in a few days - she may be a bit worried about new foods. If you keep to the lists of suitable foods, she will be fine. We have ended up eating more salad things than we ever used to, because we get them for Zola - maybe you and Spike will do the same !
Angie

lol thanks, im sure my drs would be thrilled if i ate more viggies lol hum i wounder how long salid dressing lasts...we have some oil and viniger saild dressing in the fridge thats been there a LONG time...didnt see an expertion date on it...so will proubly just toss it out. Spike bought it as he will occiosaly have a salid.... He still after 18 years finds it hard to understand that unlike his first wife not only do i cook, usuly from scratch, iv spent half my life cooking in restrants too...lol so he dosnt have to buy a lot of ready made things.... lol with both oil and vigner in the house he dosnt need to buy it already mixed...lol itailn dressing is basicaly oil and vinge with seasings....which i also have here in the house. lol Now that im sure of torts eating habbits it will be easy, like sheep they graze on and off all day long so as long as she has food in her dish she will have enough to eat....and like sheep im sure there less prone to over eat... i dont think she weighs enough to regester on our bathroom scale so will eventually have to find a scale i can use to check on her weight. thanks for all your help!

 

[zolasmum]

lol thanks, im sure my drs would be thrilled if i ate more viggies lol hum i wounder how long salid dressing lasts...we have some oil and viniger saild dressing in the fridge thats been there a LONG time...didnt see an expertion date on it...so will proubly just toss it out. Spike bought it as he will occiosaly have a salid.... He still after 18 years finds it hard to understand that unlike his first wife not only do i cook, usuly from scratch, iv spent half my life cooking in restrants too...lol so he dosnt have to buy a lot of ready made things.... lol with both oil and vigner in the house he dosnt need to buy it already mixed...lol itailn dressing is basicaly oil and vinge with seasings....which i also have here in the house. lol Now that im sure of torts eating habbits it will be easy, like sheep they graze on and off all day long so as long as she has food in her dish she will have enough to eat....and like sheep im sure there less prone to over eat... i dont think she weighs enough to regester on our bathroom scale so will eventually have to find a scale i can use to check on her weight. thanks for all your help!

We use flat digital kitchen scales for Zola - they are pretty cheap, but accurate. If you put a can of beans or something on the scales, put Sissy on her tummy on the can, so her legs hang down, you can weigh her and the beans together, then subtract the can weight. That will prevent her moving about on the scale while you do it.
She will get used to it quickly. Try at about the same time when you do it - and remember pee and poo can weigh quite a bit !
Angie

 

[Cathie G]

Thanks!! like i said being a woodworker theres always wood around here and if its not the size or thickness i want or need i can often find wood i can cut to size....and if not well i always love going to the lumber yard! lol Thanks for explaining the eating habbit of torts....lol all animals tend to have there own eating habbits and once im fimular with them i dont worry as much. lol this sight is a God send for me as i can get the info i need a lot faster which saves me some worry time. lol I have and have had a lot of rescue animals and many of them have been abused so i watch there eating habbits and everything else more closely. lol guess it rubs off with my other animals to...spike always tells me I need to learn to relax more....lol some how at my age i dont see me changing life long habbits lol good to know im doing the right thing making sure she has food in her dish to eat when and if she wants it and not having a regular routine so to speek is normal for torts... lol Id just google these questions but since i did all that research before getting sissy only to find out most of its out dated or wrong i dont trust them anymore. I know sissy likes and wants to eat first thing in the morning....like before i get up lol as she sits on her food dish and looks out the plexglass at me until i get her her food....which she has already trained me to give her even before i get my first cup of coffee lol shes been in her cave most of today....perhaps just resting and feeling less scared and getting comfortable and relaxed in her new home. If i seem overly nervious and cauious its because i have panic anxity disorder with agoraphobia....Iv found lots of ways of dealing with it over the years but i still seem overly anxhious to most people. if it gets on your nerves just let me know.

Well...if you didn't have all that before just get a tortoise. You'll have it then.? it's really crazy when you realize you can't get real information. That's the same thing that happened to me. I don't have as many Tortoise nightmares since I found TFO. I gave up on trying when a pet shop advised me to buy turtle food for my vegetarian Tortoise and just tried to do my best. But one night, after having several days of tortoise nightmares, TFO popped up on my phone. Thank God! Now I can check to see if what I'm doing is long term good care and what I need to improve on.

 

[Cathie G]

We use flat digital kitchen scales for Zola - they are pretty cheap, but accurate. If you put a can of beans or something on the scales, put Sissy on her tummy on the can, so her legs hang down, you can weigh her and the beans together, then subtract the can weight. That will prevent her moving about on the scale while you do it.
She will get used to it quickly. Try at about the same time when you do it - and remember pee and poo can weigh quite a bit !
Angie

If you turn my digital kitchen scale on with the can of beans on it you will get the tortoise's weight without having to do all that math stuff ?

 

[Cathie G]

I think you are doing great, and I don't think you need to worry about Sissy eating too much. In the wild, tortoises are grazing animals, so they eat as much as they want all day long. I prepare a box of food for Zola every morning and top his dish up at intervals through the day - some days he eats more than others, but it is all salad leaves, so it isn't stuff he can over-eat on. You will learn what Sissy likes pretty quickly, I'm sure. It will be lovely for her to have a choice of different things, and it will be very good for her. If she doesn't seem to like something you put out, try it again in a few days - she may be a bit worried about new foods. If you keep to the lists of suitable foods, she will be fine. We have ended up eating more salad things than we ever used to, because we get them for Zola - maybe you and Spike will do the same !
Angie

Sapphire taught me the health value of humidity in the house for me as well as him. He has been a God send. Joe and I make use of Sapphire's left overs too. But He always gets the freshest ?

 

[zolasmum]

How is Sissy today? Is she settling in well? You will have no need for panic attacks about her, I'm sure, as the people here will be much more helpful to you, and better informed, than pet shops, books or even vets. Spike is right - try to relax when you are with her, too - I think some tortoises come to sense if their carer is happy or anxious, and it affects their own behaviour, too. I certainly feel Zola senses my mood somehow.
Angie

 

[Dragon]

We use flat digital kitchen scales for Zola - they are pretty cheap, but accurate. If you put a can of beans or something on the scales, put Sissy on her tummy on the can, so her legs hang down, you can weigh her and the beans together, then subtract the can weight. That will prevent her moving about on the scale while you do it.
She will get used to it quickly. Try at about the same time when you do it - and remember pee and poo can weigh quite a bit !
Angie

Thank you for the suggestion!!

Well...if you didn't have all that before just get a tortoise. You'll have it then.? it's really crazy when you realize you can't get real information. That's the same thing that happened to me. I don't have as many Tortoise nightmares since I found TFO. I gave up on trying when a pet shop advised me to buy turtle food for my vegetarian Tortoise and just tried to do my best. But one night, after having several days of tortoise nightmares, TFO popped up on my phone. Thank God! Now I can check to sI ee if what I'm doing is long term good care and what I need to improve on.

yea and a lot of the information i found on line was wrong too... makes it hard to know what your doing and what to get before hand so your new family member will be comfortable and happy in its new home!! I think iv already said this but anytime I decide to get an animal iv never had before i try to do as much research on them and what they need as possable so everything is ready for them when they come home this is the first time i was unable to do that but sissy seems to be doing great. I got a wounderful surprise this morning when i gave her her food, normaly she just digs right in eating but this morning she walked over her food and right up to the plexaglass to look at me!! I was so happy! I just knelt down on the floor so my head was level with hers and talked to her for a few minutes until she backed up and started eating again! then I had to try to get back up lol the older i get the easer it is to get down and the harder it is to get back up again. lol but it was more then worth it to me spike said she was proubly just exploring more but i choose to believe she was comming up to me to say thank you and maybe even im beginning to like you lol some day she might even love me....lol