New Russian tortoise owner

[Joe M]

Good Morning, I recently bought a Russian tortoise and am new to this forum. I have no past experience with tortoise care and have done quite a bit of research on the subject. My guy is about 4 inches and his name is Ernie. I've had him for 2 weeks and he is doing really good. He's happy in his enclosure and he's eating regularly. I bathe him a couple times a week and he poops everytime. I've noticed that he seems to rub his eyes with his front legs when he gets up in the morning and some times he will do it again during the day. His eyes are clear and don't seem to be wet or draining. When he blinks, you can barely see a tiny bit of moisture on the bottom of his eye. My question is, Is this all normal?

 

[wellington]

What type of bulbs are you using?
Those disc gauges are junk and should be replaced with digital.
What's the humidity?
What's the temps? Basking, all over, low end and night?
An adult Russian needs a minimum 4x8 foot enclosure and hopefully larger one outside during the warm months.
Once in a while rubbing of eyes is normal, when they get something in it etc. A regular routine of it, not so much.

 

[Joe M]

What type of bulbs are you using?
Those disc gauges are junk and should be replaced with digital.
What's the humidity?
What's the temps? Basking, all over, low end and night?
An adult Russian needs a minimum 4x8 foot enclosure and hopefully larger one outside during the warm months.
Once in a while rubbing of eyes is normal, when they get something in it etc. A regular routine of it, not so much.

13W UVB 10.0 curly basking bulb
100W ceramic heat element
humidity 20%
Basking 90-95
all over 80-84
low end 75
night 75-80

 

[ZEROPILOT]

13W UVB 10.0 curly basking bulb
100W ceramic heat element
humidity 20%
Basking 90-95
all over 80-84
low end 75
night 75-80

The "Curly uvb" is almost definitely the cause of the eye issues.
I highly reccomend just removing it entirely. They cause eye irritating and even blindness.
You need a T5 HO UVB linear strip florescent tube from Arcadia or Reptisun.

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

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[wellington]

Second Zeropilot posts. That's exactly what I figured you were using and why I asked. Those bulbs can ruin their eyes. Stop using it ASAP and get a tube florescent for uvb and ceramic heat emitters for heat and flood bulb for basking.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome, Joe!

 

[wellington]

Night temps should be closer to 70 and humidity could be a bit higher. But the curly bulb is the main eye rubbing.

 

[Joe M]

Second Zeropilot posts. That's exactly what I figured you were using and why I asked. Those bulbs can ruin their eyes. Stop using it ASAP and get a tube florescent for uvb and ceramic heat emitters for heat and flood bulb for basking.

Will do, Thanks to you and Zeropilot for your help

 

[Ink]

Welcome to the forum. Cute tortoise.

 

[SinLA]

Welcome. May want to read this: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/info-for-new-people-please-read-this-first.202363/#post-2036954

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome to a great forum!

 

[Tom]

...and have done quite a bit of research on the subject.

Hello and welcome Joe. The quoted sentence above tells us volumes. You are not alone. This happens to almost everyone. Almost everything you find online, in books, from vets, etc... is all the same wrong old info. You are also missing a basking bulb. The thread that ZEROPILOT linked explains all of this in more detail, and there is a temperate species care sheet linked at the bottom for you, and a simplified heating and lighting breakdown too.

Questions and conversation are welcome.