New Tortoise in the house

[Tortius Decimus]

Not completely new as I apparently registered here in 2014 when I had my other tortoise, Tortius Decimus (a russian). Sadly he has passed and we brought home a new shelled baby today. I hope to learn from the wonderful people here so I can take the very best care of this new tortoise and to be more involved in the forum this time around. I feel like an idiot because I do not know what kind of tortoise I just bought The petstore had it labeled greek russian hermann's. And the associate said he didn't know tortoises had breeds, they just come in as tortoises I thought it was a Greek because it has a spur or two on each side of it's tail, but it does not have a yellow shell like google shows. It has yellow (rings) with black/brown in the middle and a brown body (pictured in the profile pic). Also do not know if it is a boy or girl. Has a tail that is long enough to wrap around the side of it's butt and the slit is at the end of it's tail. Any help would be greatly appreciated as it's awaiting a name based on what gender it is...

 

[ZEROPILOT]

A photo would be great.
And welcome back.

 

[Tortius Decimus]

 

[GingerLove]

Don't worry, you're not an idiot. You bought a beautiful little boy Russian!! Russians are my personal favorite. He is SUPER cute!! He also seems quite comfortable with you to keep his tail out when you're holding him. What's his name going to be? Congratulations and welcome back!!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yep. Russian.
And a nice one.

 

[Tortius Decimus]

Since he's a boy, his name is Sir Herman Tinkles, lol. Peed on the sales associate. Then peed through a crease in the store box onto my daughter and the car seat. Husband and son insisted that his habit of peeing be in his name somewhere. He's super active and curious and friendly compared to our last. Took off across our yard when we got him home and let him explore. And then took off across the house when we brought him in and tried climbing our clothes hamper. And he's so stinkin cute!! I think he's younger than the last. I wonder if he'll get any bigger. He's 4 inches long.

 

[GingerLove]

Awwww!!! He sounds super cute!! And that name is hilarious!!! Sounds like he's got an uncontrollable bladder. Ha! And he'll double his size. Males grow eight to ten inches... but I believe it's usually eight. My female is currently six inches. He's probably two or three years old??

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Lol i had a coworker that said he girlfriend wanted a tortoise, they picked him up and it pooped on his pants and shoe. They left the pet shop tortoise-less.
The name you provided is perfect !

 

[Tom]

Welcome back.

Did you discover what went wrong the last time? Tortoises normally live for decades.

Your tortoise is wild caught, so there is no way to know the age. Most likely 5-10 years old, but it could be 20 or 30 years old. Male russians seldom exceed 6" and many top out at a little over 5".

Please read this for care info. Pet stores are notorious for giving out bad care advice and selling harmful products and cages that are too small.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Cheryl Hills]

Awwww!!! He sounds super cute!! And that name is hilarious!!! Sounds like he's got an uncontrollable bladder. Ha! And he'll double his size. Males grow eight to ten inches... but I believe it's usually eight. My female is currently six inches. He's probably two or three years old??

I thought males only grow to 5 to 6 inches. Females get bigger

 

[Tortius Decimus]

Welcome back.

Did you discover what went wrong the last time? Tortoises normally live for decades.

Tom- I do not know for sure what happened to my beloved Tortius Decimus, but I suspect foul play. My husband bought him for me in 2013. And it was love at first sight ya know. I set him up in an enclosure in the house, but would take him outside every evening to graze on the weeds in our yard and wander through the grass. We didn't treat our backyard with anything to keep it safe for him. Soaked him 2-3 times a week. Gave him various mixed salads every day to every other day. He'd clamber around the house and loved exploring how to open our screen door to get outside. After a month or two, I had set up an outside area for him to enjoy more time outside. I started leaving him in there outside when I worked long shifts so he would get plenty of sun and fresh air. And when the weather got cold he stayed inside until it was warm again. And he and I were doing fine for the last 3 years. A week ago, I set him outside in his area before going to work as I have done many times in the past. When I got home and went to bring him in the house I noticed he was facing his favorite hiding spot but not in it. Very strange as he is always completely buried that time of day. Went to pick him up and his head was in his shell and his eyes were shrunken in and his legs were out but stiff. Knew he had passed as he was not doing anything If was not until that moment that I noticed the weeds I had picked that morning where yellowed and the weeds all around his enclosure were yellowed, which has never happened, and even the dirt smelled strange. We have a sprayer my husband uses to spray the weeds that pop up in our front yard which is entirely rocks and nowhere near my tortoise. And it was taken apart and empty behind our garage. Kids that live across that alley have come onto our property in the past and caused trouble, and I wonder if they did something. My husband and both my kids wouldn't dare go anywhere remotely close to Tortius with chemicals. If he wasn't poisoned somehow I don't know what did it. And I have no proof of what happened and how it happened since I was at work all day and the rest of the family was coming and going throughout the day. Our dog always alerts when someone other than us are on the property, so if something happened it was when nobody was home to hear the dog going off.