Russians and shellrot

tglazie

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So, I haven't kept a russian in years, but I was wondering if others had trouble with this species and shell rot. Is this something that is triggered by damp substrate, or is it something that is merely exacerbated by it (i.e. the tortoise already had an epidermal infection that was given opportunity via damp conditions)? I've read that leopards are very sensitive to this, but in all my years, I've never seen a leopard with this condition, nor have I ever seen a sulcata with it. In fact, the only tortoise I've ever seen suffer from this malady was a female Russian tortoise that came into my care with this problem, and though she seemed to get over it and resume eating, she quickly backslid after a few days of rain. It got me kind of paranoid about keeping the species again, not that I'm really considering it, given that I have enough on my plate with my margie colony. But still. I was curious if other members had experience with shell rot in this species, or any species, for that matter, and I was wondering if some of our more well read/experienced members had any explanations that could debunk the old Highfield-isms of "humidity/moisture bad; dryness good; pyramiding caused by protein." Clearly, humid conditions don't lead to shell rot and respiratory distress in leopards as so many of the old books said they would. But how does this work with Russians? What are the mechanisms involved?

T.G.
 

G-stars

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What substrate are you using? What's your temps and humidity level? Perhaps the substrate is too damp?? -Gus
 

Yvonne G

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Yes - what G-stars said.

Unless your tortoise is a very young baby, it doesn't need a moist substrate. You can water it a little to keep the dust down, but it doesn't need the moisture to keep the tortoise from pyramiding, because that starts when he's a very young baby tortoise.
 

tglazie

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Yeah, this was a while ago, back in the nineties when I last owned a Russian. Anywho, I've always had bad luck with Russians, well, the three Russians I did have. I adopted a male/female pair from a friend of mine who picked them up on impulse and decided he didn't want them. At the time, my collection consisted of Graecus, my first Greek tortoise who is still in my collection, and Jerry, a then young sulcata who sadly passed in December 2010. This was 1998, if I recall correctly, a year before I got Gino, my biggest male Marginated.

So yeah, I got this male/female pair of Russians that I, of course, called Boris and Natasha. Boris, unfortunately, drowned in his burrow during a heavy rainstorm, an incident that led me to build elevated, insulated wooden shelters for all of my torts. The following spring, I adopted a Russian from a fellow church member. She'd bought the poor thing at a PetCo, and the sickly girl wasn't eating. I took her to a vet who prescribed some Amikacin, if I recall correctly. Anyway, she seemed to pick right up after a week, started eating mulberry, dandelion, hibiscus, prickly pear, good stuff. She made it right through the summer and seemed to be recovering nicely. Then, that first week of September was couched in a pair of rainstorms. The ground here in San Antonio is basically one and half inches of clay over heavy limestone boulders. Her infection came back with a vengeance, and over the course of that one week, one of her plastral plates came loose (I found it at the entrance to her burrow). She declined very quickly after that, and by the time I got her to the vet, he offered optimism, but despite treatment with additional antibiotics and removal to a dry indoor environment, she died. The next week, I took Natasha to a STHS meeting and gave her to a buddy of mine who lives out in Boerne. She's the big mama of his Russian colony today.

Since then, I dug up the clay in all of my tortoise enclosures, a back breaking exercise that I accomplished with myself and my three childhood buddies. I then laid a base of gravel an inch deep and some cheap locally acquired top soil to cover everything five inches deep. I enclosed the whole area with multiple levels of cinder blocks to reduce soil erosion and enclose the animals. Took me over twenty trips with the Toyota Tundra to get that accomplished, which I did over several weekends during the summer of 2001 when I graduated high school. I haven't had a problem with shell rot since, given that the gravel is highly effective at draining, even during a heavy downpour, but San Antonio hasn't really seen one of those equivalent to the late nineties/early 2000s.

But yeah, I was just curious if Russians were particularly susceptible. But I haven't kept one in years. I might again one day, should the opportunity arise. But I kinda doubt it. Only one of my friends keeps Russians now, and I haven't spoken with him in years.

T.G.
 
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