Tell me about your Russian Routine

Darby Homestead

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Joined
Oct 23, 2016
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Location (City and/or State)
Southern New Jersey
We'll be having Hector (two month old hatchling) come home in a few weeks. We were wondering if anyone would be willing to tell us about their care routine for their tortoise(s). We have a large furbaby family and would like to have a plan to integrate his care into our daily schedule.

Is a certain time of day better for certain aspects of care? For example, is the daily soak better in the morning or evening? So much to learn....

Thank you in advance!
 

Mr Buster

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Oct 15, 2016
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Location (City and/or State)
Reno NV
My routine is not much, I wake up and soak him for a half an hour while I take a shower. The light timer turns on the bulbs, I put the food in the habitat, I go to work. By the time I get home he is borrowed in the sand for the day.
 

Yvonne G

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Clovis, CA
My Russian tortoises live outside and so they aren't part of my routine. They tend to themselves. I just make sure they have clean water and no one has flipped and that's about it.
 

Alexio

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Mar 2, 2016
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Location (City and/or State)
Syracuse, New York
I like soaking my Russians in the morning after the lights come on. I feel like the warm water helps warm them up from their nighttime temp drop. They also almost always go in the morning, in the water. So it saves me ever having to pick up tortoise poop.
 

Steve_carter

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Jul 17, 2016
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UK
My lamps are on a timer. They turn on at 7am. By 8am he is out from his hide or his den he created and under his lamp. I give him a 'bath' 20mins or so & In that time I check his habitat for poop etc. Quick clean up of old food and add new food in. Whilst he's still in his bath I place water over him and give him a gentle scrub to clean his shell. (He seems to like that bit) I pat him off, check him over and put him back in his habitat which usually at this point darts to the heat lamp or food. :)
 

wellington

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My Russian is an adult, so I don't daily soak like you should do with a hatchling. Other then that it's pretty much the same as others that posted above. Lights on timer, in winter he is inside my tortoise shed, so he gets fed earlier, around 10 or so. In summer I feed later, and less, because he can graze during the day when outside. Daily water changes, feeding and spot cleaning is about all you need to do when timers are used, along with Warm water soaks daily or monthly depending on the age.
Timers is a must in my opinion. Makes things easier and if you want to sleep in or can't get home in the evening on time, it doesn't matter. Your torts lights will be handled to turn on and off.
 

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