Tortoise Death... Advice Wanted.

[crazytortoiselady]

Hey, guys. I have a sad story to tell, and I'm hoping you guys will be able to give me some advice at the end.

About two years ago, I set up a fifty-gallon Rubbermaid bin, bought the lights suggested on russiantortoise.net, created about a five-inch mixture of coconut fiber and sand (which, after about six months, was changed to just coconut fiber), got a basking rock, a pine wood hide, got the basking spot up to a solid 90 degrees, the shady side at room temperature (about 68), and made a nice little home for a new friend. I then picked up my new friend, named him Clyde, and took him to the vet to get de-wormed. He seemed to live a perfectly nice, happy life for these two years. He grazed on my lawn in the spring and summer and got a nice variety of leafy greens (dandelion leaves, collard greens, mustard greens, leafy herbs, etc) from the supermarket in the fall and winter--I fed him for an hour every other day and made sure to dust his food with calcium powder when possible and to keep a cuttle bone in his crate, as per suggestions I've read here and elsewhere. I bathed him in a pie tin at least once a week, and kept a water dish in his Rubbermaid bin that I would change daily.

One problem that I noticed about a month after I got Clyde was that the black outer layer of his plastron was flaking off, revealing the white part underneath. I freaked out took him to the vet for this when I noticed, and he kind of laughed me off, told me that it was something that happens to tortoises as they grow, and that I shouldn't worry unless the shell becomes soft, or turns a pinkish color. He gave me a bottle of betadine for this just in case. Clyde's shell never became soft or pinkish anywhere.

Other than that, he seemed to be in perfect health until December of this year. It was like a switch had been flipped. I woke up one morning, and saw that both of his eyes were swollen shut. I immediately gave him a warm bath, and gently washed his eyes until they opened. After that, he wouldn't eat. He literally never took a bite of food again--I couldn't even coax him to eat part of a grape, which had been a special treat for him. Every morning, his eyes were swollen shut again, and every morning, I washed them out. I googled everything. He didn't seem to have metabolic bone disease (no softness in his shell, and a varied diet), his eyes didn't seem to be infected (no white puss, no cloudiness; they were just swollen). I took him to the vet after a week of this, and the vet basically shrugged and told me that he didn't know what was wrong, but that Clyde probably wouldn't recover. I was totally devastated, as you can imagine. I loved Clyde as much as I love my dog, he was a family member, and I felt like I had failed him. I feel as though must have done something wrong in my husbandry, but I still can't figure out what it was. The vet (after interrogating me thoroughly and watching me cry about a reptile) decided that it was probably just genetic. That explanation still seems like a cop-out to me, even if it does ease my guilty conscious a bit.

In the end, I warmed up my basking spot to about 95 degrees. I turned up the temperature in my room to about 72. I started bathing Clyde in warm water twice daily, and adding veggie baby food to the water. Eventually, I had to resort to force-feeding him. He died in early January.

So! After all of that, here is my question: is there anything that I could have done differently?

I desperately want another Russian tortoise. I've been looking at hatchlings (hoping to get one from Garden State Tortoise!), but I really, really, really do not want a new tortoise to meet the same fate as Clyde, and I need to know before I get one that I have the proper tools to care for them.

If you have any questions about Clyde's husbandry or anything, please let me know, and I'll definitely answer because I'm looking for critique.

 

[Yo Adrien]

Hi CrazyTL,
I am SO very sorry to hear about your Clyde. I do understand your feelings, as my (daughter's) torti, Aristortle, died in a very similar way after about 3 years of being healthy, happy and eating/soaking just fine... We do not know the cause, and she was/is heartbroken. I gave her Torti to her on her 18th birthday, it was supposed to be her life-long pet!! She also did later mention to me the swollen eye thing prior to Torti's passing (she is away at college, and had Torti's enclosure in her apartment with correct heating/lighting). I also have done much research since this happened, and without having a necropsy performed, will never know the exact cause. I, like you, want to ensure any past mistakes will not be repeated as we both would like another RT, when the time is right (I'm working on improving my indoor enclosure and an building an outdoor habitat). I really do miss Aristortle, didn't know I would get so attached to a tortoise!!
I will be following this thread to hear what other think/recommend. Again, my sympathy for Clyde.

 

[Yvonne G]

The most common cause of swollen shut eyes is that the tortoise has stopped eating. The lack of vitamin A (from not eating) causes the membrane around the eyes to swell. And he won't eat because he can't see. We can fix that with the Gerber strained carrot baby food soaks (carrot has the highest concentration of vitamin A of the baby foods).

The next most common cause is a respiratory infection, but you will usually also see runny/bubbly nose along with the closed eyes.

More than likely the eye problem in both your folks' tortoises was caused from some sort of a husbandry problem. It doesn't do us any good when you say the heat, etc. was what it is supposed to be, because we need to know actual numbers so we know you and I are on the same page.

I'm so sorry you both lost your tortoises. It's never easy, especially when you've had them for a while like that. My suggestion is for you to re-read the care sheet - Joe's care sheet it good (russiantortoise.org) but we have one here too. Read the care sheets with an open mind, and start fresh, like you didn't already know anything, and just do what the care sheet tells you to do. Another good one to read is the mistakes thread: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[wellington]

The one thing I did notice that wasn't mentioned was humidity. If you tried to keep the proper amount of humidity and had those cooler temps, that's not good.
If you didn't use humidity, that probably wouldn't have caused the death, but, it is a good thing to add to the enclosure when you do get your new shelled friend. Specially if getting a hatchling.
Sorry for both loses.

 

[crazytortoiselady]

The most common cause of swollen shut eyes is that the tortoise has stopped eating. The lack of vitamin A (from not eating) causes the membrane around the eyes to swell. And he won't eat because he can't see. We can fix that with the Gerber strained carrot baby food soaks (carrot has the highest concentration of vitamin A of the baby foods).

The next most common cause is a respiratory infection, but you will usually also see runny/bubbly nose along with the closed eyes.

More than likely the eye problem in both your folks' tortoises was caused from some sort of a husbandry problem. It doesn't do us any good when you say the heat, etc. was what it is supposed to be, because we need to know actual numbers so we know you and I are on the same page.

I'm so sorry you both lost your tortoises. It's never easy, especially when you've had them for a while like that. My suggestion is for you to re-read the care sheet - Joe's care sheet it good (russiantortoise.org) but we have one here too. Read the care sheets with an open mind, and start fresh, like you didn't already know anything, and just do what the care sheet tells you to do. Another good one to read is the mistakes thread: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

Hey, Yvonne! Thanks for commenting. I appreciate your advice. I do want to point out that I did list the exact temperatures that I used (as well as the substrate, etc), in hopes of someone finding a mistake and letting me know where I went wrong. (That's why my paragraphs were so long, lol, so I don't blame you for skimming.)
Thanks for the links, and I hope you're having a nice day.

 

[crazytortoiselady]

The one thing I did notice that wasn't mentioned was humidity. If you tried to keep the proper amount of humidity and had those cooler temps, that's not good.
If you didn't use humidity, that probably wouldn't have caused the death, but, it is a good thing to add to the enclosure when you do get your new shelled friend. Specially if getting a hatchling.
Sorry for both loses.

Hey there! Thanks for commenting!
Are my temps too cool? On both sides or just one? That's something I could absolutely change.
As for humidity, really the only humidity I had was the water bowl in his enclosure (which probably didn't add very much humidity.) I definitely kept the Rubbermaid pretty dry, and didn't have any lid on it or anything, figuring that Russians are desert animals and I was worried about shell rot. Is that inadvisable? How would I add humidity?
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment! If you can help any more I'd appreciate it!

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

When you measure temperatures, what height were you measuring? At substrate level, at tortoise shell height, up the enclosure wall? What did you use to measure temperatures and how sure are you that it was accurate? Your initial temperatures were a bit too low - but if your measurements weren't accurate for tortoise level, they could have been off further.

It's going to be impossible for us to say what went wrong. A genetic cause seems unlikely, but some pre-existing condition/damage is not unlikely, especially given the carapace damage you noticed early on. Starting with a healthy animal is important. Making sure you keep them warm enough and well hydrated and provide access to good uvb and calcium is the next key step. There are no huge red flags in what you shared.

 

[crazytortoiselady]

When you measure temperatures, what height were you measuring? At substrate level, at tortoise shell height, up the enclosure wall? What did you use to measure temperatures and how sure are you that it was accurate? Your initial temperatures were a bit too low - but if your measurements weren't accurate for tortoise level, they could have been off further.

It's going to be impossible for us to say what went wrong. A genetic cause seems unlikely, but some pre-existing condition/damage is not unlikely, especially given the carapace damage you noticed early on. Starting with a healthy animal is important. Making sure you keep them warm enough and well hydrated and provide access to good uvb and calcium is the next key step. There are no huge red flags in what you shared.

Hey Sarah! I measured temperatures from the height of the substrate, and used one of the acu rite thermometers. Now that I think about it, it does make much more sense to measure from the height of the tortoise...

Oh, I know it'll be impossible for anyone to know--I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't some very, very wrong obvious cause that I could easily fix. Gotta try everything, right?

Thank you so much for responding.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

If you decide to get another, make your basking spot a little warmer (think human body temperature) and provide more frequent soaks to ensure hydration. Since you allow regular outdoor times, uvb needs should be met, so keep that up (a few hours a week in full midday sun will do it - no glass or shade cloth blocking the uvb). Keep having a cuttle bone available and use a tiny tiny pinch of calcium twice a week and a tiny tiny pinch of a multi-vitamin and/or mineral supplement once a week. These are usually the big issues. I suspect you may have just received an animal that already had a weakened system - there is really no way to confirm at this point, but don't let that stop you from getting another.

 

[crazytortoiselady]

If you decide to get another, make your basking spot a little warmer (think human body temperature) and provide more frequent soaks to ensure hydration. Since you allow regular outdoor times, uvb needs should be met, so keep that up (a few hours a week in full midday sun will do it - no glass or shade cloth blocking the uvb). Keep having a cuttle bone available and use a tiny tiny pinch of calcium twice a week and a tiny tiny pinch of a multi-vitamin and/or mineral supplement once a week. These are usually the big issues. I suspect you may have just received an animal that already had a weakened system - there is really no way to confirm at this point, but don't let that stop you from getting another.

You kinda just made me tear up a little bit with that last sentence... I'm super emotional over this, lol, I'm sorry.
But definitely, definitely. Human body temperature; that's totally doable. And the additional soaking will be easy (they're so cute hanging out in their bathtubs, aren't they?)
You're really great, thank you.

 

[ascott]

What type of bulbs did you use...What was your uv source...How often did you bring the tort to outdoors for natural uv...And how long on each outside visit...How often do you change the uv bulb indoors?

 

[Diamond]

So sorry to hear of your loss. Garden State will provide you with a healthy tortoise. I got my second RT from Chris after my first hatchling died at 7 months old(came from a different source). My tort from Chris is so much more active than my first baby ever was and growing like crazy. Follow the advice on here and provide the humidity recommended for a hatchling. Makes a huge difference, I'm not an expert, but from your post, it seems you were on the right track. It's hard to lose an animal friend.

 

[wellington]

Hey there! Thanks for commenting!
Are my temps too cool? On both sides or just one? That's something I could absolutely change.
As for humidity, really the only humidity I had was the water bowl in his enclosure (which probably didn't add very much humidity.) I definitely kept the Rubbermaid pretty dry, and didn't have any lid on it or anything, figuring that Russians are desert animals and I was worried about shell rot. Is that inadvisable? How would I add humidity?
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment! If you can help any more I'd appreciate it!

Low side a bit too low without humidity, but not deadly. Really low with a proper humidity and could be deadly. However, you didn't have much of any humidity so that had nothing to do with the loss.
I agree, I don't think it had to do with anything you did or didn't do. Sometimes, the care before we get them just isn't quite right and nothing we do can help.

 

[crazytortoiselady]

What type of bulbs did you use...What was your uv source...How often did you bring the tort to outdoors for natural uv...And how long on each outside visit...How often do you change the uv bulb indoors?

Hey there! I used a ZooMed 10.0 UVB as well as a 150w ExoTerra basking spot, which I would change every six months. And Clyde got to go outside for about an hour and a half every other day when it was warm enough--usually from early May to September.

 

[ascott]

Hey there! I used a ZooMed 10.0 UVB as well as a 150w ExoTerra basking spot, which I would change every six months. And Clyde got to go outside for about an hour and a half every other day when it was warm enough--usually from early May to September.

So many variables in life man...Just sounds like it could have been nothing in particular ...One last thing...Where did you acquire the tortoise from and what size was he? When you got him was is she'll super smooth with some dings or was it more lumpy?

 

[Tom]

Hey, guys. I have a sad story to tell, and I'm hoping you guys will be able to give me some advice at the end.

About two years ago, I set up a fifty-gallon Rubbermaid bin, bought the lights suggested on russiantortoise.net, created about a five-inch mixture of coconut fiber and sand (which, after about six months, was changed to just coconut fiber), got a basking rock, a pine wood hide, got the basking spot up to a solid 90 degrees, the shady side at room temperature (about 68), and made a nice little home for a new friend. I then picked up my new friend, named him Clyde, and took him to the vet to get de-wormed. He seemed to live a perfectly nice, happy life for these two years. He grazed on my lawn in the spring and summer and got a nice variety of leafy greens (dandelion leaves, collard greens, mustard greens, leafy herbs, etc) from the supermarket in the fall and winter--I fed him for an hour every other day and made sure to dust his food with calcium powder when possible and to keep a cuttle bone in his crate, as per suggestions I've read here and elsewhere. I bathed him in a pie tin at least once a week, and kept a water dish in his Rubbermaid bin that I would change daily.

One problem that I noticed about a month after I got Clyde was that the black outer layer of his plastron was flaking off, revealing the white part underneath. I freaked out took him to the vet for this when I noticed, and he kind of laughed me off, told me that it was something that happens to tortoises as they grow, and that I shouldn't worry unless the shell becomes soft, or turns a pinkish color. He gave me a bottle of betadine for this just in case. Clyde's shell never became soft or pinkish anywhere.

Other than that, he seemed to be in perfect health until December of this year. It was like a switch had been flipped. I woke up one morning, and saw that both of his eyes were swollen shut. I immediately gave him a warm bath, and gently washed his eyes until they opened. After that, he wouldn't eat. He literally never took a bite of food again--I couldn't even coax him to eat part of a grape, which had been a special treat for him. Every morning, his eyes were swollen shut again, and every morning, I washed them out. I googled everything. He didn't seem to have metabolic bone disease (no softness in his shell, and a varied diet), his eyes didn't seem to be infected (no white puss, no cloudiness; they were just swollen). I took him to the vet after a week of this, and the vet basically shrugged and told me that he didn't know what was wrong, but that Clyde probably wouldn't recover. I was totally devastated, as you can imagine. I loved Clyde as much as I love my dog, he was a family member, and I felt like I had failed him. I feel as though must have done something wrong in my husbandry, but I still can't figure out what it was. The vet (after interrogating me thoroughly and watching me cry about a reptile) decided that it was probably just genetic. That explanation still seems like a cop-out to me, even if it does ease my guilty conscious a bit.

In the end, I warmed up my basking spot to about 95 degrees. I turned up the temperature in my room to about 72. I started bathing Clyde in warm water twice daily, and adding veggie baby food to the water. Eventually, I had to resort to force-feeding him. He died in early January.

So! After all of that, here is my question: is there anything that I could have done differently?

I desperately want another Russian tortoise. I've been looking at hatchlings (hoping to get one from Garden State Tortoise!), but I really, really, really do not want a new tortoise to meet the same fate as Clyde, and I need to know before I get one that I have the proper tools to care for them.

If you have any questions about Clyde's husbandry or anything, please let me know, and I'll definitely answer because I'm looking for critique.

I'd like to take a crack at sleuthing this one. I'll go down the list of the most likely things that I see.

1. Where did you get the tortoise? If this was a wild caught import from Petco or Petsmart, that is your likely answer. Given the shell issue that you saw early on, this seems likely to me. WC imports carry all sorts of nasty bugs with them. Some of these organisms will lie dormant for years just waiting for the opportunity to come forward and wreak havoc on the host. Most imports do not survive long term. This is why so many people assert that captive bred babies are much better for "pet" purposes.
2. What kind of 10.0 bulb? A tube or a cfl?
3. A 50 gallon tub is much too small to house an adult russian tortoise. As I've said to other people before, they are not going to drop dead the moment they are set into such a small enclosure, but over time, when they are stuck inside for months over winter, this can cause a problem. They need to move. Locomotion help move the food through the GI tract. Exercise keeps them healthy.
What size outdoor enclosure was he in? I suspect that if it was large, then small enclosure size might not have been a factor.
4. Sand impaction is also a possibility. He might have ingested enough sand in those first few months to do enough damage later on. Sand is a slow killer.
5. I think you should have soaked more often. Once a week in a dry indoor enclosure in winter is not enough in my opinion. And a pie tin? Didn't he just climb out whenever he felt like it? Its not "soaking" if they climb out after a few minutes.
6. These guys come from an extreme environment. Super hot in summer and super cold in winter. I think your temps were too mild. Basking area directly under the bulb should be around 100. I like the cool side to warm up to 75-85 during the day. 68 for an over night low seems ideal, but it doesn't seem like your tortoise could get hot enough when indoors. This might not be a big deal in the short term, but over the long haul, this could cause problems.
7. I hope I didn't miss it, but I didn't see any mention of what you've been feeding him all this time, except for the grapes as a treat. What was he eating? I saw the grazing in the lawn outdoors, but what about inside?
8. I agree with Sarah that a "genetic" cause is unlikely. Time for a new vet too. This one doesn't seem to understand tortoises, and unless I am misperceiving what you are saying, his/her bedside manner seems atrocious.
9. One technique that can help solve a mystery like this is a bit of reverse engineering. Read these and see if you spot any glaring differences between what is recommended and what you were doing.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

I hope we can at least narrow things down a bit, and hopefully make you a better tortoise keeper for your next tortoise. Please come back and let us know what you think of my guesses here. Eliminate ones that don't seem to fit and elaborate on ones that seem like a possibility.

 

[crazytortoiselady]

I'd like to take a crack at sleuthing this one. I'll go down the list of the most likely things that I see.

1. Where did you get the tortoise? If this was a wild caught import from Petco or Petsmart, that is your likely answer. Given the shell issue that you saw early on, this seems likely to me. WC imports carry all sorts of nasty bugs with them. Some of these organisms will lie dormant for years just waiting for the opportunity to come forward and wreak havoc on the host. Most imports do not survive long term. This is why so many people assert that captive bred babies are much better for "pet" purposes.
2. What kind of 10.0 bulb? A tube or a cfl?
3. A 50 gallon tub is much too small to house an adult russian tortoise. As I've said to other people before, they are not going to drop dead the moment they are set into such a small enclosure, but over time, when they are stuck inside for months over winter, this can cause a problem. They need to move. Locomotion help move the food through the GI tract. Exercise keeps them healthy.
What size outdoor enclosure was he in? I suspect that if it was large, then small enclosure size might not have been a factor.
4. Sand impaction is also a possibility. He might have ingested enough sand in those first few months to do enough damage later on. Sand is a slow killer.
5. I think you should have soaked more often. Once a week in a dry indoor enclosure in winter is not enough in my opinion. And a pie tin? Didn't he just climb out whenever he felt like it? Its not "soaking" if they climb out after a few minutes.
6. These guys come from an extreme environment. Super hot in summer and super cold in winter. I think your temps were too mild. Basking area directly under the bulb should be around 100. I like the cool side to warm up to 75-85 during the day. 68 for an over night low seems ideal, but it doesn't seem like your tortoise could get hot enough when indoors. This might not be a big deal in the short term, but over the long haul, this could cause problems.
7. I hope I didn't miss it, but I didn't see any mention of what you've been feeding him all this time, except for the grapes as a treat. What was he eating? I saw the grazing in the lawn outdoors, but what about inside?
8. I agree with Sarah that a "genetic" cause is unlikely. Time for a new vet too. This one doesn't seem to understand tortoises, and unless I am misperceiving what you are saying, his/her bedside manner seems atrocious.
9. One technique that can help solve a mystery like this is a bit of reverse engineering. Read these and see if you spot any glaring differences between what is recommended and what you were doing.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

I hope we can at least narrow things down a bit, and hopefully make you a better tortoise keeper for your next tortoise. Please come back and let us know what you think of my guesses here. Eliminate ones that don't seem to fit and elaborate on ones that seem like a possibility.

Ah, Tom, thank you so much for this long and well-thought-out response! I really appreciate your time.
-You're absolutely right in guessing that he was from Petco: I have since learned my lesson (as you can see) and really regret that decision. Definitely will only buy from breeders from now on.
-Until now, I actually believed that I was using a tube light, because the shape of the light was... well, tube-like. I just googled it to check (because I didn't know what cfl meant; all I knew was "the spiral-shaped lights are bad"), realized that it's a cfl, and said something like, "Gosh darn it all to heck," out loud. That might honestly have caused the eye swelling. Wow. I'm realizing that I really need to research the absolute heck out of everything before buying it. I used this light: http://www.petmountain.com/product/...n-10-0-uvb-mini-compact-fluorescent-bulb.html
-In the future, would 100 gallons be sufficient? If that would work, I would probably put two fifty-gallon bins side-by-side, cut holes in them, and make a walled bridge at substrate-level between them. But I might also try to achieve that by building multiple "floors" to my enclosure--would that work? Would it be safe for the tortoise, if everything was made impossible to fall off of? I've seen some people build second levels onto their tortoise habitats, and that looks cool. (Plus I live in one room, so whatever floor space I can save is a blessing, but would of course do my best to provide as much as I can.)
-He wasn't able to get out of the pie tin. He would try, after a little while! But he was too short.
-He was housed indoors, but I would let him out during the day for a few hours when it was warm enough, and he would have free range of my lawn while he was out there. It was a pretty big lawn, about half an acre. I would sit out there with my picnic blanket and homework and keep an eye on him while he roamed and make sure no hawks got to him.
-Definitely, definitely going to up my heating game and get the whole enclosure a bit warmer. That seems to be the consensus.
-I would get him a variety of super market greens! Dandelions, collard greens, mustard greens, spring mix with the spinach picked out, leafy herbs, etc.
-I also agree about the vet. He was not at all helpful. He basically charged me a couple hundred dollars to weigh my tortoise (which I had already done at home) and tell me that he was sick (which... duh.) I'm 100% on the market for a better herp vet. If anyone reads this and knows of a good one around the central New Jersey area, please let me know.
-I am definitely going to go through that beginner mistakes thread and read the care sheet again.
Thanks for your help and your time! I hope you're having a good weekend.

 

[crazytortoiselady]

So many variables in life man...Just sounds like it could have been nothing in particular ...One last thing...Where did you acquire the tortoise from and what size was he? When you got him was is she'll super smooth with some dings or was it more lumpy?

Hey Scott! Yeah... man. It was probably a combination of a lot of little things that I did in addition to his life prior--which, as you've probably guessed, was in the wild, and then at Petco. It hurts my heart so much to think about that now. When I first bought him, I had no idea about the atrocities of this practice, and I feel almost sick now knowing that Clyde was probably just hanging out in the desert somewhere before someone scooped him up and shipped him here, put him in a glass cage, and sold him to me... Never doing that again. Breeders only.
He did have some quilting by the time that I got him. My vet told me it was nothing to worry about (although it was probably a sign of deeper underlying health issues...) Over time, his shell did actually seem to even out a little bit as he grew; my mom even remarked on it looking healthier, and she knows nothing really about tortoises. So I really thought that he was getting better instead of worse! Not so, it seems. But his shell health doesn't appear to have been the main issue, at least.

 

[Tom]

Ah, Tom, thank you so much for this long and well-thought-out response! I really appreciate your time.
-You're absolutely right in guessing that he was from Petco: I have since learned my lesson (as you can see) and really regret that decision. Definitely will only buy from breeders from now on.
-Until now, I actually believed that I was using a tube light, because the shape of the light was... well, tube-like. I just googled it to check (because I didn't know what cfl meant; all I knew was "the spiral-shaped lights are bad"), realized that it's a cfl, and said something like, "Gosh darn it all to heck," out loud. That might honestly have caused the eye swelling. Wow. I'm realizing that I really need to research the absolute heck out of everything before buying it. I used this light: http://www.petmountain.com/product/...n-10-0-uvb-mini-compact-fluorescent-bulb.html
-In the future, would 100 gallons be sufficient? If that would work, I would probably put two fifty-gallon bins side-by-side, cut holes in them, and make a walled bridge at substrate-level between them. But I might also try to achieve that by building multiple "floors" to my enclosure--would that work? Would it be safe for the tortoise, if everything was made impossible to fall off of? I've seen some people build second levels onto their tortoise habitats, and that looks cool. (Plus I live in one room, so whatever floor space I can save is a blessing, but would of course do my best to provide as much as I can.)
-He wasn't able to get out of the pie tin. He would try, after a little while! But he was too short.
-He was housed indoors, but I would let him out during the day for a few hours when it was warm enough, and he would have free range of my lawn while he was out there. It was a pretty big lawn, about half an acre. I would sit out there with my picnic blanket and homework and keep an eye on him while he roamed and make sure no hawks got to him.
-Definitely, definitely going to up my heating game and get the whole enclosure a bit warmer. That seems to be the consensus.
-I would get him a variety of super market greens! Dandelions, collard greens, mustard greens, spring mix with the spinach picked out, leafy herbs, etc.
-I also agree about the vet. He was not at all helpful. He basically charged me a couple hundred dollars to weigh my tortoise (which I had already done at home) and tell me that he was sick (which... duh.) I'm 100% on the market for a better herp vet. If anyone reads this and knows of a good one around the central New Jersey area, please let me know.
-I am definitely going to go through that beginner mistakes thread and read the care sheet again.
Thanks for your help and your time! I hope you're having a good weekend.

May I mention a few things that I would do differently?

-Floor space for an adult russian need to be as large as possible. I recommend a minimum of 4x8'. Something that large is not practical for a lot of people, and to them I say: The animal needs what is needs. It doesn't need less space because a person has less space to offer. Now a tortoise won't drop dead if all you can do is 3x6', but bigger is better. Four 50 gallon tubs is starting to approach the right size.

-Grocery store foods should be only a last resort if you can't get better stuff. There are three main problems with grocery store greens: Low fiber, low calcium, wrong calcium to phosphorous ratio. The first one can be fixed by adding in grass, finely chopped grass hay, or Zoomed Grassland tortoise chow. The last two can be fixed by adding a calcium supplement two or three times a week and by have a cuttle bone available in the enclosure for the tortoise. If you must use grocery store greens, favor endive and escarole heavily, but use lots of other stuff for variety too. Adding some regular Mazuri to the diet will also help ensure all the nutritional needs are met. I type this up for sulcatas, but if you skip the text and scroll down a bit, there is a nice list of all sorts of good tortoise foods. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

-Letting your tortoise roam free in the yard is a disaster waiting to happen. Ask me how I know this. Everyone thinks they are being super careful, and then it happens. Happens to everyone eventually. Make a large secure enclosure outside and let your tortoise be contained in that territory. You tortoise will become familiar with it and get very comfortable there.

-Best to soak them in a larger, taller sided tub that they can't see out of. I buy my soaking tubs at Walmart. They call them dishwashing tubs and they cost $1.82 here.

Hope these things help for next time.

 

[Pearly]

I am so so sorry for your loss!!! Looks like you had done lots of homework, definitely more than i had before getting mine! You have gotten some great insight here, I'll just throw in one of my petpeaves: NUTRITION! It'l this same principal as feeding human babies: feed them "a rainbow of colors" every day! For me it's easy bcs i keep the RF's who are omnivorous, but I know from the grazing tort keepers on here that thete is a really WIDE VARIETY of herbivorous diet items out there you can use. Until you get the hang of it I'd get few different brands of grazing tort commercial diet pellets and add little to each feeding rotating them throughout the week. Check the ingredients on the labels, they should all have some little different things in them which maybe just enough to fill in the blanks on what's missing in their fresh greens/flowers/plants. Also stay away from commercial/park/your neighborhood loans/dandellions/weeds, bcs you don't know what's been sprayed on it, also beware of domestic roaming pet poop around as it may contain pesticide that is deadly for torts. Definitely TRY AGAIN!!!! And if you get a baby tort, we'll help with with "baby tort feeding" and all that. Get your new tort from reliable source so you get a good head start this time