Hello from Latvia :)!

[Vita]

Hello to everybody! Just recently I found this forum and I am very happy I did it. I have two tortoises - male named Robis and a female Peciņa. They are Russian tortoises (at least that is what I have found out ). I'll post pictures later. At first I did not want to register. Just read the information here and read and read and understood that I have been doing everything absolutely wrong . I feel really bad about that and I want to make my tortoises life more comfortable and save what can be saved. ...I own them for more than 10 years. I am from Latvia and tortoises are not the most common pet here. They are rare because the law does not allows to sell them I got mine a year before this law was accepted. So there are only one vet that could help, I am going to get in touch with him but there is a 3 hour drive to him, so I don't know when I will be able to go there. Must finish now, my little daughter wants my attention .

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Vita, and welcome to the Forum!

 

[Vita]

 

[Vita]

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh my. Those are a couple of beauties!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome!
They get along O.K.?
(Russians are generally chronic fighters.)
They do indeed look very nice.

 

[Vita]

Thanks for the warm welcoming!

ZEROPILOT
Everything was brilliant until last summer. Then Robis started to attack Pecina. It looked like he wanted to mate with her but was falling down every time he stepped on her. And then he bit her and we had to sepparate them for some time. Then everything was ok. But in the spring everything started again. When I got them lots of years ago, I read that if they are not put to sleep through winter, then they are not fertile. I undestood that then they can not have eggs. But some 2 weeks ago Pecina layed an egg. I was shoched, I called the zoo vet and she told that I just have to take the egg and destroy, that nothing can come out of it. And another surprise was 4 days ago and just this morning. Again an egg. So 3 eggs in 2 weeks. I am very confused because: 1)I thought that no eggs are possible if I do not put them to sleep (I don't know the real name for it ) and 2) that all eggs are layed at once. Todays egg was the last thing that made me register here to ask for advice. I havent found the real theme for it but I will.

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome from the Desert !

 

[Jacqui]

Glad you found us. What beauties you have.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Vita,and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum to you, Robis and Pecina.
i'm afraid you will have to separate your two lovely torts or the bullying will get worse, physically and psychologically until one is injured or killed.
I've never heard that over-wintering your torts makes them not lay eggs.

 

[Vita]

Thanks !

Tidgy's Dad
I've never heard that over-wintering your torts makes them not lay eggs
that's only one thing that I did not know . Well - now I know that I have to learn very much. The other of the biggest mistakes ir that I read that tortoises does not need to drink that it is enough with the water they get from their food . Now I know that it is absolutelly wrong. And I and learning more about different foods to offer them.

What I am really concerned about is that they have got long beaks - especially Robis. But I don't know if there is a vet in Latvia who can help this problem and Pecina's shell seems to be a bit deformed - at least it looks different from Robis's.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

My poor eyesight's not good enough to tell from these photos, but they do seem a bit long.
Can you post close ups?
I have no vets I trust here, either, so I trim beaks very carefully, a little at a time, with nail clippers.
Some slowly and cautiously use a nail file to do the job.
If you put a piece of cuttlefish bone in the enclosure and put their food on a piece of slate or sandstone, it will help keep the beak trimmed naturally.

 

[Vita]

. i'm afraid you will have to separate your two lovely torts or the bullying will get worse,
I am trying to figure out how to move the furniture to find a place for one more terarium because our flat is quite small.

 

[Vita]

Tidgy's Dad
Thanks for your advice ! My camera is with my husband today. I will make some pictures later to show the problems.
About the cuttlefish bone - I bought it. I have not seen them touching it but there are marks of bitting into it

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Tidgy's Dad
Thanks for your advice ! My camera is with my husband today. I will make some pictures later to show the problems.
About the cuttlefish bone - I bought it. I have not seen them touching it but there are marks of bitting into it

Some don't touch it at all, some only when necessary, which is why i use the slate too.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Russians fight. It's what they do. Sorry.

 

[Yvonne G]

It's just not true that tortoises not allowed to hibernate won't be fertile and won't lay eggs.

 

[Vita]

Here are photos of the beaks
Robis

Pecina

 

[Vita]

And the shell of Pecina

what can be done to avoid the shell deformation?

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Vita