Hi Everyone,
In December me and my partner went into a pet shop and saw a tortoise in the corner on its own. We was initially told it was male, 5 years old and was a rehome because he was fighting with his brothers. On the day of delivery we was then told he was female and approximately 3. Unfortunately, we had already named the tortoise Boris and the name has stuck!
We was advised that he/she has lived in a viv all his life and reccomend that a viv would be ok for him, so that's what we bought.
Fortunately, my partner has other reptiles so we was able to set up the heat lamps quickly based on the information we had read and get it on a timer incase it gets too cold at night.
When Boris was delivered we was advised that there would be enough substrate however within 24 hours (and with alot of further reading) we realised it wasn't, so we went and bought two further bags so he can dig.
From what I have read Russian tortoises should be relatively active but Boris isn't, he eats, digs a little then sleeps head down in the corner. My main concern is that there isn't enough room for Boris to wonder round, thats why he just digs and sleeps.
We do let Boris wonder round on the floor (again, I have read mixed reviews on this). We have a chocolate labrador and he loves chasing her around, they are never left unsupervised and its normally just for 10/15 mins twice daily.
Boris doesn't each much but we haven't got a good enough variation yet, we have started growing weeds but given its winter in the UK they are taking ages.
So I guess my question is do you have advice for us? Or things that we should be doing differently? I have attached a picture of Boris in the corner, his home and the heat gage which is in the middle of the viv. We bath Boris 3x each week, when he wants a wee or a poo he stares at us so we get him out. He hasn't been in his tank yet. On the picture of his face he had just eaten so his face is full of calcium pro ?
Thanks everyone ☺
In December me and my partner went into a pet shop and saw a tortoise in the corner on its own. We was initially told it was male, 5 years old and was a rehome because he was fighting with his brothers. On the day of delivery we was then told he was female and approximately 3. Unfortunately, we had already named the tortoise Boris and the name has stuck!
We was advised that he/she has lived in a viv all his life and reccomend that a viv would be ok for him, so that's what we bought.
Fortunately, my partner has other reptiles so we was able to set up the heat lamps quickly based on the information we had read and get it on a timer incase it gets too cold at night.
When Boris was delivered we was advised that there would be enough substrate however within 24 hours (and with alot of further reading) we realised it wasn't, so we went and bought two further bags so he can dig.
From what I have read Russian tortoises should be relatively active but Boris isn't, he eats, digs a little then sleeps head down in the corner. My main concern is that there isn't enough room for Boris to wonder round, thats why he just digs and sleeps.
We do let Boris wonder round on the floor (again, I have read mixed reviews on this). We have a chocolate labrador and he loves chasing her around, they are never left unsupervised and its normally just for 10/15 mins twice daily.
Boris doesn't each much but we haven't got a good enough variation yet, we have started growing weeds but given its winter in the UK they are taking ages.
So I guess my question is do you have advice for us? Or things that we should be doing differently? I have attached a picture of Boris in the corner, his home and the heat gage which is in the middle of the viv. We bath Boris 3x each week, when he wants a wee or a poo he stares at us so we get him out. He hasn't been in his tank yet. On the picture of his face he had just eaten so his face is full of calcium pro ?
Thanks everyone ☺