Digger ~ Horsefield
New Member
Hey Everyone,
I'm new to posting here, nice to meet you all I live in north eastern U.K. So it is quite a cold climate. Thanks for reading my ridiculously long post! Just want to make sure Digger is properly cared for!
In 2016 I purchased a Russian Horsefield tortoise (now my Digger) off a friend of a friend who told me he was 1 year old. I didn't get a lot of information but I knew straight away that Digger wasn't cared for correctly as he was in a small tortoise table with what looked like a regular bulb within touching distance of him!
Over the past 2 years I have tried to achieve the best standard of living for him/her (I'm unsure but they told me he was a male) and he now has an open area of 4ft x 3ft or more precisely 130cm x 93cm, he has his 10% UVB bulb and his basking bulb, two water sources, raised mounds of dirt for burrowing, decorate bark and wood for climbing about and he eats only freshly grown (by myself) leafy greens and weeds with the odd fruit treat (no store pellets!) of course with calcium powder.
I have tried many different substrates but most official substrates that I have bought unfortunately contain many small white rocks which Digger likes to eat. The first week I had him he had an intestinal prolapse due to this and so have adjusted over the years and found he prefers a moist soil with soft bark mix. Nothing sharp of course.
The strange thing is that although I was told he was one year old and should now be 3 years old, he has only grown maximum 3cm in all directions. I see a vet who has specialised in tortoises and he thinks that he was only a few month when I first got him and that maybe having an intestinal prolapse so young caused some problems.
He is very active and calm, he has no fear of me and he is out and about everyday to warm up and eats his greens throughout the day so I hope that means he's okay.
He currently weighs 99g or 3.5oz, I have tried to research what the expected weight and measurements should be but with no luck. Could anyone help me with some rough guidelines?
Thanks!
Eri
I'm new to posting here, nice to meet you all I live in north eastern U.K. So it is quite a cold climate. Thanks for reading my ridiculously long post! Just want to make sure Digger is properly cared for!
In 2016 I purchased a Russian Horsefield tortoise (now my Digger) off a friend of a friend who told me he was 1 year old. I didn't get a lot of information but I knew straight away that Digger wasn't cared for correctly as he was in a small tortoise table with what looked like a regular bulb within touching distance of him!
Over the past 2 years I have tried to achieve the best standard of living for him/her (I'm unsure but they told me he was a male) and he now has an open area of 4ft x 3ft or more precisely 130cm x 93cm, he has his 10% UVB bulb and his basking bulb, two water sources, raised mounds of dirt for burrowing, decorate bark and wood for climbing about and he eats only freshly grown (by myself) leafy greens and weeds with the odd fruit treat (no store pellets!) of course with calcium powder.
I have tried many different substrates but most official substrates that I have bought unfortunately contain many small white rocks which Digger likes to eat. The first week I had him he had an intestinal prolapse due to this and so have adjusted over the years and found he prefers a moist soil with soft bark mix. Nothing sharp of course.
The strange thing is that although I was told he was one year old and should now be 3 years old, he has only grown maximum 3cm in all directions. I see a vet who has specialised in tortoises and he thinks that he was only a few month when I first got him and that maybe having an intestinal prolapse so young caused some problems.
He is very active and calm, he has no fear of me and he is out and about everyday to warm up and eats his greens throughout the day so I hope that means he's okay.
He currently weighs 99g or 3.5oz, I have tried to research what the expected weight and measurements should be but with no luck. Could anyone help me with some rough guidelines?
Thanks!
Eri