Boris and I are new here!

[sillyhope]

Hi All -

I just wanted to introduce myself and Boris. He's my Russian tortoise. I adopted him from a family 7 years ago, and she thought he was around 2 when I adopted him. He's a silly guy with a lot of personality. Here are a few photos including one of him posing with his fur brother Dexter (boston terrier).

We are in Massachusetts, so he's an indoor tortoise. I've been lurking around the site for the past few days getting some information on supplements etc.. and decided we needed to introduce ourselves.

You will see from his photos that his beak is a bit overgrown. He doesn't have any issues eating, but I'm going to change his food dish to see if he can grind it down himself. I have purchased a cuddlebone for him in the past, and he had not interest in it

I've really enjoyed everyone's photos and all of the great information on this site so far. I look forward to being a part of the forum.

 

[Jacqui]

Hi and welcome! Boris is really a pretty tortoise. In addition to getting the new food dish (I am guess an unglazed terra cotta plant saucer, flat stone, or tile), there are a couple of other things you might try. Change what your feeding or how your feeding it. Do you cut up his food? Try leaving the leaves whole so he has to rip and tear them. Are you feeding only soft greens or only the leaves of the greens? Feeding the stems like on the collards is helpful. Feeding weeds which tend to have firmer more fiberous leaves and stems also is a big help. Try a whole carrot once a month or so, too.

 

[luvpetz27]

Hi and welcome!
cute pics!!

 

[pam]

Welcome Russians are awesome

 

[MasterOogway]

Welcome! Boris is a handsome tort! I wanted to ask you how do you like the Zoo Med playpen. I was thinking of purchasing a few for my baby torts this spring/ summer when they go outside.

 

[mainey34]

Hello and welcome ........

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome

 

[sillyhope]

Hi Everyone!

Jacqui - thank you so much for the tips... I will try that. When I adopted Boris, his previous owner told me to cut up his food very small, and so that's what I've always gone by. After checking out this forum for 10 minutes I realized that's not the best way. I'll start adding stems and hopefully we'll see improvements to his beak. He did have a break on one side, which I actually think is a good thing. Hopefully we can wear down the other side to match. He's pretty shy so I don't think I'd ever be comfortable trying to trim or file his beak myself.

Masteroogway - I think that zoomed pen is ok. They have a different one that has a bottom and is square shaped, it runs about $25 more, I'd suggest going with that one, since Boris was able to burrow out of the pen we got him in about 20 minutes and make his way to our front yard. That's no small feat for a tortoise, and we are very lucky we didn't lose him (our yard is fenced but he's very crafty). Since then we only allow him out there when we are out there watching him like a hawk.

 

[CLMoss]

Welcome! Nice little tortoise.

~C

 

[mctlong]

They have a different one that has a bottom and is square shaped, it runs about $25 more, I'd suggest going with that one, since Boris was able to burrow out of the pen we got him in about 20 minutes and make his way to our front yard. That's no small feat for a tortoise, and we are very lucky we didn't lose him (our yard is fenced but he's very crafty). Since then we only allow him out there when we are out there watching him like a hawk.

Hehee! When I saw the picture, I was thinking to myself, "I wonder how long it will be before the tortoise realizes it can get out." I guess the answer is, not very long.

Welcome to the forum! Always glad to meet another RT owner.

They are crafty little critters.

 

[Tom]

I'd find a reptile vet near you and run him in for a beak trim. It will not likely wear down on its own given the circumstances, and its a pretty simple easy procedure to do.

Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

[sillyhope]

Thank you, Tom.