- Joined
- Sep 12, 2011
- Messages
- 1
Hi Everyone,
My name's Kathy and my husband and I live in Nebraska along with our two 4-legged "children"; our 9 year old tabby cat, and our new Russian tort. While I've wanted a tortoise for years, I only became an owner about 6 months ago. So I've been reading this and other forums like crazy and finally decided I should post an intro.
His name is Bruce (and yes he came with that name, I figured after having that name so long it'd be sad to change it, and now I think it fits him). He's a great little Russian tort; a bit on the small side with a big personality.
Originally I was looking at babies, but once I held him I was in love with his personality and that was it. Between the young guy that sold him to me and my vet they think he's about 10-12 years old. My guess is that at some point he was a pet shop purchase, but there's no way of knowing for sure. The guy I bought him from said he'd bought him from someone else, but after having Bruce for about 8 months he realized he just didn't have the time to give Bruce the attention he needed, so I got him off craigslist. It was the cutest ad, he was listed as "very chill"
He came with lights, a glass terrarium, a hide, a water dish, a little coconut coir, and food that my husband refers to as "Captain Crunch". Since then we've upgraded almost everything. He's in a ZooMed tortoise house that I keep in my master bathroom (it may sound weird, but it works out really well). We lined it with a clear plastic shower curtain, filled it with coconut coir and sand mixture, and topped it off with Timothy hay. I swear he was in heaven, digging holes all over the place. He'd only ever had about and inch of substrate before and now it's about 4"-6" deep.
It took some coaxing to convince him he's wasn't getting any more "Captain Crunch", but with a little spring mix, romaine, dandelions, and hibiscus flowers he slowly adapted. Now he eats the hay mix and herb salad from Carolina Pet supply straight, without using it as a coating on fresh leaves, along with a variety of organic plants, cuttings, and grasses. Lately, I've even noticed he likes to nibble on the Timothy hay and orchard grass he has as a top layer of substrate. Even with the variety I still give him a supplement and calcium with vit. D powders.
Not long after I got him he started having an issue with one of his eyes, so while we took care of that we had him wormed and checked out. Since then he's been fine. I think it was just the repercussions of his previous care.
I use a florescent UVB light, a lighted heat lamp, and a ceramic heat lamp and dampen his substrate from time to time to keep his temps and humidity at the right levels.
I try to soak him every morning, and once he does his "business" I usually let him wander the bathroom floor until my cat "breaks him out" by opening the door and following him around the house. The two of them are quite a pair.
My name's Kathy and my husband and I live in Nebraska along with our two 4-legged "children"; our 9 year old tabby cat, and our new Russian tort. While I've wanted a tortoise for years, I only became an owner about 6 months ago. So I've been reading this and other forums like crazy and finally decided I should post an intro.
His name is Bruce (and yes he came with that name, I figured after having that name so long it'd be sad to change it, and now I think it fits him). He's a great little Russian tort; a bit on the small side with a big personality.
Originally I was looking at babies, but once I held him I was in love with his personality and that was it. Between the young guy that sold him to me and my vet they think he's about 10-12 years old. My guess is that at some point he was a pet shop purchase, but there's no way of knowing for sure. The guy I bought him from said he'd bought him from someone else, but after having Bruce for about 8 months he realized he just didn't have the time to give Bruce the attention he needed, so I got him off craigslist. It was the cutest ad, he was listed as "very chill"
He came with lights, a glass terrarium, a hide, a water dish, a little coconut coir, and food that my husband refers to as "Captain Crunch". Since then we've upgraded almost everything. He's in a ZooMed tortoise house that I keep in my master bathroom (it may sound weird, but it works out really well). We lined it with a clear plastic shower curtain, filled it with coconut coir and sand mixture, and topped it off with Timothy hay. I swear he was in heaven, digging holes all over the place. He'd only ever had about and inch of substrate before and now it's about 4"-6" deep.
It took some coaxing to convince him he's wasn't getting any more "Captain Crunch", but with a little spring mix, romaine, dandelions, and hibiscus flowers he slowly adapted. Now he eats the hay mix and herb salad from Carolina Pet supply straight, without using it as a coating on fresh leaves, along with a variety of organic plants, cuttings, and grasses. Lately, I've even noticed he likes to nibble on the Timothy hay and orchard grass he has as a top layer of substrate. Even with the variety I still give him a supplement and calcium with vit. D powders.
Not long after I got him he started having an issue with one of his eyes, so while we took care of that we had him wormed and checked out. Since then he's been fine. I think it was just the repercussions of his previous care.
I use a florescent UVB light, a lighted heat lamp, and a ceramic heat lamp and dampen his substrate from time to time to keep his temps and humidity at the right levels.
I try to soak him every morning, and once he does his "business" I usually let him wander the bathroom floor until my cat "breaks him out" by opening the door and following him around the house. The two of them are quite a pair.
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