First Time Tortoise Owner

[kira]

I just adopted Sheldon, (a 1-2 year old Russian male tortoise, according to the lady at Petsmart) this is my first reptile, or any small animal/mammal of that nature. I got him yesterday. I have a few questions regarding, well, everything. I've been doing a lot of research, before & after I bought him, but I still have questions.

1. The associate at Petsmart told us that the half log was a waste of money for dear Sheldon because he never uses them, he prefers the fake leaves & just burrows in there. Now, he's spent a lot of time in them. He doesn't really move from one spot, like at all. He stays in the leafy bunch from morning to night. Is that normal? He started to move around a little today, exploring his new environment a little, but then I moved some stuff around because this layout would be more beneficial to him, & now he hasn't come out.

2. He barely eats. I've seen him eat two meals since I've laid eyes on him. One at Petsmart, which I disrupted because we bought him (I felt so terrible), and the second was his breakfast this morning. I change his food for breakfast & dinner. I've considered hand feeding him, but I have no clue where to do that. How do I get him to eat?

3. I read that the pelleted food the Petsmart associate said was crucial to their diet isn't good for them. Like, at all. I haven't used much of it, & what I have used, he hasn't even eaten. He did enjoy sitting on it for awhile, however. Should I take it back, or continue to put it in his enclosure?

4. Someone said glass tanks aren't good for them. Should I keep him in his? It's a huge tank, pretty sure the 40 gallon, with the screen top.

5. Now for the salmonella poisoning topic... Whatever I should know about that would be great.

6. Do I wash him? If so, how?

Anything else you guys can tell me would be awesome, I really do not want to kill him or anything.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum, kira!

I wish you would have included Sheldon in the picture, but I'm going to bet anyway, that Sheldon is quite a bit older than 1 or 2 years. Pet stores always tell their customers that Russian tortoises are younger than they really are. Russian tortoises are a very small species of tortoise. More than likely Sheldon is almost full grown.

He'll hide for a couple weeks until he gets used to living in a new home.

The only thing wrong with an aquarium is some tortoises don't realize glass can't be gotten through. If that's the case, all you have to do is put some paper around the bottom so he can't see out.

Fresh greens are the best diet for a captive Russian tortoise. Once the weather warms up, you can set him up in a nice pen outside and he'll eat the weeds.

 

[Jacqui]

Hi and welcome! If your temps and lighting are correct, then most of what your seeing is just new tortoise stress I am guessing. It can often take them a few days to settle in. What are your temps, what kind of light and how long are you leaving it on for, while we are on that subject sorta?

I would not be worried about him not eating much at this point either. Once more most likely it is new tortoise stress, but lighting and heat are factors in eating too. I would work mostly going for a weeds, greens, cactus, mulberry and grape leaves, and even flower bloom (like hibiscus) diet. It won't hurt to give him some of those pellets, but once they are gone, I myself would not buy any more.

The bad news, the tank is a little small for an active Russian.

Just be sure to wash your hands after handling him or his "equipment". Do not have him in food prepreation areas. Keep his dishes seperate from ones used for other animals or humans. Do not put him in your mouth. Just common sense things.

Some of us like our tortoises looking natural and some don't want a speck of dirt on them. Usually if you want to clean them off, just plain warm water and a soft toothbrush works well.

 

[Spn785]

First of all, I would not really pay too close of attention to what a sales clerk at a pet store tells you until you do research and find out for yourself. This website is a great source and another is www.russiantortoise.net is another. Some sort of hide is always a good idea, but the half log isn't necessary, an old shoe box with a hole cut out for a door is good. Pellet food is okay as a supplement to a varied diet of mixed greens and weeds, but should not be a major part of the diet.

 

[kira]

Thanks for all your answers guys, I really appreciate this! I'd take a picture of Sheldon, but he really never comes out unless I'm at school & not coming in & our of my room where he stays. That's when I notice his food is always gone. When he comes out more I'll try to take a picture, I just don't want to scare the poor little guy!

I currently have three bulbs, the squiggly UVB bulb, the basking bulb which gets to 95-96 temp, & the red one for when he sleeps. Which he seems to like, every time I turn it on at night, his eyes immediately close. He definitely doesn't like waking up at 7, because I try to turn on his day bulbs & he tries to stay sleeping. He wakes up when I start getting his food prepared.

I'm currently feeding him spring mix, kale, & dandelion greens. Also dusting it with calcium. Is there anything else I should feed him? The lady said crickets, but I really would rather stay away from live food, if you guys get what I'm saying... If I need to, I'll buy them, but the websites said he's a herbivore.

I want to add the second story that I've seen a lot of people do, should I take the screen off? If so, how do I set up the lights?

Thanks for all your help!

 

[kira]

Oh, he's also around 6 inches.

 

[Spn785]

Get rid of the squiggly UVB bulb, it can hurt a torts eyes, if its the coil type or "compact". Russians don't need animal protein, they are strictly herbivores. Also he should not need heat at night unless it gets below 58, and actually it should be between 58 and 65 at night.

 

[mctlong]

Welcome and congratulations on the new tort! At 6 inches, he's not a 1-2 year old Russian. Thats the size of an adult male (more like 5+ years, although its impossible to know for sure without knowing exactly when he was hatched). The spring mix, kale, & dandelion greens you're feeding him are great. Those colorful pellets they sell at the petstores are generally a waste of money since the Russians generally ignore them.

Good luck with the new little guy. You're sure he's a guy, right?

Just forget everything the petstore told you and you should be fine.

 

[Eloise's mommy]

Welcome to the forum....Get rid of the coil bulb and get a tube one! No crickets...My tort hates the pellets too..and that Repti bark is not very good for digging it gets stuck in between the shell and neck ....... organic top soil or a 50/50 blend of Cocoa coir (available at petsmart) and play sand (available at home depot) is better for keeping humidity and for the digging oh the glorious digging!!

 

[kira]

Thank you so much for your help everyone. He's adapting really well. He was basking out in the open, a first for him being here, when I got home from school, & ate all his food while I was gone. Now he's eating all his carrots. I got a picture of him finally! I'm giving him some privacy to eat as of right now.

His food bowl is way too high, I'm going to go back & get a flat food dish soon.

I'll get pictures of the bulbs soon, because your answers are a little confusing. Maybe the Petsmart lady messed up my head a little...

Also, from the picture, does he look healthy? Not pyramiding or anything?

 

[kira]

From the picture, does he look pretty healthy? & I'm fairly certain he's a male. His stomach curves in a little. I'll try to get a picture of that soon. I'm just trying to avoid picking him up for the first few days. I don't want to put him through too much trauma!

 

[rhondak]

Congratulations and welcome. If you have the compact, coil type bulb, I would take it back and buy a tube style light. I have had my Boris for almost a month now and at first I was using the Exo terra reptile glo compact coil bulb. After a couple of days I noticed Boris's eyes looked swollen. I did some research and read that those type of bulbs have caused eye problems. I posted on this forum and after seeing so many posts in regards to the compact coil bulb and eye problems I went to the store and bought the tube style light / fixture. Boris's eye had started to get better the next day. He looks fine now!

I feed Boris fresh greens. The girl at the pet store said to give him Zoomed grassland tortoise food. It's a dry food that you moisten with water. I moisten a few pieces with water and than either set it aside of his pile of greens or mix it in with his greens. He eats it sometimes but 99% of his food is fresh greens. He loves dandelions, collards, turnip/ mustard greens. I buy a variety of greens and try to give a different mixture every day. Www.russiantortoise.net has a list of foods to feed them. I keep a list in my purse for when I go shopping for his food.

He usually wakes up around 8 when I turn his day lights on and than he's ready to eat. . He's usually sleeping under his basking light when I get home from work and than moves to his hiding log for bedtime around 8-9pm And than his lights go off. On Saturdays I soak him and clean/add substrate to his cage. I use Eco earth coconut fiber mixed with reptile bark but I am fading the reptile bark out because it does tend to get stuck by his neck. During the week I spray the substrate to moisten it to help with the humidity.

He lets me hand feed him which is pretty neat.

Good luck and this forum is an awesome place to ask questions and get good feedback. You can spend hours reading all the different posts from current to older ones. I honestly don't know what I would have done without this forum when I first got Boris. There's so much information on the Internet it can be confusing & conflicting. The posts on here seem pretty consistent and trustworthy.

 

[kira]

Thanks rhondak. Someone else told me that the coil bulb can cause swelling & blindness later on so I will be SURE to take that back right way. My russian gets around 12 hours as well! Pretty much the same sleeping schedule as Boris. Thank you for that detailed answer.

Everyone's been great on here & I find myself just scrolling through the threads forever!

 

[Vegasarah]

Why would the lady at the pet store say to feed him crickets....? That has got to be the weirdest thing I have ever heard... And not only is that really weird, it could be dangerous. Crickets will try to eat the tortoise if left in there long enough. They will bite the heck out of him.

He looks pretty good for a pet store adult Russian. Glad to see he's eating!

 

[rhondak]

Thanks rhondak. Someone else told me that the coil bulb can cause swelling & blindness later on so I will be SURE to take that back right way. My russian gets around 12 hours as well! Pretty much the same sleeping schedule as Boris. Thank you for that detailed answer.

Everyone's been great on here & I find myself just scrolling through the threads forever!

You are very welcome. You will find so much helpful information on here.

 

[kira]

Thanks rhondak. Someone else told me that the coil bulb can cause swelling & blindness later on so I will be SURE to take that back right way. My russian gets around 12 hours as well! Pretty much the same sleeping schedule as Boris. Thank you for that detailed answer.

Everyone's been great on here & I find myself just scrolling through the threads forever!

You are very welcome. You will find so much helpful information on here.

Should I take back the coil bulb & get the 100W ZooMed PowerSun bulb in replace of the coil bulb & basking light? Should I keep the red light to keep on at night for him? (temps at my house get to around 67-68 degrees at night)

 

[Spn785]

Your tortoise looks great! I would take back the coil type UVB and get the Powersun 100W bulb. 67 or 68 is fine for at night, but if it gets cooler thats oksy too, Russians prefer 58-65 at night.

BTW hearing a pet store tell you to feed a Russian crickets is not the worst I've heard of. When I was younger (about 12) I went to an exotic reptile store to buy a turtle and bought what I was told was a box turtle and it turned out to be a Red-eared slider. I knew nothing at the time and trusted what the store told me.

 

[Rover15]

As mentioned above I would by the power sun 100w theere is no need for any light on at night if temps drop below the 58 then look in to buying a 60w Ceramic Heat Emitter(CHE) they give off only heat and not light. I believe I read somewhere that tortoises can see red on their coulor sale so at night your tort would be seeing the red bulb

 

[kira]

It's definitely comforting to hear people say he looks healthy! I'll be returning the red bulb & I'm going to be investing into building him a second story! Thank you everyone!