Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have yesterday given a tortoise a new home. I persuaded a student to give it to me, it had been living in a cardboard box for I don't know how long and I want to give her a new lease of life. I was told she was 10 years old. I think its a Russian tortoise i will attach a photo maybe I'm wrong.
I have many questions and because of the climate here it may not be possible for her to spend her time outside and i would hate for her to be outside in winter. Although summer is perfect i have the perfect place for he to live.
Her temporary name is woof ( I told my son it was a dog coz he wanted to take every dog home he sees ) The box she came in has some poo, and some remains of food, the owner told me she eats cucumbers, fruit some lettuce and other things. I want to know if she has been eating these things is it appropriate to change her diet to more suitable for her health or should I stay with what she has been eating? Also she doesn't seem to want to drink maybe i should bath her. The last question of food, because of the snow in winter its impossible to find moist grasses dandelions leaves etc. but its normal to buy dried grass for rabbits would this be ok ?
For the winter she will live in my apartment, which during winter the temperature is usually between 24 and 28 deg c will she need a heat lamp ? or will it be too hot? Summer is no problem as she will move outside.
I am making a temporary house of cardboard boxes, until i can relearn carpentry and make a real house/run for her but there is no place where I can get shop bought substrate is there anything else I can use?
I worry a little because in the box she came in she seems to try and hide in the corners, when she is walking around outside the box she tries to find corners and walls is this because she is scared ?
Hope these questions can be answered or if someone could post me in the direction of some forum posts, I'm terrible at searching forums.
I have yesterday given a tortoise a new home. I persuaded a student to give it to me, it had been living in a cardboard box for I don't know how long and I want to give her a new lease of life. I was told she was 10 years old. I think its a Russian tortoise i will attach a photo maybe I'm wrong.
I have many questions and because of the climate here it may not be possible for her to spend her time outside and i would hate for her to be outside in winter. Although summer is perfect i have the perfect place for he to live.
Her temporary name is woof ( I told my son it was a dog coz he wanted to take every dog home he sees ) The box she came in has some poo, and some remains of food, the owner told me she eats cucumbers, fruit some lettuce and other things. I want to know if she has been eating these things is it appropriate to change her diet to more suitable for her health or should I stay with what she has been eating? Also she doesn't seem to want to drink maybe i should bath her. The last question of food, because of the snow in winter its impossible to find moist grasses dandelions leaves etc. but its normal to buy dried grass for rabbits would this be ok ?
For the winter she will live in my apartment, which during winter the temperature is usually between 24 and 28 deg c will she need a heat lamp ? or will it be too hot? Summer is no problem as she will move outside.
I am making a temporary house of cardboard boxes, until i can relearn carpentry and make a real house/run for her but there is no place where I can get shop bought substrate is there anything else I can use?
I worry a little because in the box she came in she seems to try and hide in the corners, when she is walking around outside the box she tries to find corners and walls is this because she is scared ?
Hope these questions can be answered or if someone could post me in the direction of some forum posts, I'm terrible at searching forums.
))). I'm from Russia, but live in USA now. 
