Hello - new tortoise mom here

[Svetlana'smom]

While caring for a friends Russian tortoise Max they advised me before dropping him off that maybe I could trim his "beak" with my dremel like I do my dogs nails or my parrots, I immediately informed them that I never heard of a tortoise with a long beak. After they dropped him off to my husband and I looked at him I immediately made an appt. with my exotic vet and he confirmed that he needed to be put under anesthesia to safely trim the beak (it was almost under his mouth) since he was not a friendly tort. Well of course after doing alot of research on Russians, getting educated from a vet tech who is a torti lover and my vet, I decided that if my friend would not allow me to keep Maxine (she was a female) that I would go and adopt my own. I went to my local herp shop here in Florida and found the friendliest female russian. I was immediatley given an education on tortoises by the 2 guys at the herp shop and realized I could handle this. Day 3 and she is eating and pooping to say the least. I am looking at putting in live plants and am currently reviewing the list of safe plants for Russians. I have never grown plants in the coco coir other than stag horn ferns and orchids does anyone have any recommendations for soil - I know I need organic WITHOUT fertilizer but Home Depot and Lowes in my area only sell it fertilized which makes not sense if it is organic???

Thanks, Tammy (looking forward to be educated via this forum)

 

[Jacqui]

Hi Tammy! So you took your friend's tortoise in for the beak trim, came under the magical spell of the Rusians, and went out and bought your own to be a slave to. Does that pretty much sum it up?

With a Russian, especially an adult, they usually are like a shark going after raw meat in a feeding frenzy. For them instead of planting in their enclosure (unless you want to keep buying new plants) to do one or more of these options:

1) buy the living greens from the grocery store. These are still rooted small heads of lettuce you simply "plant" in the enclosure and your tortoise demolishes.

2) buy pots or trays (what I lke to do is to use the trays the spring mix comes in and recyle those as my growing trays) and plant seeds within them. Once the seeds are no longer just little seedlings, just plant the entire try in the substrate. Remove the eaten tray and rotate with one of the other trays you have growing already. I guess this could be called the tray rotation method.

3) buy already growing plants and keeping them in their pots, plant the entire pot in the enclosure.

4) instead of planting directly into the enclosure, use a plant that hangs down over the edge. This way the tortose can eat what comes down into his reach, but not kill the entire plant.

5) go ahead and plant either growing plants or seds directly in the substrate (the coir your using will work for plants).

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome love how you got the tortoise bug. Warning, one can easily turn into lots more then one

 

[sibi]

That's what happened to me! I started out with one 24 years ago, and last year, I got the bug when a friend showed me a cluster of sulcata babies. I got two, and now I have a total of 5 turtles and torts....one's even a rescue. But I heard those Russians are very addictive. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum, Tammy!

 

[Svetlana'smom]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome