Hello!

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bpham93

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Hi my name is Joseph and I love tortoises! I'm from Austin Texas, very new to this so please show me the way! :D
 

wellington

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Hello and Welcome:) Do you own a tortoise or are you looking to get one? What do you have or what species are you interested in? We will give all the help you need.
 

bpham93

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i have a male and female russian, built an outdoor enclosure for them last week. Any idea on how i could improve it? this is what it looks like right now, i just added grass yesterday.

tortoises.jpg

Tortoises2.jpg
 
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wellington

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A nice clay or hard plastic plant saucer buried ground level for water. Also, a few more sight barriers and maybe a couple hides. Also, keep a close eye out for the male to be pestering the female. If he doesn't leave her alone, they will have to be separated. Look for him bullying her, not letting her eat, or soak or drink, etc.
 

bpham93

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wellington said:
A nice clay or hard plastic plant saucer buried ground level for water. Also, a few more sight barriers and maybe a couple hides. Also, keep a close eye out for the male to be pestering the female. If he doesn't leave her alone, they will have to be separated. Look for him bullying her, not letting her eat, or soak or drink, etc.

Sight barriers and hides? not sure what those are, sorry very new.
 

JoesMum

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Re: RE: Hello!

bpham93 said:
Sight barriers and hides? not sure what those are, sorry very new.

Sight barriers = Things to break up the line of sight. Plants, rocks, mounds, etc. Rusians love to roam and climb, so make the enclosure more interesting for them.

Hides = places to dig under and snooze. They offer shade in the hot sun and shelter from the weather. Take a look in the enclosures forum for some ideas.

Now for the warning. In the wild, Russians are largely solitary; they roam large distances, meet up to mate and move on. They are very territorial. In captivity this means that pairs of torts do not often get on. When they are immature they can be fine, but as they mature their territorial behaviour leads to mental and physical bullying. If one of your torts becomes withdrawn, or the victim of butting, bullying or biting then they must be separated quickly and this may have to be permanent, otherwise the victim will become sick and could die. Groups of three or more can work in a very large outdoor enclosure with plenty of sight barriers, but pairs are very likely to have problems.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Joseph:

You've done a very nice job on the habitat. I like that you've put a lip on the top to inhibit climbing escapes.

Russian tortoises don't eat that much grass. You might be better off pulling up the turf and planting broad-leaf weeds and plants. One of our sponsors is selling a mixture for Mediterranean tortoises - tortoisesupply.com Here's a link to a thread where Tom shows how he planted the mixture: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-71890.html


Oh...and: Welcome to the Forum!!
 

shanu303

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Hello Joseph and Welcome to TFO!! :) i like the boundary of the enclosure... and the enclosure itself :)
 

bpham93

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Yvonne G said:
Hi Joseph:

You've done a very nice job on the habitat. I like that you've put a lip on the top to inhibit climbing escapes.

Russian tortoises don't eat that much grass. You might be better off pulling up the turf and planting broad-leaf weeds and plants. One of our sponsors is selling a mixture for Mediterranean tortoises - tortoisesupply.com Here's a link to a thread where Tom shows how he planted the mixture: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-71890.html


Oh...and: Welcome to the Forum!!



So i should remove the grass completely and just plant seed mixtures? should i plant the seeds separately and then add it on to the enclosure later or start plant it right in the enclosure?
 
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