Help for shelter tort!!

[vgannikki]

Hello,

I joined this forum because I'm applying for a job at an animal shelter (going for the second interview this weekend =) and they have a 10 year old Russian tortoise there.

Right now he is in a rabbit cage (plastic bottom wire top) with newspaper a little bowl for swimming?, a little house and a reptile light (not sure what kind, but I'll find out)

Eventually I'd like to get him a bigger cage, but I'm not even hired yet so it's baby steps right now.

what can I do to improve his living conditions in such a small space. I obviously want to switch out the newspaper for a better substrate.

What can I use that's cheap and easy to clean? There are a lot of animals at this shelter so everything must be easy to clean and cheap.


Or if anyone lives around Alexandria, VA and wants to adopt him that would be even better!



This is Bud =)

 

[tortoisenerd]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum and best wishes with the job.

How large is the cage? The type you describe could be suitable depending on size. Does he have a UVB light? What temperature is he kept at? What type of substrate may you already have there to use? Has he been eating?

russiantortoise.org has a great enclosure set up and all sorts of info. Most of what follows is from there.

An easy and cheap option is organic soil. You can either buy this, or get it from an area you are sure has no pesticides or fertlizers (at least in the last year).

Another is coconut fiber/coir (sold in pet stores or online such as a brand called Eco Earth). You soak it in water and it expands. You let it dry a bit so it is moist but not soaking wet. You can also mix it with half or less of play sand (sold in home improvement stores). The play sand will add some traction and allow for burrowing, which Russian tortoises love and newspaper doesn't allow. You don't want any other type of sand because play sand has larger particles, and is clean for children so ok to use. You also never want straight sand. Have at least a few inches of substrate if possible with the height of the enclosure. Substrate at least as deep as the shell is long would be preferable--the more the better. Online will be the best price, but still expensive. You will want to add water every few days (pour it in and mix it up) as needed to keep it moist but not wet. The heat lamp will dry the substrate. You want a temperature range from the 70s to the 90s (the spot about 95 is the basking spot). A gradient is key, not all one temperature.

Aspen is another option. You can get shredded aspen wood online or in pet stores. The snake stuff (not small animal) works best due to the smaller particle size, but both are fine. Don't use any other types of wood shavings. Make sure it is pure aspen (not any sort of wood mix). Some such as cedar or fir are toxic and sadly sold anyways.

Rabbit pellets are bad for example. Newspaper is really only suited well for sick animals needing to keep a would clean or similar.

Substrate would just have any messes cleaned out daily. You would replace all of it every 1-3 months or if it gets stinky, but hopefully Bud will have a home soon!

I know most animal shelters aren't equipped for anything but dogs or cats, and they might not be willing to purchase items and hope to quickly adopt this cutie out. Is he healthy? He looks pretty good to me from the picture.

Is the bowl big enough for him to get into completely and soak? Is it a shallow dish? If he can't use it, you will want to soak him every other day or so (even daily right now as he may be dehydrated) in a shallow pan of water, to where the plasteron meets the carapace (the meeting of the two shell halves). They typically cannot drink out of a dish and want to get their entire body in the water.

What has he been fed at the shelter? The link I gave you has a great diet list. The easiest is organic spring mix (packaged at the grocery store produce section) with a dusting of pure calcium. The calcium you can get from a pet store, or even cheaper, Calcium Carbonate powder at a human health food store. The spring mix and calcium can be fed daily and is a very easy option as it is ready to eat out of the bag.

Best wishes. I hope Bud finds a home soon.

 

[vgannikki]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum and best wishes with the job.

How large is the cage? The type you describe could be suitable depending on size. Does he have a UVB light? What temperature is he kept at? What type of substrate may you already have there to use? Has he been eating?

russiantortoise.org has a great enclosure set up and all sorts of info. Most of what follows is from there.

An easy and cheap option is organic soil. You can either buy this, or get it from an area you are sure has no pesticides or fertlizers (at least in the last year).

Another is coconut fiber/coir (sold in pet stores or online such as a brand called Eco Earth). You soak it in water and it expands. You let it dry a bit so it is moist but not soaking wet. You can also mix it with half or less of play sand (sold in home improvement stores). The play sand will add some traction and allow for burrowing, which Russian tortoises love and newspaper doesn't allow. You don't want any other type of sand because play sand has larger particles, and is clean for children so ok to use. You also never want straight sand. Have at least a few inches of substrate if possible with the height of the enclosure. Substrate at least as deep as the shell is long would be preferable--the more the better. Online will be the best price, but still expensive. You will want to add water every few days (pour it in and mix it up) as needed to keep it moist but not wet. The heat lamp will dry the substrate. You want a temperature range from the 70s to the 90s (the spot about 95 is the basking spot). A gradient is key, not all one temperature.

Aspen is another option. You can get shredded aspen wood online or in pet stores. The snake stuff (not small animal) works best due to the smaller particle size, but both are fine. Don't use any other types of wood shavings. Make sure it is pure aspen (not any sort of wood mix). Some such as cedar or fir are toxic and sadly sold anyways.

Rabbit pellets are bad for example. Newspaper is really only suited well for sick animals needing to keep a would clean or similar.

Substrate would just have any messes cleaned out daily. You would replace all of it every 1-3 months or if it gets stinky, but hopefully Bud will have a home soon!

I know most animal shelters aren't equipped for anything but dogs or cats, and they might not be willing to purchase items and hope to quickly adopt this cutie out. Is he healthy? He looks pretty good to me from the picture.

Is the bowl big enough for him to get into completely and soak? Is it a shallow dish? If he can't use it, you will want to soak him every other day or so (even daily right now as he may be dehydrated) in a shallow pan of water, to where the plasteron meets the carapace (the meeting of the two shell halves). They typically cannot drink out of a dish and want to get their entire body in the water.

What has he been fed at the shelter? The link I gave you has a great diet list. The easiest is organic spring mix (packaged at the grocery store produce section) with a dusting of pure calcium. The calcium you can get from a pet store, or even cheaper, Calcium Carbonate powder at a human health food store. The spring mix and calcium can be fed daily and is a very easy option as it is ready to eat out of the bag.

Best wishes. I hope Bud finds a home soon.

Thank you so much that was very helpful! I went back saturday and found out that he actualy doesn't have a UVB light, they take him outside everyday so that he can bask but he doesnt have any light in his cage for the rest of the day. I'm guessing that's bad since he's cold blooded and all, am I right? I also found out that he has a place that he can get into to soak. He looks ill and is always in the corner with his head tucked in. I'm going to buy him some of the eco earth and try to get a UVB light from craigslist, but like I said I'm not even hired so I don't know how they'll take my advice =/. I'm going to look around for experienced tortoise care givers to maybe adopt or foster him. He doesn't look like he's doing to well =/.

 

[Crazy1]

vgannikki, Kudos to you for trying so hard to help this little Russian. If he is taken outside daily a regular household light will keep him warm during the day and a blacklight at night if needed. Because he is tucked away in the corner may not mean he is ill he may be just scared and is unable to bury himself so he tucks in. Hope others will come on to help. Or even better yet someone who is knowlegable will adopt him soon.

 

[tortoisenerd]

The one thing to be careful with a UVB from Craig's List is that after 6 months (tube light) or 12 months (Mercury Vapor Bulb) the UVB will be degraded to a point that it is barely useful. If he is getting outside at least an hour a day that is fine for UVB for now. I would just put a light in there, and maybe a heat emitter like Robyn said. He needs to be in the 80s to digest food, and have a range from the 70s to 90s in general to move around in. You are correct they need heat! Is he eating? If I was in your situation I would just try to find him a home as quickly as possible, because I doubt the shelter will want to spend the $100+ on getting him set up. Does he have a hide area? They will go in a corner if they don't have a safe place to hide. A fake plant, box, etc is great. You can make something from clean cardboard and duck tape pretty easily. That will help him feel safe.

 

[Tortuslvr]

what does it cost to adopt him from there? what would it cost to ship him to Ks. Find these things out and I would probably be interested I have a 30' X 60' out door enclosure and I have 1 russian already, I can't stand it.

 

[vgannikki]

what does it cost to adopt him from there? what would it cost to ship him to Ks. Find these things out and I would probably be interested I have a 30' X 60' out door enclosure and I have 1 russian already, I can't stand it.

I think it's only 20 dollars to adopt him, but I highly doubt they would ship him any where =/. You could try and ask them though, maybe tell them about your enclosure. Here's the website www.alexandriaanimals.org all the contact information is on the site.

Thanks so much for trying! I bought him some substrate and if I don't get the job I'm going to send it to them anonymously with instructions on how to care for a tortoise lol

 

[jenefer18]

An animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats. I like your principle when it comes to animals. So, I hope you will successfully join that animal shelter.





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[bettinge]

Anybody know what ever became of this tort? Hope he's got some new digs!