I have a Russian I am wondering after reading other threads if I have it right

Yvonne G

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A couple things I see - the alfalfa pellets aren't a good choice. I prefer small grade fir bark. You can buy it from chewy.com for around $15 and a bag would be enough to do your enclosure. I use plant saucers for water and the tube type fluorescent UVB light with a CHE for heat:


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plant saucer.jpg

T-5 fluorescent bulb.jpg

ceramic heat emitter.jpg


Your enclosure may be a bit on the small size for a full grown Russian tortoise, but give it a try. If he keeps trying to escape, and digging in the corners, you'll know it's not big enough.
 

Yvonne G

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Oh, and you'r gauge is up too high. It needs to be down at tortoise level.
 

Denni

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A couple things I see - the alfalfa pellets aren't a good choice. I prefer small grade fir bark. You can buy it from chewy.com for around $15 and a bag would be enough to do your enclosure. I use plant saucers for water and the tube type fluorescent UVB light with a CHE for heat:


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Your enclosure may be a bit on the small size for a full grown Russian tortoise, but give it a try. If he keeps trying to escape, and digging in the corners, you'll know it's not big enough.
Thank you so much for your advice I live in the UK and will go on Amazon and see if I can order the lights etc
 

Tom

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Here is what I see:
  • Enclosure is much too small. They need something around 4x8'.
  • Dry substrate is no good for tortoises.
  • Basking bulb looks inadequate and that fixture doesn't look safe. It also doesn't look like the fixture is safely attached. What is the basking temp under that bulb.
  • Is there a flat rock or pice of slate for basking?
  • No water dish?
  • The stick on dial type thermometer/hygrometers are not accurate or reliable, and yours is mounted too high away from the tortoise.
  • The wire front is potentially harmful to your tortoise. There should be something smooth there in case the tortoise rubs itself there whilst walking around and being a tortoise.
  • Does the bulb you are using provide UVB? It looks like you have the ends for a florescent tube there. I would get a new bulb of the right size and type for your ballast and fixture.
  • Lettuce is not a good tortoise food. If you are going to use it, it needs to be amended with something with high fiber. A wide variety of broadleaf weeds are the best diet for them.
 

Denni

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I have ordered the right substrate and the fluorescent light Bobbie only goes in the table at night she had no home when I got her no substantial amount of food no light and lived walking around on the floor she arrived in a cardboard box with nothing so I had to act fast and my son-in-law made the table and I am learning what to do I had only just had the table made when I took the picture she has everything now proper food from zoo med and I changed the substrate and now changing the lights. She was flat and had no bumps on the shell but she is a lot more healthy and I give the vitamins on her food twice a week. I have moved the humidity and have ordered a temperature gauge.
 

Denni

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Here is what I see:
  • Enclosure is much too small. They need something around 4x8'.
  • Dry substrate is no good for tortoises.
  • Basking bulb looks inadequate and that fixture doesn't look safe. It also doesn't look like the fixture is safely attached. What is the basking temp under that bulb.
  • Is there a flat rock or pice of slate for basking?
  • No water dish?
  • The stick on dial type thermometer/hygrometers are not accurate or reliable, and yours is mounted too high away from the tortoise.
  • The wire front is potentially harmful to your tortoise. There should be something smooth there in case the tortoise rubs itself there whilst walking around and being a tortoise.
  • Does the bulb you are using provide UVB? It looks like you have the ends for a florescent tube there. I would get a new bulb of the right size and type for your ballast and fixture.
  • Lettuce is not a good tortoise food. If you are going to use it, it needs to be amended with something with high fiber. A wide variety of broadleaf weeds are the best diet for them.
She has a bath every day and I have got one for the Tort table she has water and I have bought all the best food as well as fresh kale and apple banana she loves. Thank you for all your help I think when we can go out again she can have a bigger Tort table made.
 

Denni

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She has a bath every day and I have got one for the Tort table she has water and I have bought all the best food as well as fresh kale and apple banana she loves. Thank you for all your help I think when we can go out again she can have a bigger Tort table made.
We have put a piece of perspect in the front x
 
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Tom

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She has a bath every day and I have got one for the Tort table she has water and I have bought all the best food as well as fresh kale and apple banana she loves. Thank you for all your help I think when we can go out again she can have a bigger Tort table made.
They should never get fruit. Its too sugary and not good for them.

Kale is okay once in a while, but if you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole as the mainstays. Add in arugula, cilantro, kale, collards, turnip and mustard greens and more for variety. You should also be adding some fiber and variety to the grocery store greens. Soaked ZooMed Grassland pellets are one way to do this.
 

KronksMom

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Be careful with fruit, Russians can't process sugars. I do give my guy a little bite of apple once in a blue moon, but broad leafy weeds should definitely make up the majority of their diet. I know it's hard, especially with everything going on right now, but you'd be amazed what you can find growing wild outside. Search here for "Russian diet" or try thetortoisetable.org.uk. And you're obviously doing a great job, putting a lot of effort into getting this right for your little one. It's a lot at first, and there's so much conflicting information out there! This is the place to learn what's best though. Congratulations on your new family member, and welcome to the forum!
 

Denni

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Be careful with fruit, Russians can't process sugars. I do give my guy a little bite of apple once in a blue moon, but broad leafy weeds should definitely make up the majority of their diet. I know it's hard, especially with everything going on right now, but you'd be amazed what you can find growing wild outside. Search here for "Russian diet" or try thetortoisetable.org.uk. And you're obviously doing a great job, putting a lot of effort into getting this right for your little one. It's a lot at first, and there's so much conflicting information out there! This is the place to learn what's best though. Congratulations on your new family member, and welcome to the forum!
Thank you if I would of been buying a tortoise I would have been searching everything that is needed but I had 5 hours to say that I would have her ? I have been a dog owner for a long time and would not get a breed without doing my research so I am so happy that you think I am doing okay ?
 

KronksMom

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You're definitely taking steps in the right direction. Tortoises digest their food by walking around, though. So yes, Tom did mean 4 feet by 8 feet. They can get by with a little less, but in the wild they would cover way more than that every day.
 
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