Let me introduce myself and my "family."
My name is Beth. I live with my boyfriend, Joe. We have two cats: Mooch and Patches. We have two Russian Tortoises: Boris (5 inches)and Sonya (5.5 inches). Mooch is 8 years old. Patches is a year old.
We adopted Patches about a month before we adopted/rescued Boris and Sonya. My father had bought the tortoises for my teenage sister who quickly became bored with them and started to neglect them.
When we adopted them last Janurary, Boris had an upper respitory infection. Both tortoises were easily startled and untrusting. Within a month of weekly soakings, a proper diet, clean substrate, Boris' infection went away by itself. Today, Sonya tolerates handling. Boris loves his head rubbed and loves to be handled. Both tortoises will accept food from my hand.
I am lucky in terms of my/our cats. Mooch could care less about the tortoises. She sniffs them once in a great while and walks away. Patches, on the other hand, thinks she is one of them. She brings them toys and spends good quality time with them. I've tried to keep her away from them, but it was a loosing battle. Despite what quite a few people have said, Patches DOES NOT use the enclosure as a litter box. She could care less about the heat lamp either. If the torts are at the cool end, she'll lay at the cool end with them. If they are under the light, she's right there with them. She often eats the lettuces with them.
I use a coconut coir/play sand mix for the substrate, a good 6-8 inches deep. I have tried planting plants in the enclosure. Sonya has a habit of killing them. Currently, I am trying to save a mini rose bush on the brink of death. Their diet consists of dandellion, kale, escrole, chicory and baby mixed greens. Every great while, I give them carrot and squash.
Their current enclosure is 18 inches, by 36 inches. I use a Zoo Med 160 watt Powersun uva/uvb heat lamp. My cool end temp is 70 degrees. My warm end/basking end is 90/95 degrees.
The only time we allow them outside is on the deck as we live in an apartment building. The grass gets sprayed. I am not sure with what. Someone told me pesticides. Other people told me fertilizer. I do not want to take the chance of having
Joe and I are seriously considering adopting another female. We want a rescue. Boris is harrassing Sonya. He wants to mate with her. She wants to be left alone. We figure that if we bring another female into the mix, Sonya will catch a break as it would be near impossible for Boris to go after both of them at the same time.
So, I have a couple of questions:
1) We want to get a larger enclosure, probably home made. How big should it be to accomodate 3 tortoises?
2) How would we introduce the new female? Should be allow Sonya and Boris to have limited contact with her until she settles in or should we place her in the same enclosure as they are when we get her?
3) Is there any reputable rescues in Michigan or the surrounding states that deals with tortoises?
--Thanks,
Beth
My name is Beth. I live with my boyfriend, Joe. We have two cats: Mooch and Patches. We have two Russian Tortoises: Boris (5 inches)and Sonya (5.5 inches). Mooch is 8 years old. Patches is a year old.
We adopted Patches about a month before we adopted/rescued Boris and Sonya. My father had bought the tortoises for my teenage sister who quickly became bored with them and started to neglect them.
When we adopted them last Janurary, Boris had an upper respitory infection. Both tortoises were easily startled and untrusting. Within a month of weekly soakings, a proper diet, clean substrate, Boris' infection went away by itself. Today, Sonya tolerates handling. Boris loves his head rubbed and loves to be handled. Both tortoises will accept food from my hand.
I am lucky in terms of my/our cats. Mooch could care less about the tortoises. She sniffs them once in a great while and walks away. Patches, on the other hand, thinks she is one of them. She brings them toys and spends good quality time with them. I've tried to keep her away from them, but it was a loosing battle. Despite what quite a few people have said, Patches DOES NOT use the enclosure as a litter box. She could care less about the heat lamp either. If the torts are at the cool end, she'll lay at the cool end with them. If they are under the light, she's right there with them. She often eats the lettuces with them.
I use a coconut coir/play sand mix for the substrate, a good 6-8 inches deep. I have tried planting plants in the enclosure. Sonya has a habit of killing them. Currently, I am trying to save a mini rose bush on the brink of death. Their diet consists of dandellion, kale, escrole, chicory and baby mixed greens. Every great while, I give them carrot and squash.
Their current enclosure is 18 inches, by 36 inches. I use a Zoo Med 160 watt Powersun uva/uvb heat lamp. My cool end temp is 70 degrees. My warm end/basking end is 90/95 degrees.
The only time we allow them outside is on the deck as we live in an apartment building. The grass gets sprayed. I am not sure with what. Someone told me pesticides. Other people told me fertilizer. I do not want to take the chance of having
Joe and I are seriously considering adopting another female. We want a rescue. Boris is harrassing Sonya. He wants to mate with her. She wants to be left alone. We figure that if we bring another female into the mix, Sonya will catch a break as it would be near impossible for Boris to go after both of them at the same time.
So, I have a couple of questions:
1) We want to get a larger enclosure, probably home made. How big should it be to accomodate 3 tortoises?
2) How would we introduce the new female? Should be allow Sonya and Boris to have limited contact with her until she settles in or should we place her in the same enclosure as they are when we get her?
3) Is there any reputable rescues in Michigan or the surrounding states that deals with tortoises?
--Thanks,
Beth