New Tortoise Owner!

[WoodyandRob]

Hi I've just adopted 2 Horsfield tortoises, currently called George and Fred as they are too small to be more gender specific. Not sure how old they are exactly, but they're babies so this summer is my closest guess!



George is the bigger one and 'he's' 7cm long and Fred is the smaller one at 6cm long (nose to tail ish)

Currently they're in a Reptile One tank with a Tortoise Life Mediterranean substrate (like the first picture not the pellets below!). This is the tank:



So far we're feeding them a mix of rocket, water cress and spinach (the mix bag you get in supermarkets) and once a week a piece of banana or the like. They've also got a Turtle bone.

Last night we gave them a bath in about 5mm of luke warm water and let them dry off by walking around on a towel.

Any advice is welcome as I'm a complete novice but love these little dudes!

Thanks

p.s. do the need to got to the vets for worming or anything ?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The pellets for substrate will need to go away and the "house" is a tipover hazard. Also, many will soon tell you that to best take care of them, you'll need to get them apart. They don't live in packs or even in pairs very well. Welcome!!

 

[leigti]

Welcome. Those are cute little tortoises. You could make the house a little safer by piling up more substrate around it so that it's more of a big hill that they can walk up. to Russian tortoises just don't do well together so they will need to be separated so that one doesn't boil the other. Sometimes a bullying is very subtle not out right fighting.I have an adult Russian that I did take to the vet and got checked for worms, she had them so she got medication to get rid of them. I'm not sure how it works with babies, probably the same way. My tortoise was wild caught. what kinds of UVB and heat are you using? You can also add some plants to the enclosure too.keep asking questions, this is a great place to get information. browse through the different categories.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Skip the banana. They can't digest fruit properly. The bagged mix is good for the winter when there's no variety available, but do try to add other leafy foods. Your grocery store should have endive and escarole and kale and more. You may still be able to forage dandelions.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Welcome! Torts shouldn't be fed only 'grocery store greens', like your spring mix and yeah, pellets are very drying, and despite the 'common knowledge', torts need humidity! Also, I must, say the above is right! If it's not happening now, one o your torts will end up getting puashed about eventually, which will cause stress, and he could even become very ill Up soaking to every day, for 15min! They're still babies, and it's needed to get their shells to grow smooth and nice.
Caresheet-http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
And an edible plant list-http://russiantortoise.net/edible_plants.htm
If you don't a have a yard or anything where you can pick organic (no weed killer, or fertilizer) weeds, you can grow some. Many tortoise websites sell mixes to grow for your tort!

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. Totally agree with all above. Also, that enclosure is way too small for two russians and no they should not be kept together. As babies, they need about a 60% humidity. The uvb is being blocked by the screen top and if you are using one of the cheap coil type bulbs, I would replace it, as many torts have had eye problems from them.

 

[Yvonne G]

Try to find a substrate that you can moisten. In the wild baby tortoises stay hidden most of the time because they are prey, and where they hide gives them a more humid environment. The humidity helps the shells to grow smoothly. Also, your light might be up too high to provide the necessary warm temperature at the floor of the habitat. Take a temperature measurement at the floor and make sure it is in the proper range.

Welcome! Glad to have you here. In my opinion, the foods you are offering are quite ok. As they grow, and as the weather gets better, you can look for edible weeds and plants to feed them.

 

[WoodyandRob]

Thanks for all the replies we have plenty of space to separate them and are planning when they're older to have a pen area outside with a den inside the greenhouse and areas to burrow! They have a heat mat in the viv so one corner is nice a warm, they love it there! We're going to get hold of some coir to mix into it too, that should also deepen the substrate.

Foraging in our garden isn't a problem, hubby just went out to get some nettles and dandelion leaves, he's asking do they like horseradish leaves? we have tones of that! I also picked up a bag of florette baby salad leaves that don't contain spinach and they love cress! Will hold off on the fruit from now on as to be honest they didn't really eat it anyway

Our UVB is a 5% UVB flouresent strip T5 bulb (15 watt) and the heat bulb is a reptile one ceramic 100 watt filament bulb.

We also have a thermostat that we need to plug in which should help keep the temperature better in there.

Thanks for the help good to have lots of feedback!

 

[leigti]

I remember hearing somewhere that horseradish leaves are poisonous. Check out the tortoise table website. They are a little conservative on some of their suggestions but overall a very good site.

 

[bouaboua]

Welcome to the forum and I think we have "All hands on deck" for you....Hahaha!!

Welcome.

 

[WoodyandRob]

We're building a new enclosure for our tortoises! Here's the base as it's being built



and here's how it currently looks



We're getting coir as the substrate and we're going to make a ramp leading up to a second level. We're planning on putting a heat mat on the top layer and the bottom layer is going to have 12 inches of substrate so hopefully enough to burrow!

The UV lamp is going to be on the lower layer and the heat lamp will hang from the ceiling at one end of the enclosure.

Any ideas of slope needed on a ramp and do we need to have substrate on the upper level?

More pics to follow

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Wow! It looks great! That's way enough, they'll be happily digging for days
Russians are little climbing masters, so don't be shy about making it a little steep! Just make sure they can grip onto the ramp safely
If you have room and extra coir, why not? I'm a little concerned about it on the heat mat though what kind of heat mat?

 

[Shakudo]

That looks great ! Congratulations with your new friends and good luck with your project!!!

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. Here are some threads to help you out:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pairs.34837/

If your tortoises are going to be indoors over winter for months at a time, you are really going to need a better UV source. The 5.0 bulbs make very little UV even when the tortoise is just a few inches away from them.

 

[WoodyandRob]

ok here's the next pic!



we've got an Arcadia desert uvb 10 now with a reflector as the 5 died as we thought it would do

the heat mat is a reptile one 240v (I think... it's buried at the moment...)

we're now deciding what to do with placing lamps and hides!

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Nice! Do you have a temp gun? They do a great job with specific areas, so you know where lights should go.

 

[WoodyandRob]

starting to put the edging on, there'll be perspex as well as the edging to stop them acting like lemmings!! (Fred is already nuts! )



We're thinking of getting two Arcadia Slimline Vivarium Canopy D3+ T5 39W from the online reptile shop, one for each level.

A temp gun is not a bad idea!

Yellow Turtle01 is the ramp too steep or is it ok? and will it need some sort of grips on it?

They're loving the leaves coming from the garden, dandelion leaves, nettle leaves and sedum (1 leaf so far), also discovering that they treat cress like humans with chocolate!!! They LOVE it!!!!

George is always splashing about in their water and clogging up his legs with mud! Means I have to bath him and dry him every other day, or should I just leave him to it?

Also hadn't quite twigged that they'd need such a large indoor enclosure! But the plans for the outside one/two is a sort of pit that has an entrance into the greenhouse as well as a house area so they can choose where they want to stay, with plenty of over hangs for them to hide. Wondering what the substrate should be, obviously soil a foot or so deep (we have heavy clay here) but would a layer of fine/medium gravel on top be appropriate?

 

[leigti]

The ramp is steep so I would definitely put some good grip on it. You don't want them rolling down.

 

[mijojr]

Cool torts! Also, that ramp looks a bit steep. About the gravel, where would you put it? I really don`t see the need, unless it is in a water hole or something. Im glad that they got a good home!