Please help. Greek or Russian or Hermann?
- Thread starter CaseyAR
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CaseyAR
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You don't need the red bulb and Russians don't need a night heat unless there enclosure drops below 70 degrees. and if it does it would be better to use a heat mat or ceramic heat emitter or something that don't provide light cause they like it to be dark.
Also don't use the coil bulb cause that can cause eye issues instead use the tube type fluorescent. The cage will work for the time being till u can save up some money and be able to build something bigger for him.
Heather H
Well-Known Member
That's the light I thought. Take the whole thing back. Keep the base on the second light but take the bulb back. Can you order from Amazon? If so get a 100 watt mvp it's a heat and uvb in one. Russians like it cooler at night. Has he used the hide?
Heather H
Well-Known Member
Petsmart around here is good about returns. Explain you bought what you were told by the associate. And that upon further study, the water dish is a flip hazard, the red light is not needed, the coil lights have been known to cause blindness. The plant can be a choking hazard if he eats it. I'm not sure about the hide? Have you soaked him? Did you add water to the bark?
Hello, welcome to the forum. I know everything seems very overwhelming right now but it will work out. for that size tank I would use one mercury vapor bulb in the large fixture. It will provide enough heat and UVB for that enclosure. add more substrate, keep it slightly damp, and put the hide in one corner. as far as fake plants go, I had some in my Russian enclosure for a while. She didn't bother one of them but she continually nibbled on the other one. so I took them out. Just watch and see what he does, if he nibbles on it and doesn't stop then take it out. if you soak your Russian on a daily basis you don't necessarily need a water bowl. you can use a small terra-cotta plant saucer as a food bowl. just relax, a couple minor adjustments will get this enclosure good enough for now. Then you can do more detailed research into a bigger enclosure.
Hello and welcome Casey. You are not alone. This happens to many people. Your heart is in the right place, but the person giving you the advice on what to buy clearly had no idea what he/she was talking about and sold you all the wrong stuff. It will all work out. You can take all that stuff back for a full refund and get good stuff for a safe, healthy enclosure for half the money or less. The good news is that you have begun an amazing journey and this little shelled animal will win you over in short order. Luckily, russians are tough little cookies and you have time to figure this all out.
Lets get you started with some simple stuff to do immediately:
1. If your house stays above 60-65 at night, just go unplug that red light and don't use it again. Russians benefit from a drop in night temps.
2. Unscrew that cfl UV bulb and don't use it. Sometimes those burn their eyes and that might be one reason why he's hiding and not moving. They can go a couple few weeks with no UV while you get things sorted.
3. Take out that water bowl. Use the aforementioned terra cotta plant saucer sunk into the substrate instead. You will need to soak this guy daily for a week or two anyway, so he'll be fine with no water bowl for a bit. Use a tall sided opaque tub (I use Walmart dishwashing tubs. $1.82), and use warm shallow water about a third of the way up his shell. Many of them scramble around the whole time. This is okay. Its good exercise and it help move things along in the GI tract. All of them get used to the soaks in time and most them them enjoy it. I have 20 russians and all of them like soak time.
The above things can be done right away. Relax a bit after that and take a day to consider your options. Reading these will give you some ideas for what to do and what is needed for your new pet. Russians are hardy and easy to take care of. You just have to wade through the conflicting info all over the internet and pet stores until you get things sorted out. Most of your tortoise product shopping should be done at the hardware store, not the pet store.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...or-other-herbivorous-tortoise-species.107734/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/semi-underground-russian-box.98590/
We will help you and in the end you will be glad to have this little guy in your life.
Lets get you started with some simple stuff to do immediately:
1. If your house stays above 60-65 at night, just go unplug that red light and don't use it again. Russians benefit from a drop in night temps.
2. Unscrew that cfl UV bulb and don't use it. Sometimes those burn their eyes and that might be one reason why he's hiding and not moving. They can go a couple few weeks with no UV while you get things sorted.
3. Take out that water bowl. Use the aforementioned terra cotta plant saucer sunk into the substrate instead. You will need to soak this guy daily for a week or two anyway, so he'll be fine with no water bowl for a bit. Use a tall sided opaque tub (I use Walmart dishwashing tubs. $1.82), and use warm shallow water about a third of the way up his shell. Many of them scramble around the whole time. This is okay. Its good exercise and it help move things along in the GI tract. All of them get used to the soaks in time and most them them enjoy it. I have 20 russians and all of them like soak time.
The above things can be done right away. Relax a bit after that and take a day to consider your options. Reading these will give you some ideas for what to do and what is needed for your new pet. Russians are hardy and easy to take care of. You just have to wade through the conflicting info all over the internet and pet stores until you get things sorted out. Most of your tortoise product shopping should be done at the hardware store, not the pet store.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...or-other-herbivorous-tortoise-species.107734/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/semi-underground-russian-box.98590/
We will help you and in the end you will be glad to have this little guy in your life.
CaseyAR
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Surprisingly enough, yes!
CaseyAR
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Okay! I've had a good night's rest and I've had some time to think. I apologize for my meltdown lol.
I've moved furniture around in our bedroom and have found that I have enough space for a 3 by 6 foot open top table. My wonderfuly, (and thankfully understanding ) husband is quite the carpenter and has agreed to build me a 3 by 6 foot table for little Koopa on his next day off from work. I read the care sheets and understand that a 4 by 8 indoor enclosure is best, but will he be able to flourish in a 3 by 6? Today I'm making a trip to Ace hardware to get his top soil and planting saucers and I'm going g to try and find that 2 in 1 bulb that he needs. Hopefully that will tide him over until my husband can get to building on Sunday.
I've moved furniture around in our bedroom and have found that I have enough space for a 3 by 6 foot open top table. My wonderfuly, (and thankfully understanding ) husband is quite the carpenter and has agreed to build me a 3 by 6 foot table for little Koopa on his next day off from work. I read the care sheets and understand that a 4 by 8 indoor enclosure is best, but will he be able to flourish in a 3 by 6? Today I'm making a trip to Ace hardware to get his top soil and planting saucers and I'm going g to try and find that 2 in 1 bulb that he needs. Hopefully that will tide him over until my husband can get to building on Sunday.
welcome to the forum.
CaseyAR
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Thank you!
Welcome glad you found the forum. Sounds like your on the way to a great enclosure for your cute tort!!
Go to Amazon and look up Reptile Mercury Vapor Bulb. They have good prices on them and they ship out very quickly. I usually get my orders from them in about two or three days.
I just wanted to mention about the red light. Zoos use them and quite a few reptile-keepers use them. I have two of them in two different tortoise sheds. They put out a bit more light than I like to see, but using the 250watt red bulbs heats up the ambient air in my sheds great. I love them for their heat. The tortoises sleep right through and the light from the red bulb doesn't bother them. I prefer to use a black incandescent bulb for smaller areas. It provides a more subtle light, more like what you would be getting from the moon.
We have discovered that SOME tortoises, tortoises that may not be getting all their vitamins and minerals from other sources, might eat their substrate if you have a red light over their habitat. In my opinion, you should not be using a red light when the tortoise is awake. They don't come out and eat their substrate during the night, so turn the red light off in the morning. And if you DO happen to have a substrate eater, then don't use the red light. But ALL use shouldn't be taken away from us because a minor few tortoises may, might, could possibly eat substrate under it.
We have discovered that SOME tortoises, tortoises that may not be getting all their vitamins and minerals from other sources, might eat their substrate if you have a red light over their habitat. In my opinion, you should not be using a red light when the tortoise is awake. They don't come out and eat their substrate during the night, so turn the red light off in the morning. And if you DO happen to have a substrate eater, then don't use the red light. But ALL use shouldn't be taken away from us because a minor few tortoises may, might, could possibly eat substrate under it.
CaseyAR
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Koopa doesn't seem to be doing so well, but the behavior info I've read is very confusing. This morning when I woke up I took him to soak. He just laid in the water, eyes closed for about five minutes. I only had the recommended amount of water in the plastic tub (up to where the top and bottom of the shell meet), and I had to end up lifting his head out of the water because he just left his head down in the water and I was afraid he would drown. Then he started to drink. And drink and drink and drink like he'd never had water before, which broke my heart a little. The water seemed to wake him up a bit because boy did he eat. I filled his bowl with chopped squash and tortoise pellets soaked in water. He picked every piece of squash out of his bowl, so that made me hopeful. But now for the past 3 hours or so he retreated back into his shell in a corner of his temporary habitat. No movement.
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I've been pro-red night light from the start. My Russian's enclosure is in our finished basement, I've been told many times night heat isn't needed and a house shouldn't get below 60° but since its still the basement and not heated it does drop below. The idea of Ceramic Heat Emitters frightened me, hearing about hot spots and all that, its probably easy but I've also never had a problem with the red, and I only use it in the winter, its nice to have it as a backup when it gets cold.
What a great husband!
My guy used to live in a 20gal tank for over 2 years based on pet store associate advice, he's now only in a built enclosure about the size of a 40gal because theres really no space to build bigger right now. If you live someone with a nice yard you could build something outside when it warms up to put him in during the day (and save electricity on lighting, bonus!)
Coil bulbs are known to have problems, I never experienced them in the 2 I used over 2 years, but I no longer risk it. MVBs are available on amazon for about $45 for a 100watt one.
Often times when tortoises are newly placed into an enclosure they get really stressed because of how everything is unfamiliar. And since he came from petsmart he is Wild Caught, humans are big scary monsters right now, give him space and try not to move him too much minus soaks and if he doesn't go to his food on his own. He drank a lot, must have been really thirsty, what was the water like in the petsmart enclosure?
Also I'm kind of surprised no one mentioned it so maybe I'm crazy but in that first picture his arms look REALLY thin, Maybe @Yvonne G could take a look at it (again I guess since she's already commented) but she'd know much more than me, all I know is they look really thin to me. I'd just like to throw it out there just in case, but I may just be paranoid.
What a great husband!
My guy used to live in a 20gal tank for over 2 years based on pet store associate advice, he's now only in a built enclosure about the size of a 40gal because theres really no space to build bigger right now. If you live someone with a nice yard you could build something outside when it warms up to put him in during the day (and save electricity on lighting, bonus!)
Coil bulbs are known to have problems, I never experienced them in the 2 I used over 2 years, but I no longer risk it. MVBs are available on amazon for about $45 for a 100watt one.
Often times when tortoises are newly placed into an enclosure they get really stressed because of how everything is unfamiliar. And since he came from petsmart he is Wild Caught, humans are big scary monsters right now, give him space and try not to move him too much minus soaks and if he doesn't go to his food on his own. He drank a lot, must have been really thirsty, what was the water like in the petsmart enclosure?
Also I'm kind of surprised no one mentioned it so maybe I'm crazy but in that first picture his arms look REALLY thin, Maybe @Yvonne G could take a look at it (again I guess since she's already commented) but she'd know much more than me, all I know is they look really thin to me. I'd just like to throw it out there just in case, but I may just be paranoid.
CaseyAR
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Smarch, I thought he looked thin as well! he just looks so small to me to be a full grown tortoise. His tank at Petsmart was pitiful. A very small water dish and a food dish with some type of chopped salad that he hadn't touched. He ate and drank this morning like he'd never eaten before.
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Heather H
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do you have any weeds in your yard? like dandelion? this is what they love weeds weeds weeds if you are not sure of what it is you can post a pic and someone will try to help you out. It is winter here so nothing but snow outside . I did find dandelion at whole foods.
if you are not sure of what it is you can post a pic and someone will try to help you out. It is winter here so nothing but snow outside . I did find dandelion at whole foods.
