PLEASE HELP!! Is our new family member a Russian Tortoise?

[stephied418]

Hi! My daughter begged for us to take in this little tortoise from her friends who grew tired of her. I know nothing about reptiles and have realized how little they knew as well. Life before we got her is heartbreaking to me so I am trying my best to improve her quality of life. Charlie is what my daughter has named her.[/size][/font] First off, we have been told she is a Russian Tortoise but pictures I have seen on the internet look nothing like her. Can you confirm what we have? Secondly she has been living on Canned peaches for the last year which the pet store says they are shocked she is still alive. I have been so stressed out trying to help this poor baby. The pet store said to start mixing in greens, and other veggies to start weaning her from this junk food. Squash doesn't seem much better but is fresh and has more nutrients and she will eat it when mixed with peaches. Also, tonight she had a few bites of tomato. Spinach and red leaf lettuce has not been hits for her she is not interested at all. She was living in the dark (yes, no UVA and no UVB bulbs!!) in a tiny little 10 gallon tank with very little ground cover. We have done our best, as I could not afford to buy a big new house right off but the pet store suggested even a large storage box works well. So she is in about a 50 gallon tub with lots of reptile ground cover with 12 hour rotation for day and night with her uva/uvb bulbs and night bulbs and we make sure she is out for several hours a day to get exercise in our living room. I still worry about her diet and would like any suggestions. I hope to learn a lot about the care of our tortoise because she is very sweet and never thought i would become so attached so quickly. Thanks for any suggestions!!

 

[Jacqui]

Welcome! No you do not have a Russian. It appears your the new keepers of an Eastern box turtle.

 

[nicoleandrocky]

That is not a russian, like jacqui said, it looks like an eastern box turtle she looks extremely cute !

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.
Box turtles are great pets. You didn't say where you are, but they do really well with safe outdoor enclosures. Sunshine is very good for them, just make sure she also has shade available at all times too. They like water so a large water bowl is a necessity. Also, they are omnivores. Try offering an earthworm or some canned dog food, along with the greens and veggies. Lots for you guys to learn. Glad you found us.

Oh and be very careful with the dog. Even super well behaved nice dogs view turtles and tortoises as chew toys. It happens all the time and the owners are usually shocked because they thought their calm mild mannered well behaved loving pet would never do such a thing.

 

[TORTOISEMAN1]

WELCOME! Cute Box turtle. Like Tom said be careful with the dog!!

 

[MORTYtheTORTY]

your story made me sad but by looking at the Turtle, I was thinking something far worse than what I saw...your turt looks pretty good for all the bad things that happened to it...THANK GOODNESS FOR TFO! WELCOME to the club.

 

[kimber_lee_314]

Box turtles are wonderful turtles, but it's very difficult to keep them inside. They do much better when living in outside pens. You can visit boxturtlesite.info for lots of good information. Good luck!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[nicoleandrocky]

your story made me sad but by looking at the Turtle, I was thinking something far worse than what I saw...your turt looks pretty good for all the bad things that happened to it...THANK GOODNESS FOR TFO! WELCOME to the club.

same here, i expected something totally different. so glad you got her!

 

[hoodiemonk]

Really cute. Welcome.

 

[dmarcus]

Welcome to the forum...

 

[Angi]

I would take her outside and NOT let her roam around in your house. They can carry Salmanila. I wash my hand every time I touch my box turtles. I like to put a soaking container with baby bath temp water in the bath tub and make sure they get a good soak. Also you should add calcium to her diet.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi there, stephied418:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

What would you like us to call you?

and may we know appx. where in the world you are?

Box turtles are among my favorite!

 

[stephied418]

My name is Stephanie and thank you for everyone's info!! I suppose that my location would be helpful!! I am in Central Oregon in the town of Redmond. We are considered "high desert" and Winters and springs are very cold. Summer nights can get very cool also. We are still getting snowflakes but when it gets warmer I would love to build an outdoor enclosure as I imagine she would be very happy in varying warm and shady spots on a nice day. We have been pretty good about hand washing but I will step it up and be a little more strict with the kids. Can the dogs also catch this from her? We have two dogs both are curious but cautious at the same time and i make sure we are right next to the dogs because you never know what they might do!! I guess I better get busy on researching the Eastern Box Turtle instead of the Russian Tortoise Thanks again everyone

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Welcome!

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Yep, it's a box turtle, and looks like either the Eastern subspecies (Terrapene carolina carolina), or the three-toed subspecies (Terrapene carolina triunguis), so named because they naturally have only three toes on their hind feet instead of four. Box turtles are actually a terrestrial pond turtle, so they are not as herbivorus as tortoises.

About half their diet should consist of fruits and vegetables, and roughly the other half should consist of invertebrates (snails, slugs, earthworms, crickets, grasshoppers, rolly-pollies, etc). In nature they also scavenge carcasses sometimes, so you can provide some cooked meat every once in a while in captivity to simulate that. They are also famous for liking to eat mushrooms.

Otherwise, care is similar as for a tortoise. Make sure he has a spacious enclosure with a substrate that can retain humidity (like coco coir, mulch, and/or soil). Provide him with a shallow dish of water to drink and soak in. Give him an overhead light source that provides UVA and UVB radiation. He should also have an overhead heat source to bask under. You can use either an incandescent light bulb or a ceramic heat emitter (CHE), which emits no visible light and lasts much longer. Ambient temperatures should be from the mid-70s to the mid-80s, while the basking spot should be around 90*F.

Enjoy!

 

[Zamric]

Welcome to the Forum!