Feralpoodles
New Member
Hello all, firstly I just want to say thank you for everyone who posts on this forum, all the information and advice on here has been a lifesaver and I’m so glad I found this site.
We just bought a house, and as we’re moving in we saw that the old owners just left their tortoise. They were not great pet owners (dogs left outside all the time, tortoise enclosure full of trash, keeping two tortoises of different species (russian and a much bigger male, I’m not sure what kind) in the same enclosure, only feeding her flowers, etc.) so we figured it was on purpose and didn’t exactly try very hard to return her.
She is a Russian tortoise, about 9 years old, and we named her Luna. We had to tent the house for termites, and the enclosure is right up against the house, so we had to take her with us to where we are staying to be safe. i’m trying to get all the information I can through research, but I figured it would be better to make a post and get some specific answers to my questions.
1. Is there anything visibly wrong with her? I can’t tell if there’s something wrong with her shell, or if she’s just a little dirty, but I gently felt her shell, and it doesn’t seem soft anywhere that I can tell. I want to start giving her soaks because it’s very dry where we’re staying, and maybe clean off her shell with a toothbrush, but I want to be sure that that wouldn't make any potential health problems worse just in case
2. Right now she’s staying in a 40 gallon tank, the standard one you get at Petsmart with the double doors. The enclosure she was staying in at the house is a planter that the previous owners ripped out to turn into her enclosure, it is a big enough area, but there is a huge palm tree in the middle, so it’s in shade for most of the day and palm tree seeds will fall into it. Would she get enough UV in there? She really seems to be enjoying basking in a heat lamp, but it’s still better to have an outdoor enclosure with more space for a Russian, right?
2. Last night she was basking under the lamp and her back legs were kind of splayed out, is that indicative of a problem? She seems to be able to move fine, she’s walking a lot more today, but I also picked up some calcium and vitamin D supplement. Should I put that over her pellet food or over her greens?
3. i’m gonna go forage some weeds and flowers from the yard for her food, I’ve also got some broccoli And two kinds of pellet food, mazuri and flukers. I already tried giving her kale and she didn’t care about it. I’m going to try to identify the plants in my area to see if they’re OK for her, but are there any weeds and things that I should really look out for to not give her?
4. Should I try to put a leash on her (tie some string or something) and walk her around outside? I know I read that it’s very important for Russians to walk around a lot, but its very windy and cold where we’re staying. We’re only gonna be here for about a week before we move into the new place.
5. What should I do about the winter? Leave her outside and let her brumate? I’m in Southern California about 20 minutes from the coast, so it doesn’t really get that cold, but still probably too cold for her outside in the next few months. Would it be better to keep her in the tank until it gets warmer? Or just take her in when it rains or gets really cold, will that disturb her if she’s hibernating? Will a lot of noise and movement in the yard disturb her if she’s hibernating?
i’m sorry for the long and rambling post, and I will probably keep posting questions as I have them, but I’m just very overwhelmed right now with the move, and suddenly having a new little friend to take care of that I know basically nothing about. We’re big animal lovers, so we’re very knowledgeable about animal care and willing to do the work, but we’ve never had a reptile before. Thank you so much in advance
We just bought a house, and as we’re moving in we saw that the old owners just left their tortoise. They were not great pet owners (dogs left outside all the time, tortoise enclosure full of trash, keeping two tortoises of different species (russian and a much bigger male, I’m not sure what kind) in the same enclosure, only feeding her flowers, etc.) so we figured it was on purpose and didn’t exactly try very hard to return her.
She is a Russian tortoise, about 9 years old, and we named her Luna. We had to tent the house for termites, and the enclosure is right up against the house, so we had to take her with us to where we are staying to be safe. i’m trying to get all the information I can through research, but I figured it would be better to make a post and get some specific answers to my questions.
1. Is there anything visibly wrong with her? I can’t tell if there’s something wrong with her shell, or if she’s just a little dirty, but I gently felt her shell, and it doesn’t seem soft anywhere that I can tell. I want to start giving her soaks because it’s very dry where we’re staying, and maybe clean off her shell with a toothbrush, but I want to be sure that that wouldn't make any potential health problems worse just in case
2. Right now she’s staying in a 40 gallon tank, the standard one you get at Petsmart with the double doors. The enclosure she was staying in at the house is a planter that the previous owners ripped out to turn into her enclosure, it is a big enough area, but there is a huge palm tree in the middle, so it’s in shade for most of the day and palm tree seeds will fall into it. Would she get enough UV in there? She really seems to be enjoying basking in a heat lamp, but it’s still better to have an outdoor enclosure with more space for a Russian, right?
2. Last night she was basking under the lamp and her back legs were kind of splayed out, is that indicative of a problem? She seems to be able to move fine, she’s walking a lot more today, but I also picked up some calcium and vitamin D supplement. Should I put that over her pellet food or over her greens?
3. i’m gonna go forage some weeds and flowers from the yard for her food, I’ve also got some broccoli And two kinds of pellet food, mazuri and flukers. I already tried giving her kale and she didn’t care about it. I’m going to try to identify the plants in my area to see if they’re OK for her, but are there any weeds and things that I should really look out for to not give her?
4. Should I try to put a leash on her (tie some string or something) and walk her around outside? I know I read that it’s very important for Russians to walk around a lot, but its very windy and cold where we’re staying. We’re only gonna be here for about a week before we move into the new place.
5. What should I do about the winter? Leave her outside and let her brumate? I’m in Southern California about 20 minutes from the coast, so it doesn’t really get that cold, but still probably too cold for her outside in the next few months. Would it be better to keep her in the tank until it gets warmer? Or just take her in when it rains or gets really cold, will that disturb her if she’s hibernating? Will a lot of noise and movement in the yard disturb her if she’s hibernating?
i’m sorry for the long and rambling post, and I will probably keep posting questions as I have them, but I’m just very overwhelmed right now with the move, and suddenly having a new little friend to take care of that I know basically nothing about. We’re big animal lovers, so we’re very knowledgeable about animal care and willing to do the work, but we’ve never had a reptile before. Thank you so much in advance
