CarrieandSebastiansTort
New Member
Well I feel like a bit of a poser as we have not gotten our tortoise yet but I joined this forum in hopes to gain all the information possible before adopting or buying a tortoise. There is so much information out there that I was a bit overwhelmed at first but now that we are a few weeks into this I am starting to feel more comfortable with what is fact vs. opinion and oh my gosh are there a lot of helpful opinions . First I would love to get a tortoise from this forum. We looked at petco, pet smart, and even our local independent pet store has a 15 year old female for sale once she comes out of quarantine, but I don't know anything about the breeder and have become addicted to the wonderful people and advise found on this forum, I would love feel the same level of support people have reported when buying a tortoise from a well established forum member. We really want a russian and that is really the only bread we have researched. I have also searched petfinder.com and found one up for adoption about 2 hours away but the rescue has not contacted me so I am thinking that this forum may be my best bet.
Here is a bit about our set up. When I figure out how to post a picture taken with my phone I will do that.
1. Indoor
We have an elevated 2 x 4 foot cedar planter (non-treated lumber) with a pond liner inside for easy cleanup for our tortoise table. We have the 48 inch terrarium hood with a 5.0 bulb (will get a 10.0 when this one burns out, but the bulb came with this). We have a 100W ceramic infrared heat emitter and a clamp lamp that can take up to 150 watts just in case this isn't warm enough. The substrate I have is just coconut fiber (bought the bricks than mixed it with tap water, then re bought the bricks and mixed it with fish/tortoise safe water) and I am looking for some organic soil to mix in but have some questions about what type and where to find it before I mixed it. We have a 12 year old cat so we also have old screened windows that we have fit to the table for protection. We have timed plugs, thermometer with a humidity reading, cuddle bone, calcium powder, a substrate scoop and a half log hide away. I don't have a water dish (was just going to pick up a terracotta pot base) and we were going to pick up some slate for a feeding surface. I know I need more hide places but I was wondering if putting real plants they can eat in pots was a good idea, I have read here that they are kinda hard on the real stuff.
2. Outdoor
We have a 4x8 foot raised garden bed with pavers underneath to prevent digging out. It is cedar and untreated, we don't have anything in it yet, including substrate. I like to make this our weed planter and let him her graze in the summer months and do a greenhouse cover in the winter so We can still offer him/her the variety from our back yard. I have the edible plant list and have a lot already growing in my yard, but want to make sure they are all safe before I do that. Since I live in Michigan we only have a few more weeks of good weather so I wanted to get this set up as soon as possible with appropriate substrate.
QUESTIONS: So some questions I haven't found in my research
1. I am from a small agricultural town in central Michigan, we have a lot of "organic soil" that is from animal excrement (Dairy Doo..), is it ok to use this or should I just be looking for worm casings? We are starting our own worm compost but It will probably be a while before I have enough to keep up with substrate changes.
2. I love the Edible plants fact sheet on russiantortoise.net. I have butterfly bush, fennel (it does not look exactly like the picture), poppy (but don't know if it's california), domestic rose, rasberry bushes, russian sage (although only garden sage and meadow sage are listed),dandelions , and a ton of day lilies. Is it ok to feed my tortoise from these well established plants after I give them a good soak? Is russian sage o.k.or would you stick really close to what the list says. Are there different types of fennell, poppy..... that are not safe? I don't use pesticides or fertilizers in my garden beds, but have treated the lawn that is beside some of these beds, so is it safe? How can I make sure?
3. Is it o.k. to mix tap water with the substrate? My husband seems to think that the chlorine in the substrate may be an irritant, so we treated the water with the declorinator we use for our fish before mixing. Is this necessary? I know we will have to buy water from the pet store or treat it for the soaking tub and his/her dish, but just didn't know how far that went. I am assuming any declorinator that is fish safe is also tortoise safe, would that be a correct assumption?
4. Should we use the cuddle bone and calcium supplement or is it best to use one or the other?
5. Most importantly is there anyone in the area that has a Russian tortoise for me? I live about a half hour away from Michigan state university (GO SPARTANS!) and would be happy to travel a couple of hours away to pick one up. When we adopted our cat we instantly knew that he was a great fit for us and we were right, I would love to be able to do the same with a tortoise breeder in the area.
Thank you,
Carrie (the very verbose tortoise lover)
Here is a bit about our set up. When I figure out how to post a picture taken with my phone I will do that.
1. Indoor
We have an elevated 2 x 4 foot cedar planter (non-treated lumber) with a pond liner inside for easy cleanup for our tortoise table. We have the 48 inch terrarium hood with a 5.0 bulb (will get a 10.0 when this one burns out, but the bulb came with this). We have a 100W ceramic infrared heat emitter and a clamp lamp that can take up to 150 watts just in case this isn't warm enough. The substrate I have is just coconut fiber (bought the bricks than mixed it with tap water, then re bought the bricks and mixed it with fish/tortoise safe water) and I am looking for some organic soil to mix in but have some questions about what type and where to find it before I mixed it. We have a 12 year old cat so we also have old screened windows that we have fit to the table for protection. We have timed plugs, thermometer with a humidity reading, cuddle bone, calcium powder, a substrate scoop and a half log hide away. I don't have a water dish (was just going to pick up a terracotta pot base) and we were going to pick up some slate for a feeding surface. I know I need more hide places but I was wondering if putting real plants they can eat in pots was a good idea, I have read here that they are kinda hard on the real stuff.
2. Outdoor
We have a 4x8 foot raised garden bed with pavers underneath to prevent digging out. It is cedar and untreated, we don't have anything in it yet, including substrate. I like to make this our weed planter and let him her graze in the summer months and do a greenhouse cover in the winter so We can still offer him/her the variety from our back yard. I have the edible plant list and have a lot already growing in my yard, but want to make sure they are all safe before I do that. Since I live in Michigan we only have a few more weeks of good weather so I wanted to get this set up as soon as possible with appropriate substrate.
QUESTIONS: So some questions I haven't found in my research
1. I am from a small agricultural town in central Michigan, we have a lot of "organic soil" that is from animal excrement (Dairy Doo..), is it ok to use this or should I just be looking for worm casings? We are starting our own worm compost but It will probably be a while before I have enough to keep up with substrate changes.
2. I love the Edible plants fact sheet on russiantortoise.net. I have butterfly bush, fennel (it does not look exactly like the picture), poppy (but don't know if it's california), domestic rose, rasberry bushes, russian sage (although only garden sage and meadow sage are listed),dandelions , and a ton of day lilies. Is it ok to feed my tortoise from these well established plants after I give them a good soak? Is russian sage o.k.or would you stick really close to what the list says. Are there different types of fennell, poppy..... that are not safe? I don't use pesticides or fertilizers in my garden beds, but have treated the lawn that is beside some of these beds, so is it safe? How can I make sure?
3. Is it o.k. to mix tap water with the substrate? My husband seems to think that the chlorine in the substrate may be an irritant, so we treated the water with the declorinator we use for our fish before mixing. Is this necessary? I know we will have to buy water from the pet store or treat it for the soaking tub and his/her dish, but just didn't know how far that went. I am assuming any declorinator that is fish safe is also tortoise safe, would that be a correct assumption?
4. Should we use the cuddle bone and calcium supplement or is it best to use one or the other?
5. Most importantly is there anyone in the area that has a Russian tortoise for me? I live about a half hour away from Michigan state university (GO SPARTANS!) and would be happy to travel a couple of hours away to pick one up. When we adopted our cat we instantly knew that he was a great fit for us and we were right, I would love to be able to do the same with a tortoise breeder in the area.
Thank you,
Carrie (the very verbose tortoise lover)