Wanted: adult captive bread Russian

[Jon c]

I just recently suffered a heartbreaking loss of my Russian that I purchased from petsmart, not knowing he was a live captured tort(as are all petsmart and petco). We really went through the ringer with this poor guy. He came to us super sick loaded with worms and parasites and very malnurished and dehydrated. for the 3 months we had him it was nothing but round the clock care and love. On 2 separate occasions I thought he was coming around, but he finally could fight no longer.

I have a nice big table that I desperately want to welcome a new Russian tortoise to. I am looking for a CAPTIVE BORN AND RAISED Russian preferably around 3 yrs old or recently acclimated from his "baby enclosure" to a bigger table. His/her health, activity level and eating habits must also be top notch. I live in buffalo, N.Y. so it will spend most of its time indoors on a 3.5x7 ft wood sides, open top Tortoise table. the few months we have that are good temps quickly become very extreme hot and humid summers so time in an outdoor enclosure will be pretty limited.

 

[turtlebean]

Hey there,

First off sorry for your loss! I have also suffered from the loss of a pet before and it is truly devastating. I hope you’re doing okay now.

From my understanding it’s pretty difficult to find an adult captive bred tortoise. I think most breeders find it easier and more economical to sell hatchlings and babies than to raise a tortoise to adulthood and then sell it. However I still have hope you could find one if you search hard enough.

I bought an “adult captive bred” russian tortoise from Arizona Tortoise Compound. From my understanding the tortoise I received was just graduating to adulthood, about 3.5-4 inches in length. My tortoise arrived healthy about a month and a half ago, maybe two months ago and he has been perfect since! I live in CT and he shipped from Arizona overnight.

I don’t know too much about other breeders but I can say I did have an excellent experience with ATC and perhaps you could look into them?

As well, i’m also new to being a tortoise owner and these forums have helped out tremendously. The people on here offer amazing advice and there are a couple beginner russian tortoise care info sheets you should check out. They helped me out a ton!

I wish you the best of luck on your tortoise journey, I hope you find the cutest, happiest little tort. Welcome to the forum!

-Julia R

 

[Jon c]

Hey there,

First off sorry for your loss! I have also suffered from the loss of a pet before and it is truly devastating. I hope you’re doing okay now.

From my understanding it’s pretty difficult to find an adult captive bred tortoise. I think most breeders find it easier and more economical to sell hatchlings and babies than to raise a tortoise to adulthood and then sell it. However I still have hope you could find one if you search hard enough.

I bought an “adult captive bred” russian tortoise from Arizona Tortoise Compound. From my understanding the tortoise I received was just graduating to adulthood, about 3.5-4 inches in length. My tortoise arrived healthy about a month and a half ago, maybe two months ago and he has been perfect since! I live in CT and he shipped from Arizona overnight.

I don’t know too much about other breeders but I can say I did have an excellent experience with ATC and perhaps you could look into them?

As well, i’m also new to being a tortoise owner and these forums have helped out tremendously. The people on here offer amazing advice and there are a couple beginner russian tortoise care info sheets you should check out. They helped me out a ton!

I wish you the best of luck on your tortoise journey, I hope you find the cutest, happiest little tort. Welcome to the forum!

-Julia R

Thank you! Rough couple days but we're ok. We knew going into this that he might not make it as we got him very sick but returning him to petsmart would have been worse torture to the poor guy. On the plus I have certainly learned a lot as I have been on this site for the past 4 months and went through 3 really trying months with Dino (R.I.P.)
On the site for ATC, for adult male and female it sais they are 2019 imports but under male adult it does say there are captive raised available. I'm going to try and speak with someone directly on the phone about it tomorrow.

 

[turtlebean]

Thank you! Rough couple days but we're ok. We knew going into this that he might not make it as we got him very sick but returning him to petsmart would have been worse torture to the poor guy. On the plus I have certainly learned a lot as I have been on this site for the past 4 months and went through 3 really trying months with Dino (R.I.P.)
On the site for ATC, for adult male and female it sais they are 2019 imports but under male adult it does say there are captive raised available. I'm going to try and speak with someone directly on the phone about it tomorrow.

Definitley a good idea! I called and spoke to a really nice guy, very knowledgeable and professional. I hope it all works out!

 

[Jon c]

Definitley a good idea! I called and spoke to a really nice guy, very knowledgeable and professional. I hope it all works out!

Thank you!

 

[Russian Natasha]

I just recently suffered a heartbreaking loss of my Russian that I purchased from petsmart, not knowing he was a live captured tort(as are all petsmart and petco). We really went through the ringer with this poor guy. He came to us super sick loaded with worms and parasites and very malnurished and dehydrated. for the 3 months we had him it was nothing but round the clock care and love. On 2 separate occasions I thought he was coming around, but he finally could fight no longer.

I have a nice big table that I desperately want to welcome a new Russian tortoise to. I am looking for a CAPTIVE BORN AND RAISED Russian preferably around 3 yrs old or recently acclimated from his "baby enclosure" to a bigger table. His/her health, activity level and eating habits must also be top notch. I live in buffalo, N.Y. so it will spend most of its time indoors on a 3.5x7 ft wood sides, open top Tortoise table. the few months we have that are good temps quickly become very extreme hot and humid summers so time in an outdoor enclosure will be pretty limited.

Hi,
I just posted today that I have russian tortoise that I am trying to find a new home. Her name is Tashi, short for Natasha. I have had her for about 10 years. I really dont know the gender, it could be male. Tashi is healthy, active and has quite a personality. She eats well including banging on her pen when she wants to eat. Perhaps we can connect and talk to see if this might be a potential move. I’m sorry for what you went through with your tort.

 

[Jon c]

Hi,
I just posted today that I have russian tortoise that I am trying to find a new home. Her name is Tashi, short for Natasha. I have had her for about 10 years. I really dont know the gender, it could be male. Tashi is healthy, active and has quite a personality. She eats well including banging on her pen when she wants to eat. Perhaps we can connect and talk to see if this might be a potential move. I’m sorry for what you went through with your tort.

Hi Neighbor! A couple questions about Natasha. How do you know her age, Have you had her since a hatchling? What foods do you feed, what is favorite food? What is her enclosure- size, substrate, lighting and heat. Have you ever taken her to see a vet or has she ever had Any issues where you had to take her to a vet? Sorry that was a lot. Any pictures would be great to please.

If you want to find out the sex look under the tail, a slit line going the length of the tail is male. If that slit looks like it has a round hole built into it it's female.

Jon
716-359-2602
Csermanjon@gmail

 

[Jon c]

Definitley a good idea! I called and spoke to a really nice guy, very knowledgeable and professional. I hope it all works out!

I was able to speak with someone from ATC this morning, unfortunately they do not have any captive bred adults. They do have "imports" witch the guy on the phone vaguely explained to be "barn raised in another country". I hate to say but the guy I spoke with was rude and could have cares less about my search. He just kept giving me one word answers, like he couldn't wait to get off the phone.

 

[turtlebean]

I was able to speak with someone from ATC this morning, unfortunately they do not have any captive bred adults. They do have "imports" witch the guy on the phone vaguely explained to be "barn raised in another country". I hate to say but the guy I spoke with was rude and could have cares less about my search. He just kept giving me one word answers, like he couldn't wait to get off the phone.

Damn that is super disappointing, i’m sorry to hear that. I do hope you find what you’re looking for somewhere!

 

[Blackdog1714]

So I have a 3 year old from Carol S that I could be tempted to part with ????

 

[Jon c]

So I have a 3 year old from Carol S that I could be tempted to part with ????

Really? Is it the one she just recently had on the for sale section? What can you tell me about him/her?

 

[Blackdog1714]

Straight from Carol S and has done nothing but grow! Unsure of the sex but you can see in less than 2 years (sorry I said 3--Covid day lapse) gone from 44 to 309 grams. Partial to weeds (Plantain/Dandelion/honeysuckle/hibiscus & Mazuri) Indifferent to being handled but loves a soak to poop in! SO what kind of owner will you be?

 

[Jon c]

Straight from Carol S and has done nothing but grow! Unsure of the sex but you can see in less than 2 years (sorry I said 3--Covid day lapse) gone from 44 to 309 grams. Partial to weeds (Plantain/Dandelion/honeysuckle/hibiscus & Mazuri) Indifferent to being handled but loves a soak to poop in! SO what kind of owner will you be?

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There's nothing I wouldn't do to take proper care of one of these little guys. I'm the type of owner who listens to the experts here who have been doing it 30+ years and admit they have been wrong about things in the past. I have a nice big table, plenty of lighting, che, planning on using repti bark. Growing testudo mix and have tons of good weeds around. I also order stuff from Kapidolo farms. He is so f-ing cute!! Is he still in a closed chamber or is he considered an adult and on to bigger digs?

 

[Jon c]

Straight from Carol S and has done nothing but grow! Unsure of the sex but you can see in less than 2 years (sorry I said 3--Covid day lapse) gone from 44 to 309 grams. Partial to weeds (Plantain/Dandelion/honeysuckle/hibiscus & Mazuri) Indifferent to being handled but loves a soak to poop in! SO what kind of owner will you be?

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I got my first Russian when I was 12 from a corner pet store. He lived until I was 33(2yrs ago) and by that time I now have a wife and 2 girls who really loved him. So after 2 years of not having one and everyone really wanted one I finally decided to pull the trigger and we got a new one from petsmart 3 montgs ago. I wish I had done better research and known better that he was a wild caught mature adult as are all torts from the big box stores. From day 1 He was extremely sick and dehydrated and not eating witch brought me to this site to seek help. I did learn a he'll of lot and really gave him his best chance with Gerber soaks but unfortunately he didn't make it. For all I know he was a 50-60 year old man that absolutely hated being plucked from the wild. We are so ready for a healthy tort! My kids are very respectable about not grabbing them as they know it pisses them off.

 

[Blackdog1714]

There's nothing I wouldn't do to take proper care of one of these little guys. I'm the type of owner who listens to the experts here who have been doing it 30+ years and admit they have been wrong about things in the past. I have a nice big table, plenty of lighting, che, planning on using repti bark. Growing testudo mix and have tons of good weeds around. I also order stuff from Kapidolo farms. He is so f-ing cute!! Is he still in a closed chamber or is he considered an adult and on to bigger digs?

He is almost an adult but treat him to soaks every other day. He is in an a 5 foot round kiddie pool for winter and has nice summer outdoor digs. He has not been brumanated and has also enjoyed numerous Kapidolo products to include the grass pellets! He is especially fond of plaintain weed and will eat a whole one in two days!