I recently go an russian tortoise from a neighbor of mine...i have no idea where he got it from before that but he says that the tortoise is about 81yrs old... he/she is kinda small but i was under the impression russians dont get that big any how....ill post pics asap... but i went out and bought him a sterlite tub that was rather long prolly like a good 10-12 times longer than him and about 2 or 3 times wider htan he is long... and right now i have newspaper substrate and tried feeding him some carrots and lettuce but he didnt eat im guessing he was not adjusted yet or something... my question is... what do you all use as substrates and what exactly can i feed him... i was told they can eat pretty much any kind of weeds from the garden and usually prefer dandelions and they also eat like wild carrots and roses and cucumber plants plus certain types of lettuce... but im not sure.... also how do you keep them hydrated... i was told that they dont get enough moisture from their food but i havent been able to find anything that says how big of a water dish to get him... help? Thanks!
My russian is only a baby compared to yours (5 years old). I keep mine on tile with a burrowing tub. They don't get that big up to 10" for females and 8" for males. Iceburg lettice is to much water and nothing else, dandelions are good. Fred loves cucumber and sometimes helps getting him started when he is being fusy, but again it is mostly water. I am currently growing some prickly pear and gave him a bit of a pad when he was under the weather and he loved it. Not sure where you live but fred loves to roam and a pen for the garden may be a good idea at some point. check out http://tortoise.me.uk/20734.html http://russiantortoise.org/care_sheet.htm http://www.thetortoisehouse.com/
Great thanks... right now he has been downing carrots, cucumbers and a few other things.. i did put in a little bit of iceburg because he seemed dehydrated but he wouldnt eat it so yeah lol... I plan on, when i have more money, getting a plot (100sqft) at the local community garden here in chico,CA and growing stuff he can munch on as well as stuff the people in my house want to eat... thanks again wookie!
glad to help. I hope you have many more years of happiness with your tortoise . I know fred has more character than I was expecting and is a right nutter :roll: . Don't forget the pics .
iceberg... i am sorry for asking, but is that good for animals.... it has no nutritional value what so ever. i cant feed it to my hedgies because it makes them sick.. it doesnt do anything for thiem becaseu of no nutrition.... and a freind of mine has a russian tortise taht was sick and a vet told him to stop letting him eat iceberg lettuce, he said to get romaine lettuce, but i dont know this for sure... is iceberg okay??
I think I said already that iceburg lettuce is no good, all water and not much else. romaine lettuce is high in oxalates so although it has high vit A, the binding properties to the oxalates make me think it's not good either. Personally I wouldn't use it, but have seen it on a lot of recomended diet lists. If you do use it I'd suggest giving other feeders as well as making sure there is an additional source of calcium (cuttlefish). dandelions are good along with some other weeds for comercial type (human food) i'd go with Endive Escarole Radicchio Turnip greens Mustard greens collards
oaky, i was just curious... because i dont have tortise of my own, but i am very curious about them... thanks.
my substrate is sawdust but i hear that the tortoises can eat it so i dont recommend it oh and occarding to a website ruissans only live to be around 50 so 81 is kinda high.
These thing change as we learn more, I also believe one cared for correctly can live well over 50. Sawdust is definitely not a good idea. Depends what wood, but a lot including pine which is very common contains toxins you don't want your tort eating. the dust isn't good for the respiratory system either.
Depends which web page you look at as it's is open to debate, Tortoise.Me.Uk says Like I said as we understand more about what makes a healthy tort (diet, habitat, hibination, etc.) life spans are extended. It will be something always up for debate. Some things that affect the stats are wild caught torts where true age is not always known, bad diets, parasite/ health issues and not hibinating. As they do live so long it is hard to keep good stats.
Hermans are a different species than russians/ horsfields, but I've heard hermans can live to over 100.
