My little guy( russian tort of unknown age but definitely an adult) loves to climb seemingly. For the past week he has endlessly tried to escape his enclosure. I don’t keep a lid on because usually this is no problem. I changed his enclosure around to add more enrichment but after one day he is climbing again lol. I think he enjoys exploring( he usually is out daily) but I don’t want him to hurt himself when i’m not there. I also changed the heating to have more drastic cold/warm sides and areas to see if it was a thermoregulation issue but obviously this wasn’t it. The normal range is 78-80 on the warm side and 70-78 on the cool side. at night it drops to about 70 all over. He also had a basking spot which runs at 95-100 degrees F. You guys got any ideas on what he might be doing or what to do?

For those who are curious. Following my post https://www.reddit.com/r/tortoise/s/WLTxzWfjCx

We've been to the vet. He confirmed that the high temperature was probably the cause of the loss of weight.

Told me that the paint was not a big problem, at least it was not the cause of the loss of weight.

Gave me vitamins, gave me anti worms. He told me the turtle is probably around 3 years old, a female.

The turtle would not survive the winter.

So we bought a plastic box, bought a uv+ir light in a specialized shop.

The turtle now have 8h of light + IR at disposal.

Fresh water every day.

Mix of herbs I take in the garden

Now she weight 120g, this is 25 to 30g more than previously. Just from last week she gained 10g.

Thanks for those who helped me with advice and no judgement :)

Hey yall! Just wanted to give a quick update on my tortoise enclosure that I started almost 6 days ago! I've been working nonstop and stressing like crazy (I'm a perfectionist) over this lol. My Final touches are going to include cypress mulch as a top layer over this coconut fiber substrate to hold humidity and keep a smoother walking path for my soon-to-be russian. Is there anything else I can do? Thank you guys have a great day!

Unhealthy Shell? 4 Months old

Hi,

this summer we found a little roach in the house, and we don't know if it came from the substrate or not. However, I'm looking to change things a bit and I'm a bit confused about all those choices.

I'm looking for something suitable for a red foot.

We don't necessarily want bio-active, but something they will appreciate walking or digging in.

Also, for plants, I'm thinking of buying some ferns, and I read contradictory things about pothos being poisonous or safe. What's true?

Finally, I want to add a background instead of keeping visible wooden planks. There are some fake plants for terrarium with suction cup, but I feel like it will fall off easily and I don't want my tortoise to be intoxicated. Do you think just printing a paper background could work?

Thank you

She had lines in her shell and her right leg was shorter than the left when i got her , i think she was around 2 inch at the time.

Is this wee normal. We have a Russian tortoise and were just about to put him into hibernation.

Halloween time again!

I posted a few days ago about my new rescue Russian, Tater Tot (https://www.reddit.com/r/tortoise/s/psB4KGAnsF), and I'm working towards having a bigger enclosure for him by the end of the week.

In the meantime, I picked up some items on FB marketplace to try and correct some of his care deficits, but now I'm second guessing whether they're correct.

I set up the new UVB bar light, but is it too high of UVB since it's listed as being for a desert reptile? I also have the bulb pictured as a future option, but not the right fixture for it at the moment. (Editing to add, I just raised it about 6 inches, since it was only about 3 inches from his shell)

The Mazuri food I was given - two bags, one low sodium, one regular - is this the right one for him? (Obviously he's mostly getting greens, but I want to ensure I get him a complete diet in the winter months when there's less to forage).

I just got him the moss hide and he's loving it!

I have had my little Dalmatian hermanns, Winston, for around 2 years now. When he was a baby, he slept a ton but would wake to eat and for baths, then go back to sleep. Then as he reached around age 1, he became super active. He would be up for hours at a time walking around and exploring his enclosure, eating etc.

Then, we upgraded his enclosure in July. I knew it’d be a bit adjustment for him because changing anything in his enclosure before then, had resulted in him being grumpy for a couple of weeks, but then he’d get used to it.
It’s been 4 months. He sleeps through most days, despite having UVB through his entire enclosure, and would go days without coming out of his hide if I let him. I’m still waking him daily to eat, get some heat under his lamp, and I soak him every other day.
When he is out, he eats and drinks, uses the bathroom and will walk around and explore. He looks healthy, and acts like his normal self when he is out of his enclosure.

Attached is a photo of him and his enclosure.

He has a vet appt in a couple of weeks, but I wanted to ask if you guys had any idea as to what this behavior could be caused by? (Food slate not pictured)

I got my tortoise a few months ago and bought the whole setup from the previous owner.

I just wanted to ask if there’s anything I should change, remove or add to the enclosure to make sure it’s suitable for my tortoise.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. I love my tortoise and want it to live the best life.

Thank you

so our east Hermes has been sleeping alot lately, usually over twelve hours. Has been doing this for a few days, eats normally and soaks water everyday. is that normal? thanks!

Hi everyone, recently upgraded my pen for my kiddo and wanted to see if it’s okay to combine two different UVA bulbs or if I should keep it at one. I have two 50watts at this time and recently picked up a 100watt UVA bulb. Could I install the 100watt UVA bulb along with the 50watt or would that be too much?

I also have a UVB strip installed and will upgrade that as well within the next couple days.

It was windy last night and the tarp and insulation ended up all over, even in my neighbor's yard. It was so windy, the heater got unplugged! Luckily it didn't drop below 70° last night, so I felt ok leaving my tort outside.

Today, I used the world's great equalizer: duct tape.

Taped down the insulation, the thermostat wire in a new configuration, redid the clamps over the tarp, and added a bungee cord. It looks so damn redneck, but I suppose I live in Florida now and should try to fit in lol. Only way anything is moving is if a tornado comes and takes the whole house, Dorothy style.

Any tips and tricks to getting your tortoise to eat tortoise pellets? My 20 yr Russian is not a fan. I’ve tried them dry, soaked in warm water, and soaked in hibiscus tea…nothing. She eats all of the rest of her food, but I’m trying to get her weight up and the Mazuri pellets were recommended by the vet.

I just like his grumpy lil face. That's all.

Penny and Ramon are in their winter pens. I still need to add a big hid and decorations

I've been lurking in this sub for a while, after dreaming of getting a tortoise for the last 35 years. I decided it was time to get serious and was perusing good ol' Facebook marketplace Thursday night to see if there were any 2nd hand Tort supplies I could snag in preparation (or at least price out), when I saw it...

"Free tortoise!"

Even though I wasn't planning on getting my new friend until the spring, and didn't have an adult Russian Tortoise on my wish list (leaning towards Hermann hatchling), I messaged anyway... He has an absolutely gorgeously smooth shell, came with the enclosure AND lights, and no, it wasn't a scam! The owner had him for about 7 years, but is now an adult, traveling for a job, and had passed tortoise care onto his father - who did not want the job. I figured even if I just rescued him and then rehomed him to a proper owner, it would be the right thing to do. My wife (shockingly) agreed. I picked him up Friday night.

The good: His shell is perfectly smooth, no overgrown beak, and his nails might be a little long (I'm iffy on that) but not bad! His eyes are clear, and there's no signs of respiratory infection. The owner said he had taken him outside for walks but he didn't seem to have an outdoor enclosure.

The bad: his enclosure is a tiny store bought "tortoise habitat" - 38"x22", and around 12" high - 1/3rd is enclosed wood/dark hide, the other side is open on top, and has two high plastic "observation windows". There is wear all over inside the walls where he's tried to climb them to escape. The owner couldn't tell me when the UVB light had been changed. No thermometer or hygrometer. There are zero timers on his lights or heat source. He was living in a (finished) garage in Michigan - and right next to the garage door. His only hide is very small for him (although I've learned he does fit inside!) and was inexplicably placed in the dark, enclosed 1/3 of his enclosure - he had no warm hide, and no basking rock. He was only being fed every couple of days - fresh greens, at least, but doesn't seem like much of a variety- but they did at least give him some calcium powder on his food. His water dish/soak was empty when I got him. The owner couldn't tell me if he's ever brumated, just that sometimes "he didn't come out of his log for a while."

After I got him home, I rearranged his log hide and broke up his line of sight by bringing the hide out in the open and next to his water dish, so he could climb it. He remained buried into his coconut coir (which the owner told me needed changed) and we all resisted ogling him and left him alone with some fresh water, dandelions and arugula, & set up a video camera to observe him. He was buried until at least 2 am, but when I woke up in the morning, he was out exploring.

Saturday morning: When I came down to see him, he saw me and scurried over to say hi! I was SO shocked to see how friendly he was! He climbed right up into his water dish to get as close to me as possible, and was excited for shell scritches and head rubs! He didn't mind me picking him up to check out his plastron and confirm his sex. Every time we've come to visit him today, he's walking over to us. We added some tortoise safe plants into his enclosure (that he immediately dug up, of course!) and gave him an orange plastic ball that he seems to enjoy pushing around. He also enjoys climbing from his water dish onto his log. He's eating well (confirming diet through tortoise table).

He's definitely stir crazy in this small enclosure, and we're going to be working to remedy that by converting a bookcase into a better sized enclosure for him, but it's going to take a little time to rearrange the house to fit it, and get it put together. I've got 2 bookcases to choose from, one is approx 2.5'x4.75'and 14" deep, the other is 2'x6' and 20" deep - I would be wanting to add a 2nd floor to either option to make up for his past, but right now the priority is getting him out of his current space.

In the meantime, I'm picking up some supplies tomorrow (pictured), and will be adding in timers, thermometers, & hygrometer, and a slate basking rock.

So a few questions:

What else should I do to make him as happy and healthy as possible until I can get him into an appropriate indoor enclosure?

Of the bookcases I described, will there be much of a difference between the two? One is more square, the other rectangle - not sure how much it really matters!

Is there any way to tell how old he is? His shell is 6" from front to back, so he's full grown - do you think it's likely he was wild caught and introduced into the pet trade, or that someone took excellent care of him and then passed him onto a neglectful teenager? Would he be this social and interested in humans if he wasn't around people as a hatchling? Or is this likely due to his lack of stimulation and boredom?

Is is ok for his hide to be approximately the same size as his shell?

I've run out of room to put anything else in the open part of his enclosure, should I add anything into the dark/closed side for enrichment? If so, what would be good to add into that portion? The only thing I know that adult male tortoises may enjoy is a deflated basketball for :ahem: entertainment...and I've got a mini basketball I could give him. Would a couple rocks be good or better? Something else? Or should I just let it be? He hasn't gone into it at all today, I'm not sure if it's too cold? House temp is 65-67°.

If you've read this much, I truly appreciate you. This has been my dream since I was 11, and got every book out of the library about turtle care. I've had aquatics before, but this is my first Tort!

Editing to add : my wife told me the best thing ever! She said if were making a tortoise enclosure for one, we might as well make two stacked enclosures and have tortoise town!

This is an extraordinary video. A Tunisian tortoise collected from the wild as an adult in WWI, brought home to the UK as a souvenir, and passed through four generations in the same family. A verifiable centenarian.

He's about 15 months old (140 grams). Bought this off eBay. Running 3 Arcadia lights and a heat lamp in the corner. Anything I should add? Successfully maintaining humidity around 80% or so even with the ventilated top.