New Tortoise

Jimmy · Post by **Jimmy** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 2:10 pm

I forgot to post this so I'm doing it now. I recently got. A russian tortoise! It belonged to my cousin at first but she took terrible care of it. I couldn't sleep at night knowing that there was a suffering animal that I could help. My Aunt was happy to give me the turtle. I named him Smaug after the dragon from the Hobbit. (Although I haven't checked it's sex yet. I built him a cage outside and got proper food and the sun for light. He's doing great!

HermitCrabby_LHC · Post by **HermitCrabby_LHC** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 2:39 pm

Thats awesome Jimmy! I hope you enjoy "it". I have two water turtles (a cooter and a slider) and I really want a box turtle. When I find them in my yard I normally put them in a bunny.play pen and give them a dish of worms and water. Then after a day I let them go

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sat Jul 06, 2013 1:29 pm

@Jimmy, I've seen some pretty wicked russian tort enclosures that people have built outside to keep their turtles in so keeping the turtle outside during the warmer months allows it to live a somewhat normal life and gives you the ability to come up with a cool pen design as well.I can't wait to see some pics of the turtle and it's new home.lol Here a link to one of the guys I'm subscribed to on Youtube it shows his russian tort outside pen/enclosure. BTW your yard isn't treated with anything is it?

Jimmy · Post by **Jimmy** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:51 pm

Nope. All natural. Plus I filled the bottom with sand. My enclosure is a 4x4 enclosure with at least two foot walls. It is made out of plywood boards and chicken wire for the top and under the bottom so that that tort can't dig out. I'll see about the pics.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:56 pm

Yeah torts can be buggers with digging out and they'll do it even when you think you've got the fence buried deep enough.lolThe reason why I asked if your yard was treated is that turtles don't necessarily respond to pesticides and fertilizers the way we would expect typically showing little impact in the adults own health but when they lay eggs it can have serious impacts on how well the eggs take fertilization and how well the babies develop.

ILoveHermies · Post by **ILoveHermies** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:02 pm

I've had my Russian tortoise for 8 years, which is half my life lol, but do you have the proper heating for the guy? They can get really sick with pneumonia if they're not warm enough. Good luck, hope to see pics!