Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there,

This is my 1st post. I recieved a "Turttle" from a friend as a gift for my daughters second birthday. It was in a 100 Gallon Fish tank with less than 1/2" of dirt on the bottom. I had my son do research on the internet and he found out that we actually have a Russian Tort (or so we think based on the info we found). We took out the heated rock and cleaned the tank out. We put big rocks in the bottom then smaller ones then toped that off with sand and top soil...planted a few plants and put a UV Heat lamp on one side and a small fan on the other. We thought we were headed in the right direction (for an indoor pen anyway. This tort seems very sluggish has not been moving much and not eating much eather. Now We woke up to the tort having some kind of white stuff all over his tail and back of his shell. WHAT IS THIS? anyone have any idea...I can take a pic if needed. Please help... Is there anything I need to do diferently that what we are trying. We have only had him for 1 week (we discovered it was male because the back of the shell is very low & he has a long tail.

Thanks for any info!

Tabitha

White stuff on shell: I'm guessing that the tortoise relieved itself and what you are seeing is urates. It's a white substance that is part of the waste produced by reptiles. Unless it's hard when it first comes out, instead of fluid or pasty, there's no problem with that.

Sluggishness may be due to many things. It could be dehydrated. Try soaking it in shallow (1 inch) lukewarm water for about 20 minutes twice a week.

It could be too cold or too hot. For 10-12 hours a day the enclosure should be well lit and have a hot spot of about 90-100 degrees and background temps in the 70s-80s. At night the lights go off and temps can drop down to room temps, as long as it doesn't drop below about 55. Your tortoise will need a place to dig into and hide at night.

It could be ill. Russian tortoises from pet shops are generally imported. They are often very stressed, dehydrated, and full of worms, other parasites and may be suffering from respiratory diseases and other infections. Try to find a veterinarian who knows tortoises. Take in a fresh fecal sample (the brown stuff - not the white stuff) to be tested for parasites.

Also poor nutrition. See the website below for details.

For general info go to www.russiantortoise.net

Good luck.

It is white and pasty..I did read about Urates but thought it was fluid or balls not just gook stock on the shell and tail. I will give him a bath today. I am worried now that you are telling me about parasites. I have small children and would not want them to get sick. We tried our best to make him a nice area with LOTS of soil/sand so he could dig but he has not done it. Should I be worried? Where can I find a tort vet?

You can try looking here:

www.arav.com/USMembers.htm

I found my vet through my local herpetological society (st. louis, mo). You could look at the listing of clubs/organization at the top of this page to find a club near you and potentially a recommended bet.

As far as the health of your children: even a healthy tortoise could potentially transmit salmonella. I don't know what the odds of getting it from your animal are, and I've never had salmonella in the 8 years I've been keeping various lizards, torts and a couple snakes, but salmonella can be devastating to children under 5 or anyone in poor health.

Some reptile health problems can be transmitted to humans - look up zoonoses. If you keep the animal healthy, wash your and your children's hands if they handle it, and keep the tort and any of its waste products away from eating areas and utensils, then everything should be OK.

As for the sluggishness - work on the heat, hydration, and dietary conditions I mentioned in the previous posts, and try to find a vet. In the mean time, maybe you should be the one who does all of the tortoise care until the animal is healthier and ready for the children. Just wash those hands!

Good info is contained in the other posts but I'd like to stress the importance of the urates. Monitoring the consistancy of the urates gives you a good indication of the hydration of the tortoise. The more fluid the urates the better hydrated the tortoise is. This is what you want.

I'd recommend daily soakings for a while. Placing a water dish in a corner so the tortoise can run into it is also a good idea even though russians are notorious 'nondrinkers'.

As to diseases, any animal can be a carrier. With reasonable precautions like those mentioned in the other posts there should be no reason for over concern.

>>Hi there,
>>
>>This is my 1st post. I recieved a "Turttle" from a friend as a gift for my daughters second birthday. It was in a 100 Gallon Fish tank with less than 1/2" of dirt on the bottom. I had my son do research on the internet and he found out that we actually have a Russian Tort (or so we think based on the info we found). We took out the heated rock and cleaned the tank out. We put big rocks in the bottom then smaller ones then toped that off with sand and top soil...planted a few plants and put a UV Heat lamp on one side and a small fan on the other. We thought we were headed in the right direction (for an indoor pen anyway. This tort seems very sluggish has not been moving much and not eating much eather. Now We woke up to the tort having some kind of white stuff all over his tail and back of his shell. WHAT IS THIS? anyone have any idea...I can take a pic if needed. Please help... Is there anything I need to do diferently that what we are trying. We have only had him for 1 week (we discovered it was male because the back of the shell is very low & he has a long tail.
>>
>>Thanks for any info!
>>
>>Tabitha
-----
Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

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THANK YOU!!! We do have a shallow dish for him to go through and he did do that once so I thought he drank all his water but then the next time we filled it he did not touch it so I was worried about him not eating or drinking. I will soak him now

We have read up on caring for him but he is not a baby so we don't know what kind of issues he has had to deal with over his lifetime. As far as I have read he should be 5-10 years old because of his size but I am not positive.

Thanks again for your post.

Tabitha

I can't think of any real issues associated with age in tortoises beyond size-appropriate accomodations. Larger the animal = larger the enclosure. And you don't want to put in a water dish so deep that the animal could fall in and drown.

Otherwise they eat the same things throughout their lives, with the exception that an egg-bearing female will need a little more calcium.

And don't worry about guessing his age. Growth rate probably depends somewhat on genetics and definitely is influenced by environmental and nutritional factors. A tortoise that is kept warm year round and gets lots of food and water will produce more growth rings than one who lives in the desert, eats sparingly and hibernates several months a year. So you can't rely on counting rings to accurately determine a tortoise's age.