Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a newly aquired Russian Tottoise. I have a few ideas of what I can do for a house. I want to keep it inside. I have an old book case that I thought I might convert into a tort table. I am also considering buying a reptarium. I also thought about maybe taking a spare 30 gal. aquarium that I have and putting about 6 or 8 in. of Bed-a-Beast in it. It is a tall tank so I wanted to build it up so he would have air flow and I also thought that would allow him to dig if he wanted to.

Hey,
Sounds like you have some good ideas! I would scrap using the 30 gallon aquarium. It is too small for him. They like to have lots of room to run around. It is also better if they cannot see out. It can cause stress. I like your tort table idea or the reptivarium idea. Both give lots of room for your new friend. Another cheap way to go is to buy one of those plastic kiddie pools or buy a couple big rubbermaid containers and attach them to each other.
-----
TurtsandTorts Discussion Group
2 Russians (Harley and Marley)
2 RES (Sunny and Fatty)
2 Gerbils (Sydney and Vienna)
1 Cat (Abby)

Some people think fishtanks are great if you like watching and enjoying your pet.

If this is a hatchling, a 30gal aquarium is perfect for 3 or 4 years depending on the tortoises growth rate.

Because of the length you can provide a perfect temperature gradient and a humid hide without any problems.

Be sure to provide lots of structure in the form of rocks for it to keep occupied.

How big is the tortoise?

>>I have a newly aquired Russian Tottoise. I have a few ideas of what I can do for a house. I want to keep it inside. I have an old book case that I thought I might convert into a tort table. I am also considering buying a reptarium. I also thought about maybe taking a spare 30 gal. aquarium that I have and putting about 6 or 8 in. of Bed-a-Beast in it. It is a tall tank so I wanted to build it up so he would have air flow and I also thought that would allow him to dig if he wanted to.
-----
Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

The tortoise is about 4 in. long. I think a 30 might be a little too small. I think I am either going to get a reptarium or convert the old bookcase into a table by cutting holes and hanging plastic boxes for plants and such.

a 30 gallon is gonna be pushing it for a 4 inch tort, i think. after an initial stint in a 10-gallon while he was still tee-tiny, my redfoot moved into a 30 gallon long. while he was still in that infant redfoot "hide and nap all day" phase, that was just dandy, but now that he's pushing around 5 inches or so he's becoming more and more active and i hate seeing him in such a small space. before you call be a bad tortoise momma, though, i have a big plastic 3x5 foot sandbox that i'm hoping ot have all ready for him to move into this weekend. i can't wait to watch him explore his new place!

one more thing about aquariums -- i've read that housing with see-through sides is a no-no because it stresses them out, and they'll perpetually dig at the sides, unable to grasp the concept of transparency.

i have to disagree, at least in my case!

junior only very rarely digs like that, and it's only if he's riled up and wanting more food or attention -- he quickly settles down once i let him out for a walk or refill his food dish. otherwise he seems quite content and interested at times to sit and watch the world through the glass. he'll sit and watch me on the computer, or watch me watching a movie. on one occasion, my boyfriend accidentally pinched my toe rolling back in the computer chair, and my "OW!" brought him running out of his little hide to see what was wrong.

Hi,
Congrats on your new torty. I've used the kiddie pool and a 55 gal rubbermaid. Both work great. I now have my baby in a bookshelf that's 5' long and 2' wide and she loves it!!...alot better than the other things I've used. I got some coroplast(from a sign shop) to line and it's great. Doesn't cost an arm and a leg either. My new adult male has a bookshelf that's way bigger than the other one. I can't wait until monday when my coroplast arrives at the hubbys work so I can put him in it.

I had to make lids since I have cats and dogs. I used these
grids zip tied together that I used for my guinea pig cages. I got them at Target. They're used to make cubes for storage type stuff.
Just to throw this in, if you don't have a uv bulb reptilesupply.com has had some on sale. I got 2 160watt UV/heat bulb for $39 shipped. I love them and so do my russians.

I got a bookcase from work that they were gonna throw away and put him in that this weekend. I have a mixture of Bed-a-Beast and Timothy hay. I was thinkning about also using some garden mulch for a substrate. Winston uses the hay more as a hide-away than as food or a substrate. What else do you recommend for a substrate? Is the mulch a good idea? What does yours like to eat? I have been feeding winston the timothy hay, squash, cucumbers, and carrots.

Yeah, I really like the bookshelves!! I'll use mine until I sell my house and buy another. Then they'll probably stay outside or atleast the adult male.

For substrate, I've tried alot of stuff and now I use top soil from wal-mart. I like it alot and the torts seem to like it. It's a mixture of plain ol' dirt and sand...no fertilizer.
It comes in a 40# bag and I used 2 1/2 bags for the 5 foot bookshelf. I have several rocks for my babies that they can climb around on. A few clay pots that Stoli likes to get in and climb on. Smirnov(the adult) has bigger rocks waiting to be used.

I feed my guys a variety of mustard greens, collard greens, kale, dandelion(when I had some),endive, escarole, turnip greens, yellow squash, yellow bell pepper(small amounts here and there) cucumber(once a month), shredded carrots, cabbage(mine don't like it too much) and a organic bag mix called Spring Mix. I rotate sprinkling it with repti-cal and repti-vit every 3 days. I recently bought some seeds from turtlecafe.com. One is a wildflower mix for russians and I got a sample of grass seeds. I planted some in containers to rotate out b/c they're probably going to mow it down in no time The wildflowers sprouted in 3 days and looking good so far.