Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HEy Brad I read your article on russians and I have some questions. I have 4 females and 2 males outdoors I feed them red leaf/green leaf/romaine tomatoes ect.when should they breed and if they do at what temp should the incubator be set at?Also should I let them hibernate outside or bring them inside I live in san diego calif.any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Richard Peterson

Food: They need foods with more fiber. Try clover, grass, plantain, dandelion if you can get them from chemical-free lawns. You can also add timothy hay, chopped and soaked, into the food. They'll need calcium supplements. Reduce or eliminate the tomatoes. You can also use some endive, collard greens, etc.

Breeding: Mine breed from late March into May/June. The male remains interested for awhile after that, but the females don't. In fact, the females are rarely receptive.

Hibernation: I have to hibernate mine indoors because it's too cold and wet in the Midwest and the ground around here is a hard clay that they cannot dig into.

You should check out the Russian Tortoise group on Yahoo. There will be people there who live in your region and can tell you if it is possible to hibernate outdoors.

Basically everything I know was obtained from reading things on the links I posted below and some Tortoise Trust publications.

Good luck!

Also, I set my incubator (Hovabator) at around 87F and put the eggs on dampened vermiculite.

Instructions can be found on links I provided.

Brad is correct on the food point. If you're planning to breed your females they need to be eating a consistant 5:1 - 8:1 Calcium to Phosphorus diet. That's why tort experts preach Calcium supplementation for torts so much. The average diet most people feed their torts is probably 1:5:1 or 2:1 at best. Also, at a 5:1 ratio you're naturally going to end up feeding them higher fiber foods. Another method I use for adding fiber is to grate the Timothy Hay cubes they sell for Rabbits at Petco/Petsmart on the items you are about to feed them. Mix the whole salad together and your torts will eat it right along with the greens. FWIW, any arid species (Russian's obviously) should be eating at least a minimum 3:1 ratio all the time, but it's particularly important for breeding females to have that up to 5:1 or better 8:1.

Here's a list of greens items that should make up the base of your Russians diet. I've included a vegetable and fruit that can be fed to them. Other than those don't feed them any other vegetables or fruit. CA/PH ratio's are bad to very bad, they don't need it, and it does them no good.

Ca/Ph ratio
Opuntia Cactus Pads 10:1
Turnip Greens 5:1
Grape Leaves 4:1
Dandelions 3:1
Collard Greens 3:1
Mustard Greens 2.4:1
Kale 2.4:1
Endive/Escarole 2:1
Watercress 2:1
Butternut Squash 1.5:1
Cactus Fruit 3:1

Good luck

Ernie