Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Some Qs For You Today

My tortoise pen has gone through hell in the last couple of months, act of god comes to mind, and I am going to have to rebuild it. These are my questions:

Q-1.1 will it be safe to put my Russian Torts back outside, Murphy*(see below) says they will remove c. 3 ft. of soil and replace it?

Q-1.2 there is a slim possibility that we may be able to buy the lot adjacent to ours giving us a double lot, how big would you recommend for a trio of Russians?

Q-1.3 should a Russian cage be: heavily planted, open and grassy, open and sandy, rocky and planted/grassy/sandy, or a combination?

Q-1.4 should I have a divider to separate the male from the females?

Q-1.5 what kind of cage furniture is appropriate?

My second of question has to do with hibernation with the Russians. My room is currently 70 degrees and it’s been about that since September. They have been digging in their tote but other than that the have not been moving, there are alive I check them every weekend, but other than that they don’t move or eat.

Q-2.1 how cold does it have to be to put them into hibernation?

Q-2.2 how cold does it have to stay?

Thanks in advance

*(when Katrina hit one of Murphy Oil’s holding tanks spilled some chemicals/raw oil, my house was in the spill area although no oil lines are visible. We where told so much crap about this but the general idea is that the spill was not toxic but not livable, Murphy has offered to remove all the tainted ground, dispose of it, and replace the removed ground.)

A Before And After Set Of My Old Cage (That is our kitchen table next to the pen)

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1.5 Common Mud Turtles
0.0.2 R.E.S.
0.0.1 Y.B.S.
1.2 Russian Tortoises
0.1.1 Gulfcost/Three Toed Boxturtles
0.1 Eastern Box Turtle
1.0 Hamsters
3.0 Dogs
2.3 Family
6 mud eggs in incubator

Q-1.1 will it be safe to put my Russian Torts back outside, Murphy*(see below) says they will remove c. 3 ft. of soil and replace it?

I have no experience with this, so I won't stick my neck out.

Q-1.2 there is a slim possibility that we may be able to buy the lot adjacent to ours giving us a double lot, how big would you recommend for a trio of Russians?

I keep my 3 adult russians (1 male, 2 females) in a 64 sq ft pen. I have a 4th male, but I alternate him and the other male between the main pen and an 18sq ft side pen. Otherwise they fight. So 64 sq ft works for me, but bigger never hurts.

Q-1.3 should a Russian cage be: heavily planted, open and grassy, open and sandy, rocky and planted/grassy/sandy, or a combination?

Mine is is sorta grassy, with large clumps of grass in a couple spots (the eggs are often laid there), with open areas of short grass, some rocks, small logs, a sandy area, and a hide box that rests on bricks to keep the torts off of the damp soil. If I let the grass grow too high, the torts seem to avoid that area, so I keep it fairly short.

Q-1.4 should I have a divider to separate the male from the females?
Depends on how the male and females get along. My oldest male is very aggressive about mating, but he never hurts the females. He's only dangerous to other males. BUT, you could install a divider system where you slide a board into a set of slots to temporarily divide the pen just in case things get bad.

Q-1.5 what kind of cage furniture is appropriate?

My russkies love to climb over things, even if there appears no reason to do so. They go over rocks or round logs that are 4-6 inches high. Also a hide box or house. I created an open-bottomed box with a roof and a little doorway. As I noted above, it rests on bricks that are sunk into the ground. This way they don't have to rest on damp, muddy ground. I also have a shallow, glazed planter bowl sunk into the ground for water.

Q-2.1 how cold does it have to be to put them into hibernation?

I bring mine indoors around September to October when the temps start to drop below 45 at night. They then stay in tubs in my basement with heat and light. I slowly reduce the light/heat cycle down to about 4 hours a days. When the ambient temps in the basement drop below 60F, the torts shut down. I then turn off the lights, cover the torts with a few layers of newspaper, then some cardboard, then a screen top over which I throw a rug. This blocks out the light and noise. Temps get down to about 55. As long as it stays in the 50s, they stay down. They will come up on their own after about 90 days OR if the temps get to 60 for a few days in a row. The warm winter we're having in Missouri has me worried. I do check on them every few weeks and give them a soak if they have lost more than a few grams.