Okay, so, we'll start from the begining. I love reptiles. I have 3 corn snakes, and they take up a lot of my room, and school and work take up the rest of my time.

Now the problem.

Yesterday, for my birthday, my girlfriend gave me a Russian Tortoise. He is palm sized, but I don't know how old, since she picked him up at Petco.

Now, it was an amazingly nice gesture..but I don't know anything about tortoises. The last turtles I had were Eastern Box Turtles from Georgia, and they proptly died when my cats peed in their sand box. I was only 7.

I've read a bunch of forums and care sheets, but I have a problem. I can only put this guy in a 20gallon tank, because that is honestly all I have room for. I feel awful, but I can't give up on this guy, cause I want to make it work.

Now here are my questions:

What bedding do I use?
The guys at PreHistoric Pets said to use rabbit pelets, but russiantortoise.org says that's the worst bedding. Any suggestions from keepers?

Why won't he eat?
He won't eat any of the expensive stuff I bought him at the grocery store, but when I take him out in the backyard he has no problem eat the grass back there. Is eating grass a problem? I'm pretty sure it's bermuda.

Does he need the heat lamp for heat, or for sun.
I was wondering about this, because I already have 2 others and 2 heating pads on in my room at all times, for my snakes. So, does the lil' guy actually need it for light, or not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I REALLY don't know what i'm doing here. I try to take him out back as much as I can, when i'm home. My cats are having a field day trying to figure out what he is, but nothing has really gone wrong yet. He seems to be healthy enough, his shell looks like it's chipped in 2 places on the bottom, but I can't tell yet. As soon as I can get him eating, I will start giving him so calci-powder.

Thanks!
Andrew

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