Re: Russian Tortoise answers

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Posted by Eric T. on August 07, 2001 at 22:52:50:

In Reply to: Re: Russian Tortise Questions posted by Justin on August 07, 2001 at 00:34:32:

: I believe that a russian tortoise reaches maximum size in approx. 20 years, and it is something like 1/4 their size every 4 years. It kinda slows down a bit as they get closer to maximum. Don't try to count the rings on the shell. that method doesn't work. Some times a tortoise will put on 2+ rings in a season sometimes none at all.
I keep Skippy in an indoor habitat. But I live in an appartment and there is no appropriate place out side for me to keep him. I ofren take him out and give him running time in a local school yard, letting him graze on some clover and weeds. His indoor habitat is a spacious vivarium made out of wood with a sliding glass front. It is designed to look like a desert steppe with a sand cactus soil mix as a substrate deep enough so that Skippy can dig into it. various pieces of gnarled wood (grape vine) are placed in there to break up the line of sight and to add pleasing decoration for the human viewers. Snake plant (Sansevieria sp)is planted more for the human viewers that anything else, although Skippy seens to feel more at home with these thing in his habitat. I had planted Hens-and-chicks and some beautiful sedum just to discover that Skippy thought that these were far better a food source then what I normally provided. I'll probably plant some more for him to graze on.
As for the price of captive born hatchlings. All the ones I've seen are quite a bit more expensive than wild caught. Personally I think it is worth it. By that time you do the vet thing you have spent almost as much money as the captive born costs. And if your W.C is ill and needs medicine and even more vet visits than you end up spending a huge ammount of money! Captive born tortoises bring less baggage with them!
-Eric-

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: : I believe that a russian tortoise reaches maximum size in approx. 20 years, and it is something like 1/4 their size every 4 years. It kinda slows down a bit as they get closer to maximum. Don't try to count the rings on the shell. that method doesn't work. Some times a tortoise will put on 2+ rings in a season sometimes none at all. : I keep Skippy in an indoor habitat. But I live in an appartment and there is no appropriate place out side for me to keep him. I ofren take him out and give him running time in a local school yard, letting him graze on some clover and weeds. His indoor habitat is a spacious vivarium made out of wood with a sliding glass front. It is designed to look like a desert steppe with a sand cactus soil mix as a substrate deep enough so that Skippy can dig into it. various pieces of gnarled wood (grape vine) are placed in there to break up the line of sight and to add pleasing decoration for the human viewers. Snake plant (Sansevieria sp)is planted more for the human viewers that anything else, although Skippy seens to feel more at home with these thing in his habitat. I had planted Hens-and-chicks and some beautiful sedum just to discover that Skippy thought that these were far better a food source then what I normally provided. I'll probably plant some more for him to graze on. : As for the price of captive born hatchlings. All the ones I've seen are quite a bit more expensive than wild caught. Personally I think it is worth it. By that time you do the vet thing you have spent almost as much money as the captive born costs. And if your W.C is ill and needs medicine and even more vet visits than you end up spending a huge ammount of money! Captive born tortoises bring less baggage with them! : -Eric-

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