Russian Tortoise Basic Care Info + Feeding!

today I'm going to be talking about these guys right here the Russian tortoise also known as the Afghan tortoise or horse field tortoise they come from Central Asia and the Middle East and there are grassland species I love these tortoises they're the only tortoises I have right now but I think they're probably the best for most people these guys are very Hardy and very personable and I personally think they're they're the best they get no bigger than eight inches and the males are usually a little bit smaller than the females right here I can show you the difference so she has a more round like circular shell and she's a little bit more domed and her tail is Tiny and his his shell is a little bit more elongated and more flat foot focus and his tail is massive compared to hers and the males generally tuck it to the side but right now they're about the same size but in time she'll outgrow him the Basking temperature for these guys should be anywhere from 90 to 100 degrees they like it hot and I also recommend putting rocks under your lamps because they absorb some of that heat and retain some of it just so it's a little bit warmer form and for the lights I just have a normal UVB bulb and then I have a 100 watt heat bulb uh it's probably maybe a foot away from the masking spot so 100 watt is fine but if you had it any further away I would recommend a 150 watt just to keep that heat because the further away your bulbs the more heat you're going to lose to the air for the cool side uh anywhere from 65 to 70 degrees is good and I recommend providing a lot of climbing surfaces like these rocks I have a little Branch here I have another rock here and then some hides for them they can also climb on top of these and then you also need a water dish because they probably won't soak on their own but they will drink occasionally and you might have noticed this little white thing this is a cuddle bone which is actually the inside like remaining shell of a cuttlefish um I bought these because it's a good source of calcium for tortoises and turtles and there's reptiles in general they're supposed to come up and gnaw on it but they I've never seen them do it but I leave it in here just in case for the substrate I like to use a mix of cocoa fiber and wood chips or reptibark or whatever also Supply a good amount of it like three to four inches because they do like to burrow see here that's the bottom of the tank so they have plenty of room to burrow cannot get any little sort of microclimate they want if they want to be more or less humid and just for comfortability sometimes at night they will burrow just to kind of feel safe I would soak these tortoises about once a week just to make sure they're hydrated they get most of their hydration from their food that they eat so they mostly won't drink water they will do it occasionally if they need to but soaking them is a good way to get them to drink or just to soak in some of that water and to soak them I'll just fill the water about just to like their chin just so they can easily just put their head above the water you don't want them to have to swim they can't do it but they're not very good at it and it stresses them out uh always make sure to use pretty warm water not too cold not too hot obviously because they will not enjoy it if it's too cold or too hot now for feeding these guys they're gonna like uh like dark leafy greens so like collard greens dandelion greens mustard greens uh red and green leaf lettuce are also good uh never feed them broccoli spinach or kale because that binds calcium and they need calcium uh and on the topic of calcium I would always at least once or twice a week uh dust their greens with calcium these tortoises are pretty picky so normal just reptile calcium they usually don't eat their salads so I actually got the strawberry banana flavor stuff and they love it so I recommend getting this if you're having trouble with your tortoise uh just eating the normal calcium powder some other things you can feed your tortoise other than their normal greens are these I really like these they seem to like them too this was like six dollars at the store they're just dried flowers and these are a grassland species so they will eat a lot of flowers in the wild and they like this stuff a lot and I have some pellets I have these Fluker tortoise pellets they like these I honestly just think it's because it's colorful but I don't know they seem to like it a lot I have some other pellets here my tortoises don't eat these but I've heard that these are very good and healthy for tortoises uh they just will not touch them I'm not sure why but I think they're just picky one other thing I would recommend if your tortoise will actually eat it is hey this is just alfalfa hay for rabbits whatever these animals are uh because they are a grassland species they eat a lot of grass in the wild my tortoises will not touch it no matter what I do but I guess that's just them if your tortoise will eat it I recommend it because it's pretty healthy for right here I have some blueberries and it's pretty controversial with these tortoises feeding them fruit but I think it is pretty healthy for them to have slow amounts of fruit like once every two weeks maybe give them some like melon like blueberries strawberries banana always research what you're feeding them first because there are some things that are toxic to them I always look up what fruit I'm planning on feeding them uh never give them Citrus it's very bad for them because it's very acidic uh so stay away from like lemons oranges and stuff like that these guys love blueberries uh melon is also a really good choice because it's very high in water and it's a pretty good way to make sure your tortoise is hydrated just give them fruit every once in a while not take it I knew it oh so I've just prepared this little salad for them with the flowers and blueberries uh I would feed them about this much if you have two about half this much every day if you only have one but they do like to eat and they will not stop so just make sure not to feed them too much because obesity can be a problem for these guys also a lot of this information can probably be applied to the other tortoises in the testudo genus uh like the Herman's Tortoise and the Greek tortoise I believe I could be wrong about that but I think those are the two that are closely related uh they need similar requirements and they're similar size similar diet and all that these guys are very easy to care for just keep up on picking up their poop and uh these lights you'll probably have to replace every six months to a year and the substrate probably three to four times a year uh you just gotta switch out the water every few days if they get it dirty feed them four to five times a week and you're good they're very easy they're very low maintenance I'd say but I think that's all I have for you guys thank you for watching I hope this helped you on your decision if you want a Russian tortoise or a tortoise at all or if you're just watching just for the fun of it thank you for watching and I will see you guys in the next video

Channel: logimoe

Views: 6,811

Keywords: Russian Tortoise, Reptile, Tortoise, Turtle

Id: CkT0JCT9veQ

Length: 8min 26sec (506 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 17 2022