New HUGE female Russian tortoise

Getting another Russian tortoise really wasn't part of my plan... but then I met Lady, the XXL-sized female Testudo horsfieldi. Before seeing her in person I had no idea she was this big. She comes with an interesting story - more about that below (for those of you who are interested). We named her Lady, short for Lady Liberty, because she was found roaming free.

That's right. She weighs 1076g... and is actually a little skinny!

When I first brought Lady home and weighed her before soaking her, she looked dehydrated and weighed 1014g (The picture above is of her hydrated weight!). I soaked her (she drank and drank!), fed her (she ate an entire HUGE dandelion plant, some dead-nettle, and some wild geranium , and put her under the heat lamp. She spent the rest of the day dozing under the warm light.

Lady, chowing down on a pile of weeds

This morning when I weighed her again after her soak, she weighed a whopping 1076g. I did a double-take, checked my scale, and weighed again. Yep 1076g was right. Originally, I was planning just to foster her, but considering her magnificent size, I just can't let her go. She's in quarantine for 6 months, but will get a partition of the outdoor enclosure, and by winter I'll have built her a nice big indoor enclosure, too. She's too big to share with the others, but next Spring I plan to introduce our male to her for a little honeymooning.

Lady, basking - I wonder how long it's been since she was warm?

Now her story:
I saw a post on Craigslist that a tortoise had been found wandering on the street. The finder was looking for the previous owner. Mind you, we live in the cold, rainy Pacific Northwest. I sent the woman a message stating that this certainly was not one of mine, but that I could care for it for her, and if it was female keep it, otherwise find a good home (after de-worming and ensuring it was healthy). The finder said she would wait first to see if someone answered her ad or the papers she hung around the neighborhood. Then on Sunday evening I got a message from her stating that the old owner did indeed contact her, but that this person was very rude and had stated that she had purposefully set the tortoise free so it could "live more happily in the wild." *WTH?* The finder had the presence of mind to offer finding a new home for the tortoise... so she offered it to me. I asked her for some pics, and this was obviously a female (stubby wedge shaped tail), but the I couldn't tell how big she was.

When I got to the finder's house and saw the tortoise, I did a double-take, because this tortoise was SO BIG. She is 7+ inches, and almost as wide as she is long. I expected her to be longer when I measured her, because she looks so big and heavy, but a lot of her weight comes from her width - my guess is that she is of the Kazachstani subgroup.

Interestingly, for all the previous neglect, her shell is actually in good shape, and so is her beak. She has some wear on her plastron, and I did treat a few spots of shell rot. The old owner just let her wander the yard all Summer, and kept her in a box or something during the winter. But at least she got real UV and good weeds to eat during the warm season. She was dehydrated when I got her, but overall seems to be healthy. And have I mentioned that she is huge?

Lady, all clean after a soak, with a VS card for size comparison.

In case you are wondering why she is on brown paper bags, she has worms, so I'm treating her with Panacur. As soon as she is all clear, she will get wonderful, soft coconut coir to burrow in!

2 new female Russian torts!

Today I finally picked up our two new female Russian tortoises! Our little testudo horsfieldi herd is now much better balanced.

Meet Jill and Mila!

Their previous owner contacted me about six weeks ago, because her family is moving to Alaska and couldn't bring them along. Yesterday she sent me a new message that if I could get them today, they would be mine.

While setting up their quarantine tub, I let them wander around on the floor a little

These two sweet girls aren't rescues like most of the other torts we've brought home. Their owner was actually doing a good job caring for them. She fed them the right food, soaked them in water often enough, and had good lights. Their shells look good (though I suspect she used conditioner on them, they are so shiny!), they have nice bright eyes, good short beaks, and short claws. They are in quarantine for now, just to be on the safe side, but I don't anticipate any difficulties.

Jill was pretty easy to weigh.

The first thing I do when I bring home new torties is to measure and weigh them to get a base line.

Mila wouldn't hold still long enough to get a good pic of her measurements.

Mila is VERY active, and so it was a little hard to measure and weigh her because she kept trying to get away at top tortoise speed!

Mila - look at how much green is in her new growth. I've never seen this before.

The bigger of the two is just under 6 inches long, and weighs 500g, even. I named her Mila.

Jill - she has very pretty yellow coloring. She is more shy than Mila.

The smaller is just under 5 inches long, and weighs 385g. Her name will be Jill.

The new torts won't get to interact with my others for a few months, but for size comparison, I put Timmy  by them briefly after her bath.

Mila and Jill TOGETHER are about the size of our 'big' female, Timmy. I look forward to letting my little herd interact, once quarantine is over!

Jill exploring a little after warming up under the basking lamp. 

The quarantine bin is about the same size as the aquarium they lived in with their previous owner - 40"x18". They'll get to move into a much bigger home once the quarantine is over! :)

The challenge PLAN is not to take in any new torties now for a while. The reason I kept bringing home tortoises to rescue was that I came across them on my search for a female.

Boo, aka the mystery tort

Boo is my most recent tortoise rescue. He is an Antakyan Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca antakyensis). I have only had him for 3 weeks, and he is VERY shy.

This is what you see when you try to visit with Boo while he is soaking...

I have been searching our local Craigslist for a female Russian tortoise for a long time (still haven't found one... so many males!) On one of my weekly "tortoise" searches, a listing in 'farm and garden' for a 'Tahitian tortoise' caught my eye. At first I was just intrigued. I did a google image search for 'Tahitian tortoise' and only came up with some fancy glasses and pens, a galapagos tortoise at the Tahitian zoo, and a sea turtle. I asked some folks on the tortoise forums, and nobody had ever heard of a Tahitian tortoise. I finally contacted the owner to find out more.

The owner was adamant that it was a 'Tahitian' tortoise, and that she purchased it from the breeder in Seattle at a reptile show 6 years ago as a yearling, hatched 2005. She just wanted to find a good home for it, because her son lost interest. I asked her for some pictures, which she sent. The owner bragged that the tort had a metal ring drilled into the back of his shell (yikes!). He was being kept in a tiny 20 gal aquarium without UV light. He didn't seem to have much pyramiding though, which is probably due to the fact that they kept him tethered by his ring outside in the yard during the Summer, so at least he was getting UVB then. The rest of the year they fed him romaine lettuce and carrots.

This is the first pic the previous owner sent me. Can you see how overgrown the beak is?!

Aside from wanting to have the tort due to the 'cute' factor, it sounded like this tort wasn't being cared for properly. I talked to my husband and to some folks on my favorite tort forum, and decided to go for it. I met the previous owner at a Shell station out in the boonies near where she lived. The tort came with his 20 gal aquarium filled with dry bark chips that REEKED of cigarette smoke, a hide log, and a lamp fixture that had a garage-type spotlight in it (which by the way was burnt out).

Once I was home, the first thing I did was to run a warm soaking bath for the little mystery tort. The owner told me that this kind of tortoise doesn't need water, and that she soaked it once every week or so... so I just assumed it was probably dehydrated.

Boo soaking. He still had his ring. Isn't he pretty though?!

Then I proceeded to throw away the icky smoke-stinking bark chips. I washed out the little tank, and filled it with a flat rock on one end and some 50:50 moistened coconut coir sand mix. The tiny tank would have to do until I built a nice big tort table, since my 'rescue' table was currently occupied by Mo.

Back view - this was still during the first bath, so the ring is still in.

I decided to name the little mystery tort "Boo" because we got him the day after Halloween, and because he was so shy. I couldn't even (and still haven't been able to) trim Boo's terribly overgrown beak, since he covers his face with his legs and pulls into his shell so far that nobody can reach him.

Top view of Boo's carapace, still with the ring.
I took this to help folks on the forum identify what kind of tortoise we had. 

Of course after his first bath I removed the metal ring from Boo's shell - no tortoise should be tethered! This was harder than I thought it would be, it must have been stainless steel or something... but in the end, I cut it in half and got it out.

After his bath, I placed Boo into his little tank, and placed a ceramic heat lamp on one end. Since the floodlight the owner sent along with him was burnt out, I wasn't sure if he'd been kept warm enough, so I wanted to make sure he had the option to bask if he wanted to. The next day I 'borrowed' the UVB light from Mo, and ordered a new UVB fixture and tube light for Boo, as well as a new basking light. Until those arrived, I just moved the UVB back and forth between Mo's table and Boo's tank.

I took this pic of the bottom of Boo's shell to help identify him.

Knowing exactly what kind of tort I had just rescued would help me properly care for him, so I set out on a quest for proper classification. My initial guess was that it could be a Hermann's tortoise, however, this guess was quickly refuted when I posted a pic of him on the Hermann's tortoise forum. Someone said that they thought he was a Greek, though for his age he is pretty small. Researching Greek tortoises led me to thinking he could be a Tunisian Greek tortoise (which kind of sounds like "Tahitian" so maybe the previous owner misunderstood?). However, an expert on the forum said that Boo's markings weren't quite right for a Tunisian - that he is an Antakyan greek tortoise (Testudo graeca antakyensis). Lucky for me, the care for this kind of Greek is very similar to the captive care of Russian torts. Of course I will not keep them together - mixing species is a bad idea, as they can transmit parasites and pathogens, and might also fight each other.

Boo bathing. No more ring!

I am finding that Boo is a VERY picky eater. His old owner used to feed him nothing but romaine and carrots (although at least she dusted with calcium). Boo will just ignore the food he doesn't like, even if he hasn't eaten that day. It was time for some tough love - I knew he wouldn't starve himself, so after a few days of me offering him good healthy greens and him ignoring them, he finally gave in and ate his fill. Now he's doing ok, although he does turn his nose up at a few of the things my other torts love.

Boo eating. I had to use the zoom on my camera to get this shot.  Yes, Boo still has an overgrown beak.

I am hoping that the new, bigger tort table with plenty of hide spots and room to roam will help little Boo get more comfortable. He was probably dragged around by his ring, so I don't fault him for being so shy. He's also still very young, so with kind treatment and the wisdom that comes with age he will hopefully become more friendly.

Timmy, my first Russian tortoise

Several years ago, I decided that I would like to get a tortoise. After much research, I decided that I wanted a Russian tortoise - but I did not want to buy one from a pet store. For weeks I read everything I could get my hands on about this species' needs and care. I combed Craigslist, until I finally found someone who no longer wanted their Testudo horsfieldii. There was just one catch: the tort came with a 55 gal glass tank, and a very large bearded dragon!

I met the friendly senior gentleman who no longer could care for his pets in a Fred Meyer parking lot, I gave him the very reasonable adoption fee, we shook hands, and just like that I had 2 new pets.

As soon as I got home, I took out the bearded dragon, and surveyed both pets. I hadn't known quite what to expect, as I hadn't previously seen pictures of them. I was happy to see that the tortoise looked and acted pretty healthy (though somewhat grumpy over being moved around). She seemed to be overweight, I could see what I thought were bulges of fat coming out of her shell, and she couldn't pull herself all the way into her shell. The previous owners had fed her mostly thawed frozen mixed veggies. My guess was that the starch from the corn in the mix had caused the obesity. Proper food and plenty of exercise surely would correct this. Her shell looked good. Her toenails were long, but not terribly so. She was clearly a female, about 7 inches long, and had beautiful BRIGHT yellow coloring.
Judging by her face, she was no longer young, but I had no idea how old she was. It is very difficult to estimate a tortoise's age, unless the hatch year is known. Since many pet tortoises in the US have been wild-caught (WC), nobody knows their age. The torts came with light fixtures, but no bulbs, so I had to make a quick trip to the pet store.

Now I just needed to figure out what to do with the beardie... Bearded dragons and Russian tortoises (RTs) have completely different environmental needs (humidity, climbing opportunities, temperature), and their diets are absolutely incompatible (beardies are carnivores, RTs are herbivores). While I think beardies are cool, I felt no real affinity to it. I asked the woman who works in the reptile department of the pet store if she knew of someone who would be interested in a large-ish bearded dragon. She said that yes, for a matter of fact, her friend had recently lost her beloved beardie, has a huge tank with all the supplies, and would surely LOVE to have mine. We arranged a meeting place, and the moment the woman saw the beast, she took it into her arms, hugged it close, gave it a kiss, and said "Oh, honey! NOW you are home with Momma!" - I knew it was in good hands.

Back home, I cleaned out the tank, and got all the lights (basking, heat, UVB) set up, and placed my new tort into it. My son named her "Timmy."

Timmy basking, the day we got her in 2009

Over the next years, I became more confident and knowledgeable in my care for Timmy. I fed her exclusively dark leafy greens that I grew in my garden, or in the case of dandelions, picked in my friend's garden. I found a great list of edible plants that I referenced often, many of which already were in my garden, and I added others over the years that followed.

After about half a year, I decided to upgrade her tank from a 55-gal to a 75-gallon tank. This was before I had learned about tortoise tables.

Timmy is such a funny tortoise. We joke that she truly is a female, because she LOVES to rearrange her furniture! Just to keep her entertained, we sometimes switch around the log(s) and stones in her tank, and she bulldozes them into the spot she wants them, clonking and clunking until she is happy.

Tortoise push-ups!

We found that Timmy also loved to climb all over everything, both in her tank, and outside of it. When it was sunny we let her explore our garden, and she always made a beeline for the rock garden and scrambled all over it. Indoors the kids built obstacle courses for her out of blocks, and she climbed and bulldozed her way through them.

Next chapter: Timmy gets a boy friend! Ok, for the first year it was just a friend who happened to be a boy...

~By the way, while there is A LOT of information on the internet concerning care of Russian tortoises, I found that The Russian Tortoise had the most comprehensive set of information, including information on the proper habitat, feeding (including a list of edible plants), breeding, and so much more.