Lady's first egg hatched today!

Lady's first egg finally hatched! She is a healthy and perfect little Russian tortoise hatchling, and weighs 16g.

Finally out! 

This wee baby had NO hurry to get out of her egg. She didn't pip until day 68, and then she sat in there, looking out of the little hole she had made, for 3 days! When we came home from church today, she was finally out of her egg.

The lopsided shape will even out in a few days

She was rolled diagonally inside the egg, so she is still quite lopsided, but that will even out as her shell hardens, and she'll be a normal little oval baby. Look at her little nuchal scute (it's the one right above her head) - it's split in half, making it look like a perfect little heart!

16 g of pure cuteness

She is dark, and very domed. Her Mom and Dad are both sunflower yellow with black markings, and very domed, so she's going to be a beauty!

Pip pip pip! First Fall Russian tortoise baby hatched!

I am so excited to share with you that Mila's first egg hatched last week! This was the first time she ever laid, and the egg was quite large, at 30g. 63 days incubating at 89 degrees F later, the egg pipped (which means the shell started to crack where baby was pushing through).

Do you see the tiny pip there on the left side of the egg?

Tortoises, just like many other animals, hatch at their own pace, some faster, some more slowly. It is super important to let them come out on their own. If rushed (helped), a weakened, unmotivated baby may be the result, or the yolk sac may not be fully absorbed.
For this reason, as hard as it is, I just moved the pipping egg into a separate container in the incubator, with a moist paper towel, and then left it alone.

1.5 days later, the head and front leg are out

This baby took its time to hatch: one and a half days later, a tiny head and an arm were hanging out of the egg. It was responsive to light shining into the incubator, and was clearly breathing, so I continued to just leave the wee tyke alone.

48 hours after first pip, Mila's baby is out!

Finally, 48 hours after pipping, Mila's baby finished hatching and burst out of her shell! Looking at her through the window of the incubator, she looked very fat and more domed than Timmy's Spring hatchlings.

Mila, the baby's Mama

As a reminder, I posted a picture of Mila above - she has a pretty greenish shell that is unusually domed. When I got Mila's baby out of the incubator to give her a quick look-over, I could see that she resembled her mother a lot!

Hatched Oct. 15th, perfect, fat, and weighing 20g!

 This wee girl surprised me with her size - at 20g she is quite large for a Russian tortoise hatchling. She has fat rolls on her legs, she has a double chin, her shell is very domed, and my favorite part: she has a handlebar mustache!

A pretty greenish-brownish shell like her Mama

I am so proud that Mila is a Momma now. I am also happy (and a little surprised!) that Mila's huge, very elongated egg hatched out a perfect baby.

Cute little belly, with the yolk sac mostly absorbed

Baby's belly markings look like a clover leaf. Her yolk sac was mostly absorbed when she hatched - confirming that she knew what she was doing when she waited to come out of her egg.

Having her first soak

After 4-5 days in the incubator with daily soaks and mistings, I moved the baby into the baby enclosure. She is a little go-getter, very quick, and very curious. I see her scrambling all over the enclosure, burrowing down into the moist moss at night and several times throughout the day. She also takes teenie tiny bites out of tender greens.

Photo shoot with a dandelion

We got lucky last weekend with some amazing sunny weather, so I brought all the tortoises outside for some time in the natural sunlight. I took some pictures of Mila's baby next to a dandelion. Cute little green fatty!

So tiny, but already on the go!

...it was hard to get a good picture of her, because she was moving around so much. "Here I come, world!" she seemed to be thinking. 

Updated Baby Russian tortoise pics

The Russian tortoise babies are getting so big! Duchess hatched at the end of May weighing 14g, and now weighs 59g at not quite 5 months old. I thought you might like some pictures of Duchess (Timmy's Spring baby #2), who is the hatchling I'm keeping.

Stay tuned for baby pictures of the brand new hatches... coming VERY soon!

More Russian tortoise eggies!

This last month has been very rewarding in the tortoise egg department. Three of my Russian tortoise females laid eggs for the first time. Mila laid one single but large egg outside. Lady laid 3 beautiful eggs outside a couple weeks later, and today my HUGE (9"SCL) female Amber laid eggs for the first time, too.

Lady, digging a nest hole outside, and in the pic below, her 3 eggs.

Amber has been pacing and digging test nests outdoors for a few weeks, but nothing quite seemed to please her. She was covered by a male for the first time in August, so she may have not been nesting seriously yet. However, last week the weather got cold and I had to bring the tortoises inside. Within a day, Amber started digging nest holes again. The substrate in her tortoise table is generous, but not deep enough to dig a nest hole (6"+ deep), so I added 1.5 more bags of ACE topsoil to provide her with deep enough substrate (have I mentioned she is a BIG girl?!).

Well, she got really serious about digging nest holes yesterday, and again this morning, and finally this afternoon she laid 2 big, beautiful eggs. One weighs 34g, one weighs 30g (the big one came first). She was absolutely exhausted after that. After a good soak she is now dug in for the night.

Amber digging her nest hole by the basking spot, and her eggs.

This means I currently have 6 eggs in the incubator, due to hatch ever 2 weeks starting October 15th-ish. Things will be busy in the hatchling care department this Fall!

I should mention that breeding Russian tortoises is more involved than just throwing together a male and a female. This was the first year I got eggs, and I believe there is a direct correlation with the following factors:

1. The tortoises hibernated this winter
2. The tortoises spent the Spring and Summer outside. This means they had LOTS of space to roam, good fresh and varied food, and plenty of natural sunshine. 
3. I added a second male to my 6 girls. Roz is a cutie, but he strangely is only interested in my Timmy girl. He ignores other females. The new captive-bred male Duke is a rapist is not as choosy. Clearly he has "done his job" fertilizing these eggs. 
4. The tortoises had constant access to cuttlefish bone, which they helped themselves to generously.
5. The females (and males) are in excellent health, and at a good, healthy weight.

As mentioned in previous posts, males can be very aggressive towards females, and so care must be taken to protect the females from constant male attention. A ratio of 3 females per 1 male is recommended for the sake of the female's sanity. Even then, it may become necessary to separate the male temporarily or permanently.

One of this Spring's hatchlings

Stay tuned for hatch announcements, which are sure to come throughout the next weeks and months!

A reminder about tortoises bullying each other...

It is time to bring up the issue again of keeping two (or more) tortoises together.

When new keepers ask about getting another tortoise, long term keepers usually chime in to recommend against this.
The main reason for this is that either subtle or obvious bullying will result, and outright bloody fighting can occur that can lead to death.

This is an older pic... but it demonstrates well what I am talking about. Those three are not cuddling, even though their heads are resting on each other's shells. Those three are COMPETING FOR THE BEST BASKING SPOT.

Death can result from multiple tortoises being kept together, even when no active fighting is visible. Tortoises can be VERY sneaky. They will hog the best basking spot from their 'buddy' which results in the other tortoise not being able to reach proper body temperatures to digest their food. They will sit on the biggest part of the food pile, preventing the other tortoise from eating. They will intimidate through head bobbing, biting, and ramming. A bullied tortoise is often perceived as 'more shy' or 'not as active' - and can become so withdrawn that it stops eating and dies.

When keepers chime in to point out that their tortoises are the exception because they "like to cuddle" and that they "always eat together" - what they are observing is actually subtle, non-violent bullying.

Again, an older pic. These two are not having a relaxed lunch together. They are ravenously eating every weed they can grab, while hoggishly sitting on top of the weeds TO PREVENT THE OTHER FROM GETTING TO THEM.

Now, we humans love to put our anthropomorphic interpretation into the things our little reptilian friends do. We seek out companionship, and so our assumption is often that our tortoise wants to have a friend, too. Please don't let this happen at the expense of your tortoise.

As a keeper of 8 adult Russian tortoises (plus the babies that result), I know that I am not abiding by the '1-tortoise-rule' - HOWEVER, the tortoises spend the warm season in a LARGE outdoor area, with many different hides, holes and houses, many sight barriers, and plenty of room for a tortoise to escape from the others. When the tortoises are indoors, they are separated into different tables. 

This outdoor area looks large, but there is still sometimes conflict. We are working on an expansion!

If you look at the set-ups of other keepers who SUCCESSFULLY keep multiple tortoises, you will see that they have extensive outdoor space. An indoor set-up generally is NOT sufficient to keep multiple tortoises together in the long run.

Please don't feel attacked by this post if you already keep several together. There are quite a few options with you that don't require re-homing a tortoise: creating a large outdoor space, building a bunked set-up to separate the tortoises, etc. - there are a lot of options, even on a tight budget and without a ton of space!

For more information on this subject, please read the following blog post:http://tortaddiction.blogspot.com/2013/09/why-not-to-keep-2-tortoises-together.html

In the meantime... spoil your tortoise rotten, and work on improving (or creating) their outdoor space!

Keeping tortoises cool on hot days

When Summer finally comes, and the weather heats up, it is SO important to make sure your tortoise doesn't overheat or dehydrate! I will outline a few simple but important precautions you need to take to insure your tortoise remains happy and healthy, even during a heat advisory.

Being outdoors is so good for tortoises... but can also be dangerous!

First, always keep in mind that if the air temperature is 90 degrees F (32 degrees C), the ground temperature in the sun can easily be 140 degrees F (60 degrees C), which is unsafe for our chelonian friends!

In the wild, tortoises have the opportunity to dig deep into their burrows to enjoy cooler temperatures and even to aestivate (Summer version of hibernation). They can seek out DEEP shade under bushes and trees and rock crevices. They can roam for miles in the morning to find a suitable spot to hide from the midday sun.

In captivity, keepers often only provide flimsy hides that don't actually insulate tortoises from the heat. Some outdoor enclosures don't have deep shade from trees or bushes, and the substrate is too shallow to dig into. Tortoises can be trapped, and may suffer from heat stroke if left in the beating sun for too long.

(some tortoises like to dig more than others)

If your tortoise is outdoors, and the weather is warmer than 85 degrees F, your tortoise really needs to have some form of insulated hide that also allows it to dig several inches or feet into the soft, cool soil to regulate its body temperature. Such a hide can be built from wood and insulation material, or made from a sturdy half-pipe or half flowerpot, with several inches of soil piled over top. You can plant sod over top to help keep the dirt in place (possibly with some kind of netting under the sod, to prevent erosion).

In the picture below, you can sort of see one of my insulated hides up against the wall. It is both attractive and useful! I made it from a sturdy plastic bin (once upon a time a recycling bin), with soil piled on top, and a little rock garden with succulents. Even on a hot day, the inside of the hide only rises to about 70 degrees F (21 degrees C). The soil inside is soft, and tortoises can dig about a foot down into it.

A hide that is insulated by dirt and a rock garden with succulents!

The tortoise enclosures are large, and are planted with several bushes, and a tree partially shades a portion of the tortoise yard all day long. As a result, the tortoises can decide which part of the temperature gradient they want to spend time in. They come out into the sun in the morning, to raise their body temperature. Then they eat and wander for a few hours. During the hottest afternoon hours, they hide away in the cooler, shadier areas. Then they usually come back out in the cooler evening hours, or they dig in for the night.

To help regulate the temperatures in their tortoise garden on hot days, I hose it down thoroughly every couple of hours. The tortoises have come to appreciate the cool rain shower from the hose - almost all of them come out to visit while I'm spraying down the outdoor tortoise habitats. On extra hot days I also set up an umbrella to shade part of the enclosure.

Another measure I take to help the tortoises stay healthy in warm weather is to soak them once a week. When it is not as hot, I let them self-regulate their water intake, since they do have a nice big planting saucer full of water to bathe in or drink out of. However, 100 degree weather can dehydrate a tortoise awfully fast.

8 soaking Russian tortoises

Here's the whole bale of my RTs, 6 females and 2 males, ranging from 4.5" to 9" SCL, all soaking in some cool water this afternoon. We have a couple of really hot days coming up, so even though they live outside, I soaked them in the kiddie pool to make sure they are well hydrated.

Using an infrared temperature gun to check the ground temperature regularly might save your tortoise's life.

If there is a heat advisory in your area, and you are not sure if you will be able to come home during the hottest hours of the day, it is safer to bring your tortoise into the cool inside (NOT the garage, which is often much hotter than outside!) for the day. Being in a boring bin is safer than being stuck in the heat!

CAUTION: If your tortoise has been outside in very hot weather, and is acting lethargic, is incessantly pacing, is foaming at the mouth, vomiting or is having neurological symptoms, IMMEDIATELY put it in cool water and run room temperature water over the top of its shell to help it reduce its body temperature. Then call an emergency veterinarian and seek help ASAP! Tortoises can die from heat stroke!

Keeping tortoises outdoors in the Pacific Northwest

Today I would like to show some pictures of my adult Russian tortoises in their outdoor habitat in our yard. My hope is that this will encourage more tortoise keepers to provide their tortoise(s) with an outdoor space.

Duke, eating weeds while sitting up on a rock - silly boy!

Keeping tortoises in the Pacific Northwest has a unique set of challenges in that it rains A LOT here for part of the year. However, it is actually possible to keep them outdoors all or most of the time from April through September or even October.

The benefits of keeping tortoises outdoors far outweigh the potential dangers, IF proper precautions are taken and accommodations are made. The natural sunlight provides heat and healthy UVB, which promotes healthy bones and a good hard shell. Being able to wander a much larger area keeps the tortoise's muscles strong. Wild Russian tortoises live in climates that are harsher than ours! They can THRIVE in our climate.

A morning view of our tortoise yard

In our climate, moisture can be a problem - Russian tortoises don't seem to mind chilly weather as long as they have the option to stay dry. We solved this problem by building the tortoise yard partially under the eves of our roof - about 2 feet out from our house wall stay completely dry, no matter how hard it rains. I have cut several buckets in half, and buried them under several inches of soil. They provide good hides for the tortoises to burrow into on cool or hot days.

A morning view of the tortoise yard- it gets much sunnier here in the afternoon!

Building an outdoor space doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. I used re-claimed materials off of Craigslist and from my neighbors' left over project lumber. The total cost out of pocket was $35 for this, which was for the decking screws to hold it all together.
I plan to expand the tortoise yard in the next few years, to go further out from the house, as well as going around the corner to the South side of the house. I already have some of the materials for this. I also am scavenging materials to build a little heated greenhouse, which would make it possible for the tortoises to live outdoors for several more months each year!

Jill and Mila basking in the morning sun

Russian tortoises are hardy critters, and even when the air temperature is only 60 degrees, the ground temperature in a sunny spot is often 30 degrees higher. You can help this by placing a flat dark-ish rock (or several) into the area the sun hits first in the morning. I've also set up little cold frames (miniature greenhouses), which I built from polycarbonate scraps I scored from a local garden center for a whopping $5 for a stack large enough to make 4.

Greenhouse made from polycarbonate remnants

I simply taped the triangles together using foil ducting tape, and ta-daaaa! Instant slightly warmer, dry basking area! These are very simplified versions of a cold frame.

Amber, hanging out in her pyramid in the quarantine area

My infrared temperature gun is an important tool - I quickly check the ground temperature in several spots before bringing the tortoises outside in the Spring. In the summer, the ground temperature can actually rise to 140 degrees F on a 90 degree (air temp) day (in that case, it becomes necessary to hose down the tortoise yard to cool it).

I like this one by Etekcity.
I bought it on Amazon, and it has worked for 4 years without needing its battery changed. 

When night temperatures drop below 58 degrees F, I bring the tortoises in at night. Otherwise, they stay outside 24/7 unless it is raining so torrentially that I know the gutters will fail, sending a waterfall over the edge of the roof into the tortoise yard.
The tortoises dig in for the night. Then as soon as the sun hits the tortoise garden (around 11am, since it's on the West side of the house), the tortoises come out to bask in the sunny spots. They wander around, graze, explore, and soak. By afternoon it really bakes out, and they retreat to the shady spots under the bushes. In the evening, they come back out again for another snack, or just to take a walk.

Indoors I have to separate the tortoises into multiple tortoise tables, based on who gets along with whom (or doesn't). Several are permanently in solitary confinement indoors. Outside, there are so many sight barriers, and so much space, that I am able to keep the tortoises together in the large tortoise garden. I keep a close eye on them to make sure nobody is being ganged up on, and I have a 'time out' area set up for them if separation becomes necessary. In the Springtime, the males couldn't be in the same enclosure because they kept fighting. Now they have mellowed.

A different view of the tortoise yard. I have blueberry bushes, gooseberry bushes, and raspberries growing in there. I've limbed up the blueberry bushes to where the tortoises can't reach the fruit or leaves, so they just benefit from the filtered shade. They like to eat the leaves off the raspberry vines, but the fruit is picked by us humans. The gooseberry bush is related to the currant family, so the leaves are safe for the tortoises. We pick the fruit for ourselves. I like that the bushes fulfill a dual purpose - food for us humans, and shade for the tortoises.

I have dug a nice deep trench under the wall of the enclosure, which I filled with cement pavers, so I don't have to worry about the tortoises digging out of their enclosure. My male Roz is an especially avid digger - he makes burrows so deep I have to reach in up to my shoulder to get him out. The walls of the enclosure are capped so the tortoises can't climb out either. Because I am confident the tortoises can't escape, it isn't too scary for me when one of the tortoises disappears for a few weeks for a snooze. I know they are healthy and have had plenty of food, so if the weather is hot or cold, I allow them to burrow down as they see fit. 

Lady (the very dirty tortoise shown above and below) disappeared at the end of April, and didn't show up again until last week. She is a big, heavy girl, so I wasn't worried. She came back out and went back to eating as if there had never been a 6-week nap. 

I provide water in several flat containers, such as the plant saucer in the picture below. Normally, this container is actually sunken into the ground, but one of the tortoises decided to dig under it, which pushed it up and out.

Some tortoises that are normally picky eaters or have a shy personality really blossom when they are outdoors. Little Jill (who isn't so little anymore!) is a shy picky eater indoors. Outside she eats like a piggy, and even bosses the bigger females around!

I had just hosed down the tortoise yard (including the tortoises) the morning before I took these pictures, hence the tortoises are unusually clean. They normally spend their Summer as grubby little piggies!

Now that it is summer, the tortoise yard has been grazed pretty bare - however, finding healthy weeds is no trouble here in the beautiful, green Pacific Northwest, so the tortoises eat well.

This year was the first year that my tortoises had babies - Timmy and Roz produced 6 beautiful, healthy hatchlings. I am keeping 1 of them, and the others have all been dibsed. Here are a few pictures:

At only about a month old, the babies only spend about an hour per day outside. The baby below is little Duchess (Baby #2), which I am keeping. Eventually I plan to breed her with Duke (our CB male, who is NOT her father) to produce some fine CB2 Russian tortoises in years to come.

Finally, I just have to show off my Amber - she is just shy of 9" long and weighs in at a whopping 1874g. She's a big, big girl! (freshly hosed down in the pic below... I plopped Duke into the pic for size comparison. He's a 5" male).