Russian Tortoise Tips?

Question

I just bought a Russian Tortoise today, and although I have studied extensively up on them and tortoises in general on the web-I still have a few questions:

-If I turn the UV lamp off at night and my room temperature generally stays in the low 70's, would you still recommend a heat pad? If so, I have one readily available.

-Yea or Nay to T-Rex dried tortoise food?

any other special info would be appreciated! I am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to diet and housing, but I am trying to soak up some last minute info while I'm still excited to have this little guy for the first night!

-

Answer 1

if your night time temp int he room stays in the 70's then you will not require a heat mat, but to be quite honest a heat mat can get too hot and burn the tortoise so unless you are getting a thermostat to control it i would not recomend one for a tortoise, as for the tortoise pellets i feed them once a month as a treat, they are quite high in protien and should not be used as part of the stable diet, but as a treat is ok,  here are some other sites that are good, but i do like the tortoise trust they have interesting articles and up to date research so it is always good to look on there from time to time

http://www.tortoises-turtles.com/tortois...

http://tortoiseyard.com/

http://www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk/

http://www.slowcoach.org.uk/slocare.html

http://www.chelonia.org/care.htm

http://www.russiantortoise.net/index.htm... last minute infor for you as you have the research under your belt, enjoy your tortoise but if you suspect your tortoise is not feeling alright find a good reptile vet it can make a world of difference, tortoises are great to keep and i never seem to get bored of sitting and watching mine wander around in there care free way, the best thing you can do is to keep up with the research, that way you can do your best for your little fella, one thing though russian tortoises are not that keen on water so don't be shocked when you bath him and he reacts like you have put him in boiling water, he will settle and show you how he can put up with the baths, if you do your best you will end up with a wonderful tortoise that will live to a grand old age, best of luck with your new tortoise honey

Answer 2

The best info is found on http://www.tortoisetrust.org and http://www.russiantortoise.org

Night temps of the 70's are OK- turn off all lights at night.

I dislike pelleted tortoise food in general. It generally is heavy in grains, and tortoises do not eat grain in the wild.

You can find a GREAT forum at either http://www.tortoiseforum.org or http://www.turtleforum.com