New Russian Tortoise

[RichardA]

Russians are the easiest as far as care....they do not need the higher temps like most, and do very well in cooler climates for longer outdoors. Mine stay outside year round and go into their burrow when the time is right.

Diet:
Mixed greens and veggies, squashes, fruit here and there. I use cuttlebones for calcium, they are 100% calcium and make a fine dust when rubbed together. The tort chow is good stuff, but most russians and others are wc imports and have no idea what it is, with time they will usually start taking it if you mix it in with some greens and such. You can collect up dandilion greens and flowers in the summer and they love em!

For those that use tanks to house them, the window trick does nothing for uv rays from the sun, glass filters out almost all uv....If you plan to keep them indoors year round a tort table is in order for the longterm. Russians stay smaller so a smaller table will work fine. Basically a short sided long box with uv lamps and heat from above with kitty litter pans recessed into it with grasses planted in em. Couple of caves and areas to dig around in. Shallow water dish for drinking and such.

Congrats on the new tort! They are a ton of fun!

[Dragnbaron]

Ok, you're doing good and what a beautiful tortoise! For a brunette he has some beautiful markings. Both of mine are wild caught and the brunette male i have has scars all over fom shell rot.
Ok, anyway, don't keep it in a glass enclosure, you want something they cannot see through. All the visual stuff freaks them out and they become HIGHLY stressed. Make sure you have UVB on them during the day. I use a UVB and heat bulb from Zoo Med. Works well and they always bask in the light.
Carolina pet supply has as suppliment called TNT which is great for grassland tortoises. It can be full of probiotics or be lacking probiotics, up to you. It also adds ALOT of calcuim to their diet. If you feed them spinach you need to add calcium in LARGE quantities. I have read that spinach in RT's does the same thing as Bearded Dragons and binds the calcium not allowing them to digest and use it properly. I could be wrong but i have had no issues, so far.
www.russiantortoisepictures.com/forum/index.php is a great resorce for any questions, suppliments, or advice but it's nowhere near as good as ball-pythons.net
I tried alot of things with my guys: cuttlebone, calcium powder, commercial tortoise mix, etc. They only like the stuff i buy at the store. I get an organic veggi mix. Some Iceburg is okay, but not in large quantities. It has no nutritional value to it literally starves them. Remember, variety is important because they like to try new things. My guys will pick at everything and ignore anything with powder, anything commercial, or anything out of the ordinary especially cuttlebone. They are good torts, though.
Food for RT's is not the same as food for box turtles or any other type or land turtle or tortoise. Why? Because their nutritional needs are different. Bod turtles, red foots, really mopst types of tortoises need some sort of protien and they usually get it from their caretakers giving them pinkies. This is bad for RT's and can causemassive problems. RT's are herbivors and digest certain things and need alot of fiber. Other types or tortoise don't need as much fiber and are mostly concerned about protien. I have has a cherry head and Russians so i'm not sure about ALL other species or tortoise or land turtle.

[Dragnbaron]

Oh and to add to RicharA, a tort table is a must! I will use and old bookshelf laying on its back filled with a 50/50 mix of play sand and eco earth. Add a gallon of water once a week to the entire thing and mix it all up. I never tried the kitty litter pan thing, great idea! I will use than next! If using a mercuy vapor UVB/heat bulb that should amke grasses grow really well.
Out of curiocity Rich, what do you use to pot the grasses in the kitty litter pans?