I was at Petsmart yesterday and I saw a Russian Tortoise and completely fell in love with him/her. Obviously I didn't get it because I know nothing about tortoises except that they are freaking cute. I was hoping someone can point me in the right direction for some correct info on these cuties or provide some themselves. Does anyone know of a good forum for them? Thanks.
I used to have two that had free run of my house. Somehow, they always managed to end up in the kitchen at feeding time though!
Tortoises may look easy, but they are very difficult to do RIGHT. With such a slow metabolism, it may take years for poor diets and enviroments to eventually kill them ...giving the owners the (false) impression that they are doing a good job.
Russians are pretty unique in that they can tolerate pretty wide extremes of temperature. In some areas of their range, they may actually hibernate (aestivate actually) for up to nine months out of the year. Hibernating the tort is part of the husbandry of Russians, and doing it wrong can kill the animal.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, lots of wild caught animals have shown up in the pet trade, ...most caught illegally. They can be in pretty poor shape. I'd recommend that if you really want a good tort, you find a breeder.
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