They can keep safe outside if they can burry themselves deep enough to use the ground insulation. I just bring my guys in for hibernation. They need to dig too to reach moisture. Insufficient hydration can be a cause of pyramiding too.

This is as a constant food source. A little bit from time to time can help with water intake.

Wrong. They don't live in Afganistan. Russian tortoise live in fresh water bodies - in lakes, rivers, streams, swamps. It's scientific name "Euroropean Swamp Turtle" (lat. Emys orbicularis). Lots of them live in central and southern Russia, and in asian part too. Probably people in Russia first started to use them as pets. Afghanistan is very dry and desert place. No chance to survive there for water-loving animal.

If you have to bring them in it helps tremendously if you make sure they can’t see out of their enclosure. They’re explorers so to be able to see out and not go out stresses them out. It would also help if they can burry themselves in their bedding. We’re using topsoil and coconut bark for times we must bring them in.

My males didn’t start fighting (had them 3 years, 4 of them) till the DAY I brought two females home. I have to separate them till they have more space and hides 😭

B 👑

My Russian tortoise is outside permanently & I live in the UK 🇬🇧

We have a pure pair but no babies from them at the moment

Yess!! We do. We breed and adopt out rescues. Message us on our Instagram for more information

We currently have two adult male rescues available if you are interested.

No I don’t as long as you provide space for the tortoises to stay warm when it’s cool and say cool when it’s hot you should have no problem. We are located in so cal as well and all of our tortoises do exceptionally well outdoors

They can burrow deep into the ground, maybe you can start a burrow for them-! As long as they can escape the sun and go deep enough to benefit from the cool earth below, they should thrive! Such high temps I’d keep water available, deep enough that they can submerge their behinds but with shallow edges (low slopes) so they can easily get in and out and don’t flip over onto their backs inside.

Nice! I would make sure he had corrected temperature and lighting with low humidity. The reason for not eating may be due to respiratory infections that are normally due to enclosure climates.

@@octurtletortoise9888 hi! thanks for replying, I got him a 90 gallon terrarium and a heat lamp, he is eating now and he loves lettuce!

Perfect!!! That is the perfect size tank for a Russian! Make sure you also have the UBV light and I would even consider adding hay into the enclosure. Being grass land species it is great for there diet as well as a good way to keep the humidity down!

@@octurtletortoise9888 she has some mulch and a UPV!

@@octurtletortoise9888 I breed box turtles and male box turtles can also be very aggressive to each other. If you breed box turtles you likewise should have at least twice as many females as males.

We actually aren’t totally sure at the age of most of our females. We have one female about six inches who I can estimate to be around 6-7 years the others are definitely 10+ .

@@octurtletortoise9888 i bought female russian tortoise shes 3 months old and im afraid she would get too big loll. I have 50”” big habitat but in the morning before I go to work I make sure I put kale and lettuce in her habitat but she seems not touching them at all the entire day. I feel like shes staying at 1 spot only which is like a “hiding” spot closed area. Therefore I have to manually put her next to the eating area and she eats it that way. I wonder if I should replace the “eating” spot next to her “hiding” spot, will that solve the problem? She does have a uv light with heater on top of the food area. But cannot put the lights and stuff in her hiding area since its a closed hiding spot.

Two tortoises? It depends on the size and the dimensions

@@octurtletortoise9888 it was going to be a around 24 square feet

I would say that is to small for multiple tortoises. I would recommend trying to go a little bigger even for one.

@@octurtletortoise9888 how big would you recommend even for one, want the best life for my reptile friends

For one at the very smallest we recommend about 3x3. If you have the space we recommend making an out door enclosure. Our tortoises pen for 9 Russians is 6x12 feet. If you have the space available we can help give you some ideas on the supplies you may need to build a enclosure for outdoor tortoises. You can dm us on Instagram at oc.tortoise or email us at [email protected].

I agree and we strongly push people to keep tortoises outside if conditions allow and if not to build a larger tortoises table or not get that species in the first place. We are planning to post more videos soon!

@@octurtletortoise9888 that’s great to hear! I am looking very forward to your future videos!! 😃

i have mine in a 2x4 im building a outdoor but i live in ny im not sure if its a good idea other than summer

I would recommend not keeping males together as they may show aggression to each other. Two females would not show as much aggression to each other if kept in a lot of space. I also would never keep other species with Russian tortoises and always recommend just keeping individual species with each other

My 4 boys did fine for 3 years but they all came from the same backyard and might even be brothers. Let me tell you though, I just brought two females home and they switched like a light on eachother. I have to keep them separated from the females till I get a bigger enclosure built with lots of obstacles and hiding spots😭

Is your mulch or substrate deep enough? My Russian tortoise burrows quite often

@@darrisgetzbucc it's about 6 inches deep, he's never bothered too or even tried digging

Many Russian tortoises are known to dig out of pens. That being said we have some individual who do try and others that don’t. It really depends on the individual.

There are tortoises in Russia. You are wrong. Russian tortoises live in southern parts of the country.

@@AlexanderTch I thought they origanate from Afganistan. They are only called Russian Tortoises cause soldiers bought lots of them home as pets.

@@ezkimus6104 Yeah, that's possible. Russian Tortoise looks like specy called in zoology "Central Asian turtle" (lat. Testudo horsfieldii). Yes they live in Afganistan but not only there. They also live in areas of central Asia which were parts of Russian Empire and Soviet Union - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan. I suppose they were accepted as pets long time ago, during Russian Empire or USSR times and got that name. But version about soldiers taking them from missions in Afganistan can also be truthful. They don't live anywere on the current terriotory of Russian federation. 4 speices of turtles live in some parts of Russia too but no one of them looks exactly like Russian Tortoise but one specy looks very similar.

I have a baby tortoise male for a long time. I was told by the vet and the pet person shop that there should be atleast 4-5 females for one male. During the mating season they get pretty aggressive and wear out the female so it could be pretty dangerous if there is only one. Hope it helps.