Box Turtle and Tortoise Discussion

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:13 pm **Russian tortoises**

I found an ad for 2 Russian tortoises on craigslist. He wants to sell me 2 torts plus a 55 gallon tank, a top, a heat lamp a log (this is the enclosure they have been living in) for $200. He says he will split them up If I make an offer on one. I was really only looking for one, but I didn't know if the torts liked the company more than our slider do. Should i keep him/her with his "friend"?I figure I would need to upgrade and enclosure for 2 torts (or even one probably) so I don't know if it's worth it to buy the whole thing.

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:19 pm

i would buy them both bc i wouldnt want to split them up but thats me, idk if ppl will disagree with me or not but id probably keep them together

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:23 pm

You're in Jersey right? I contacted the same guy, but $200 was too much for me.Plus i'm not really "looking" to buy tortoises at this point, but if i get a GREAT deal, then yes i would pick a few up.
Glass tanks are not recommended for tortoises.You would have to buy or build a "tortoise table"

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:26 pm

jozzep-i would love to see your house with all the turtles you have haha

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:46 pm

hahah yeah I think that's the same guy... did he ever tell you what town he is in? he hasn't gotten back to me a second time yet. (i only e-mailed him 5 minutes ago) I emailed him to find out what he wants for just on w/out the tank. what would you consider a great deal? He asked me to "make an offer" on one.

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:49 pm

also, I wasn't planning on using a glass tank, thats one reason i wasn't enthusiastic about paying $200 for him to include the 55 gallon (even if I wanted to cover 3 out of 4 sides or something, I kinda think a 55 is too narrow) I was planning on getting a good size rubber made to set up.

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:49 pm

rsour24 wrote:jozzep-i would love to see your house with all the turtles you have haha

You don't wanna see it right now....Trust me lol
I have 125 gal,a 75 gal, a 45 gal, and a 10 gal all around my livingroom walls.That's why i said not "looking"

I'm in the process of re-homing some turtles and buying others.I have 2 DBT and 2 EPT leaving tomorrow, and 2 spotteds coming in on monday lol

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:52 pm

aw that's cool. I remember you posting about the DBTs, if I had been in the market for another aquatic turtle I would definitely have been very interested in one of those!!!. I have a 75, a 29 a 20L and a 10gallon (plus a large parrot cage!) in my living room myself!

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:56 pm

imderanged wrote:hahah yeah I think that's the same guy... did he ever tell you what town he is in? he hasn't gotten back to me a second time yet. (i only e-mailed him 5 minutes ago) I emailed him to find out what he wants for just on w/out the tank. what would you consider a great deal? He asked me to "make an offer" on one.

No i never asked him.To me a GREAT deal would be no more than $50 each or free

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:57 pm

lol jozzep- you should take a picture haha

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 12:35 am

I've been e-mailing him back and forth. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go ahead and get the one he says he knows is a male. He says he could drop it off to me on Saturday! I have a lot to do!

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:57 am

Darwin's supposed to be here tomorrow! ooh! I forgot what kind of HAY I'm supposed to give him...

Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:25 pm

The guy never showed. :cry:

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:00 am

That's a shame! Don't give him a second chance either.

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:05 pm

Hi, Deranged--I'm new here and just saw your post, I know it was a while back but just wanted to add my $.02 since we keep Russians.

If you ever wind up having another opportunity to get some, do it--they're terrific! However, I would only keep females together in multiples aside from breeding times.

Russians come from a pretty extreme climate where they're only active for about 3-6 months out of the year (they're otherwise hibernating or estivating) and the food is pretty scarce. So they're sort of internally programmed to eat and mate like crazy when they're awake. Thing is, if they live in a captive environment that has a relatively constant and warm temp, they don't seem to really alter those patterns.

That is to say--if you keep a male with a female, he's likely to harrass her endlessly. Kinda funny to watch for a short while, but it's got to get exhausting for the female. We put our Russians outside in a pen from late spring through fall, and it's truly amazing how manic the males get when they get out in the sunlight! I never imagined tortoises could be so speedy.

If you keep more than one male together, esp around a female, there's likely to be aggression between the males. We had to separate ours after the dominant male took a chunk out of the lower-status male's leg.

So--if you do decide to keep Russians together, I'd suggest either multiple females, or one male and at least 2-3 females (that way the harrassment at least gets spread around).

If you somehow wind up with multiple males (like we did, through rescues), be prepared to house them separately!

Box Turtle and Tortoise Discussion :: Russian tortoises

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