Today we'll talk about tortoises, in this case Russian tortoise.
Do you like them as much as I do? Let's see the video!
Everything about your pet
Well, if you've thought about having a tortoise and it's your first tortoise,
you're going to read, look for information and you're going to find out that perhaps
one of the best choices is precisely the one that we're going to talk about.
They're called Russian tortoises.
Russian tortoises are good first choice because they're very resistant to diseases.
This tortoise can recognize its owners, is very intelligent.
But there are many things you have to know before getting a turtle as a companion.
First question: do you live in a flat
or do you have a terrace or a garden that would be perfect for these animals.
If you live in a flat you're going to need a terrarium.
This terrarium has to be as big and wide as possible.
Even though we think that turtles move little, it's not true.
Turtles move slowly but they don't stop often throughout the day.
Especially Russian tortoise.
It's an animal with great capacities to move and movement is also very very necessary
for its support, bodybuilding and bone structure.
This animals are going to move a lot.
The minimum dimensions of the terrarium are like this table (170 cm x 80 cm base).
But it's a small terrarium, this only applies to baby turtles or young adults.
Adult turtles grow a lot and live long.
Next important question is do you know how long they can live?
More than 50 years. Around 80 and sometimes up to 100 years.
This tortoise can meet your children, your grandchildren
and even your great-grandchildren.
It's more difficult to keep them well in a terrarium than in a garden.
Terrarium needs a temperature gradient.
Hotter spots with powerful ultraviolet light and
colder spots with less intensity of ultraviolet light
so animal can choose between the spots in any given moment.
In addition we must also control the humidity.
Although they're tortoises and obviously don't need so high humidity,
they need regular baths to be able to hydrate.
If you have a sunny garden like ours, with plants and also with a tree - it's perfect.
Watered, green garden fulfills environmental needs of a turtle.
Tortoises need a diet varied fresh food, places where they can hide,
even exercise and to be able to bury themselves and dig.
Garden is the ideal environment for a turtle to meet all its needs.
Differences that between males and females are really interesting.
I'm going to show you.
Tortoises when they reach adulthood they have a clear sexual dimorphism.
Males stay a little smaller but have a very long tail.
Females can reach size from 20 to 25 centimeters but have a very short tail.
Also feeding is super important.
They eat all kinds of herbs. They like very much the dandelion, clover and flowers.
You have to be very careful with feeding them fruits.
For this species, fruits are not recommended.
It doesn't mean that they cannot eat them at all, only as little as possible.
You can give them something very small and very symbolic.
It's good source of vitamins but they can't have an excessive consumption of fruits.
I want to show something cool:
the differences and how easy you can recognize sex in this species.
Differentiate a male from a female. Look closely at the size of the tail.
This one is male and this female.
When they start to reproduce what happens is that the male chases the female,
climbs on top of her and with his tail he finds the female's cloaca.
That's why the males have a longer tail: to look for the female's cloaca. Like this.
It's important for you to know veterinary care that they need.
Basically, they need two visits to the vet a year.
One, before entering the hibernation season more or less in autumn.
And second just after the hibernation season.
When it's getting colder during winter,
they have the ability to stop eating and remain dormant.
We must also prepare for hibernation exit.
One of the most frequent problems are parasites.
And that's why it's important to feed them correctly.
Cuniadvice
As cuniadvice that I want to give you is: seek interaction with your turtles.
They're very, very intelligent animals, much more than most of you think.
Russian tortoise is one of the most intelligent.
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