Runny left eye on young Russian

Question
QUESTION: We just got our Russion Tortoise less than a week ago. Just
today I noticed that he is blinking his left eye constantly
and slowly. There is also some bubbly looking tears
lingering in the corner of the eye. We are feeding him the
Grassland Tortoise pellets. They have      in it. Although I
don't think he's taken one bite of them since he's been
here. The first 4 days we had him on the same pellet the
Reptile Store had him on where we got him, but he wouldn't
eat those either, so we switched to a softer pellet. We also
feed him fresh veggies. He will eat those. So far, he has
eaten spinach, Kale, Shredded carrots, Broccoli, yellow
squash, and apples. He has a pool of water, that he NEVER
gets into (this worries me), and his house is bedded with
Repti Bark. We would like to switch to Coconut Bark, but the
stores are always out of it. He has lamp and he does lay in
his basking light a lot during the day and then takes breaks
and goes in his little cave. He likes to dig and seems
generally active, but he is completely frightened of us
still. I think he may have even hissed at me today. :(
Anyway, we like him a lot, but I am worried about the eye.
Should I take him back and trade him for another? Oh and his
basking end is at about 90 Degrees F and the other end of
the habitat is at about 78 F. Te humidity level is at about
55-60%

ANSWER: Russians are moderately easy to care for (some people say they are super easy- those same people often cannot keep the tortoise alive for more than a few years) but there is a lot of old and inaccurate information out there for their care.

I would recommend reading the information at http://www.russiantortoise.org and tweaking your cares a bit.

The humidity sounds OK, but watery eyes are common when they are being kept too dry or are getting dehydrated. The site above has a good substrate you can try that works for many keepers, along with other ideas.

The diet needs a bit of tweaking as well, and again, they have a good one to start with.

Being nervous of giant creatures that make weird noises and touch them- and even pick them up- for unknown reasons seems perfectly logical to me, but he will get over that.

Hissing is often just the sound they make when they quickly jerk back into the shell, pushing air out as they go. It is a startled reflex.

For right now, try making him soak in some warm water about 1/2 as deep as the shell is high, for about 15 minutes a day to help him start to rehydrate. If he struggles a lot, go ahead and take him out sooner.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


Walker the Russian Tor   QUESTION: Thanks for the suggestion. We soaked him tonight and he did
well. Actually when I went to soak him, the liquid was gone
from his eye, but we did it anyway. He doesn't seem to like
being in the water at all. When I put him back in his home,
I set him in his water and ran from it quickly.

I do have another question. He never goes to his water.
Right now, we have the home set up as follows. At one end we
have an open area under the basking light. We have a Zoo Med
heater for that side as well, but haven't needed to use it
yet. In the middle we have his shaded cave area and at the
far opposite end of his home, we have his water. His food
dish is near his water and his shade. It is large enough for
him to lie in it completely if he wants to and it is easy to
get to. Should we have the water nearer the basking area
perhaps? Should we have his food somewhere else? His
aquarium is only 30" x 12". I am feeling like a terrible
person for not researching this better before we brought him
home. I assumed the pet store people would set us up with
the right things, but the day we got him I found that same
website you gave me and I realized we had gotten him some
things that probably weren't in his best interest. I am in
love with the little guy already (that is I think he is a
guy). How do you tell the gender? I would like to make him a
comfortable home. Right now, we do not have the means or the
space to build him an adequate outdoor or indoor home. We do
have the space for the 50 Gallon Rubbermaid home though. If
we put him in something like that for the next year and a
half would that be OK? We are in Maryland temporarily for my
husband's clerkship and will be settling into a home in
Arizona in about a year and half where we will be making
more money and have more space and liberty to do with our
yard what we want. I think that is all. Thanks again for
your speedy response. I have attached a photo of him. I
think he is only about 5 inches front of shell to back.

Answer
Water dish. I find most torts respond best when the dish is big enough to sit in with room to spare, deep enough to get about 1/2 of the shell wet, easy to get in and out of, and is warm but not hot.

Gender. I think the other site has a good section on that, don't they?

Habitat size. I would recommend a space for him that was as close to 40"x20" as you could, bigger if outside. If you can rig up even a temporary daytime 'grazing pen' it would be great!

In the interest of full disclosure- Russians are not my core strength- most of what I know about them comes from the other site. If you want to talk to more experienced keepers of this species, try http://www.tortoiseforum.org