kristi&elliott
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2014
- Messages
- 4
hello! my name is kristi and i live in southwest colorado. i recently got a 4-5 year old russian tortoise. a friend of my parents' neighbors was looking for a home for him. i've had turtles and a bearded dragon in the past and i thought he'd be a wonderful addition to our home. his name is elliott and i am very enamored with him. i have a few questions though, and i'm hoping you fine folks can help me out.
1. i was told that if he had an outdoor enclosure in the sun he would not need the uva/uvb light. is this true? when he is outside in his enclosure he tends to just stay in his hide, so i don't know how much actual direct sunlight he's getting. he just digs a little depression in the back of the hide and stays there. maybe it's just too hot? i've been bringing him inside at night because it still gets really cold here and he doesn't hang out under the heat light, he goes into his hide there as well.
2. he seems to have a bit of labored breathing, as if he's forcing the breath. it sort of seems like my husband's asthmatic breathing.
3. his appetite is good, and he seems alert, but i don't know what "normal" behavior is for a russian tortoise. should i be concerned?
thanks so much in advance for any help you can give me. i'm sure there are answers to all of these questions buried here on the forum, but i've done so much online research and i thought it would be very helpful to have all the answers in the same place.
1. i was told that if he had an outdoor enclosure in the sun he would not need the uva/uvb light. is this true? when he is outside in his enclosure he tends to just stay in his hide, so i don't know how much actual direct sunlight he's getting. he just digs a little depression in the back of the hide and stays there. maybe it's just too hot? i've been bringing him inside at night because it still gets really cold here and he doesn't hang out under the heat light, he goes into his hide there as well.
2. he seems to have a bit of labored breathing, as if he's forcing the breath. it sort of seems like my husband's asthmatic breathing.
3. his appetite is good, and he seems alert, but i don't know what "normal" behavior is for a russian tortoise. should i be concerned?
thanks so much in advance for any help you can give me. i'm sure there are answers to all of these questions buried here on the forum, but i've done so much online research and i thought it would be very helpful to have all the answers in the same place.