ZamTheMan
Member
Hello all, I have some concerns about my tortoise. I know I could post in some other threads, but sometimes they go unanswered or lost, so I thought I'd play safe and make a new thread. Whichever mod that wants to move it can when they like. I have posted here once before. My family recently rescued a Sulcata tortoise, and I came here for aid. I've found everything quite helpful. While my tort's enclosure is not the best as of yet, he seems to be doing ok, except for some days where I go into a panic when I think something's wrong. We have a heat bulb, gotten him some tortoise pellets to eat and usually mix them with mustard greens, which he loves, as well as kale. The bulb I think reaches to temps of around 80-100, and he is soaked daily at least once or 2-3 times a day in nice warm water, which he stays in on his own for hours at a time until he gets up and out on his own. He sometimes drinks the water too. Once he got comfortable and used to being around people, I started taking him out of his pen when he got active and took him into my room so he had some room to roam around wherever he pleased maybe once a day or so so he got exercise, and make sure my room is at least warm enough for him for roughly a half hour. When he settles down into a corner, I would put him back in his pen. So far he hasn't had any issues, aside from one case of him having diarrhea. After that though he has pooped normally. He eats out of a little dish maybe a half the size of his body, and it's always stacked with greens and a few pellets. He mostly eats every bite, and sometimes has seconds. Only rarely will he leave food on his plate, like today. Last night he ate almost everything on his plate, yet this morning he just doesn't seem to want to eat. From what I can tell, they eat a lot, so not seeing him eat automatically made me go into panic mode. Is it possible he might just not be hungry? He also hasn't been pooping too much, maybe once every few days to a week, and it worries me greatly. I read that they are known to eat their poop, but I don't want to assume that. We tried giving him pumpkin since it's supposed to be a laxative, but he never eats it. Also, the one thing we do not have yet for his shelter is proper humidity. I do not know how I would maintain humidity in his pen, which this I think might be the problem. What kind of substrate would I need and be able to get during winter? He's currently in a hamster cage filled with timothy hay on the direction of a zoo caretaker. I try to make up for the lack of humidity with regular soaking, which I know isn't going to be enough or make up for it, but I'm trying my best. It is January now, and I live on the east coast in PA, so currently the climate is dry and cold, the worst season to rescue a reptile. As soon as my family can find it, we were going to replace the timothy hay with proper soil. Most stores around here aren't going to be selling soil in the dead of winter. I know there are specific care sheets on here too, and I'm doing my best to gather information from as many sources as I can, some of them contradicting each other. The problem is is that, I'll just be honest and say we do not have a lot of money to throw around right now, so we're taking his care step by step as best we can. Thank you all for the help in advance!
I will add pictures tomorrow. Currently Gamera is asleep in his pen with tin foil around it to retain heat, as suggested by a user on this forum, as well as having a low-light heat heating bulb. I do however have a recent picture of him.
I will add pictures tomorrow. Currently Gamera is asleep in his pen with tin foil around it to retain heat, as suggested by a user on this forum, as well as having a low-light heat heating bulb. I do however have a recent picture of him.