Troubled tortoise

[emma.brown91]

My horsefield tortoise is about 2years old and is normally very quiet however the last few days all he has done is walk up and down one side of his enclosure trying to climb up the side. I've given him lots of exercise and a bath but nothing is working. Any suggestions on what I can do to calm him down or what's wrong? Thanks in advance. I might just add we live in England so he isn't outside all the time

 

[Pearly]

These kinds of things are very often related to our husbandry mistakes. Without looking into all your prior posts let's just quickly go through the basics. 1) What are the temperatures of the enclosure? And humidity? 2) how often do you soak him? 3) is this sand in the enclosure? 4) what do you feed him? 5) how is his appetite? 6) what type of a lamp is the lamp on your picture? 7) what do his pee/poo/urates look like, what consistency/color? 8) can you post closeup pics of your tort where we can see his shell top/bottom and his fleshy parts? After you answer my questions we can start tweaking things. But please consider getting rid of your sand-substrate asap. Torts are not clean eaters, their food tends to get substrate on it and sand is known to cause bowel obstructions which can be a are very serious surgical emergencies.

 

[emma.brown91]

These kinds of things are very often related to our husbandry mistakes. Without looking into all your prior posts let's just quickly go through the basics. 1) What are the temperatures of the enclosure? And humidity? 2) how often do you soak him? 3) is this sand in the enclosure? 4) what do you feed him? 5) how is his appetite? 6) what type of a lamp is the lamp on your picture? 7) what do his pee/poo/urates look like, what consistency/color? 8) can you post closeup pics of your tort where we can see his shell top/bottom and his fleshy parts? After you answer my questions we can start tweaking things. But please consider getting rid of your sand-substrate asap. Torts are not clean eaters, their food tends to get substrate on it and sand is known to cause bowel obstructions which can be a are very serious surgical emergencies.

What would you suggest instead of sand/soil?? We have pellets originally and got told that was wrong also. Thanks for helping will post pics when home from work

 

[teresaf]

Coco choir bricks. Just add water. It's edible but they won't intentionally eat it. It's recommended tortoises have the biggest table possible. 4x8ish. It doesn't have to be rectangular. Just about 30 square foot. If you're handy you count get another tort table and put it side by side and open up the side separating them. Gives them more walking room.

Humidity is an issue. They should have a higher humidity (65-75%). These tables are shallow so enclosing them to trap humidity and heat in is almost impossible. If you build up the sides you could place Plexiglass top on and mount heat lamp. The inside would get wet so maybe line it with shower curtain....

When enclosing a tortoise into a chamber like this it's important to have an accurate thermometer/hygrometer. I use the one in my attachment...

 

[Pearly]

What would you suggest instead of sand/soil?? We have pellets originally and got told that was wrong also. Thanks for helping will post pics when home from work

Oh, the joys of getting all kinds of conflicting advise! I'm sorry, Darling! It gets better, just stick around here, ask your questions try to follow the advice you get from people here and you'll be fine. As for the substrate, for indoor enclosures most members here like to use coco coir or fine grade fir bark, same as orchid bark sold in garden centers (minus all the additives like perlite etc), same as Reptibark sold at petstores. They hold humidity very well and pose no danger of obstructing torts' GI tract. Many of us also keep our torties on bio-substrate (which includes some worms and isopods, you can look it up here in "substrate" subforum under "bioactive substrate". That's what I have had for the first 2 yrs and LOVED IT! Between the live critters and daily bath routine I had never had to clean or change the substrate. I also liked "carpeting" the floor of the enclosure with sheets of live of dry/rehydrated moss. Most of the time it wouldn't grow but it was a great solution for keeping food area and water dishes clean something like this which is mine, the moss stays this gorgeous green for couple months, then it may/may not start turning brownish and eventually I'd just work it into my biosubstrate as part of natural elements that provide organic material aiding the biological cycle of the mini-eco system of my terrarium, or something like our @pfara 's enclosure on this picture: . Try different organic things just keep in mind that torts are very curious and part of their learning of the environments is through their mouth just like human babies, so anything that is NOT edible and size that can fit into her mouth is a safety hazard (due to either choking, or poisoning, or other injury)

 

[emma.brown91]

Oh, the joys of getting all kinds of conflicting advise! I'm sorry, Darling! It gets better, just stick around here, ask your questions try to follow the advice you get from people here and you'll be fine. As for the substrate, for indoor enclosures most members here like to use coco coir or fine grade fir bark, same as orchid bark sold in garden centers (minus all the additives like perlite etc), same as Reptibark sold at petstores. They hold humidity very well and pose no danger of obstructing torts' GI tract. Many of us also keep our torties on bio-substrate (which includes some worms and isopods, you can look it up here in "substrate" subforum under "bioactive substrate". That's what I have had for the first 2 yrs and LOVED IT! Between the live critters and daily bath routine I had never had to clean or change the substrate. I also liked "carpeting" the floor of the enclosure with sheets of live of dry/rehydrated moss. Most of the time it wouldn't grow but it was a great solution for keeping food area and water dishes clean something like this which is mine, the moss stays this gorgeous green for couple months, then it may/may not start turning brownish and eventually I'd just work it into my biosubstrate as part of natural elements that provide organic material aiding the biological cycle of the mini-eco system of my terrarium, View attachment 212265 or something like our @pfara 's enclosure on this picture: View attachment 212266 . Try different organic things just keep in mind that torts are very curious and part of their learning of the environments is through their mouth just like human babies, so anything that is NOT edible and size that can fit into her mouth is a safety hazard (due to either choking, or poisoning, or other injury)

Thank you that's really helpful