Hi everyone.
We have a 10-month (plus) Horsfield named Haldi. He (or she) likes to sleep a lot and although I’ve read this is normal for younger torts, I’d like to check-in with the experts out there, and to get some reassurance that we are doing the right things for him. I’ve read the manuals and read all the posts I see on here about Horsfield/Russians/Meds.
We bought Haldi from a local pet shop, and his certificate shows he hatched in captivity and was registered on 4/9/20. Although not sure what age he was when he was registered.
We live in London where the weather is varied so Haldi mostly lives inside, but on dry/warmer days we put him in his outside enclosure (nb cover not photographed but it has one and he is secure when out).
Haldi wakes around 7-8am. We pop him under his heat lamp, where he stays for about half an hour. If we don’t move him to his lamp, he wouldn’t make it to the heat lamp for a couple more hours. We leave his food and fresh water out but he will rarely eat then and never drinks from his bowl. Once he’s warmed up he then mooches off back to bed in his hide up amongst the botanical bedding. We fish him out of there 4+ times a week for a soak (10mins to 30mins depending on how keen he is to get out of the sink). We put a floppy plant in the sink with him so he’s got something to hide under if he wants. He drinks this water and we refresh it when he does his business in it. Once done we pop him back under his heat lamp where he stays for a short time then makes his way back to bed. He will usually stay in his hide for the rest of the day until the children get him out at around 4pm to say hello (and check he’s still alive). He’ll mooch about his enclosure for up to half an hour then back to bed again.
In his outdoor enclosure he will spend 10-15 mins in the open before burying himself.
Haldi weighed 50g when we got him at start of March, he now weighs 89g and has definitely grown.
In the last month we’ve noticed he doesn’t eat by himself, and will only take food if hand-fed (in his enclosure, we don’t hold him for this). He’s also stopped going to bed in his downstairs more humid area, preferring his dryer upstairs hide.
The substrate in both enclosures is coir, and additionally in his indoor enclosure he has orchid bark (pet sterile brand), and botanical mix.
He has daily dandelion leaves, pellets (although he won’t eat the dark green ones!), and likes a thin slice of cucumber. A few times a month he might nibble a small amount of nigella, spider plant, campanula, nemisa, nettle. He won’t eat a lot of other things we’ve tried including other ‘safe plants’ and kale, carrot, pepper.
So really I’d like to know
- does he sound healthy?
- is it ok that he doesn’t stay active for long?
- should we be worrying that he’s not eating more?
Many thanks in advance.
We have a 10-month (plus) Horsfield named Haldi. He (or she) likes to sleep a lot and although I’ve read this is normal for younger torts, I’d like to check-in with the experts out there, and to get some reassurance that we are doing the right things for him. I’ve read the manuals and read all the posts I see on here about Horsfield/Russians/Meds.
We bought Haldi from a local pet shop, and his certificate shows he hatched in captivity and was registered on 4/9/20. Although not sure what age he was when he was registered.
We live in London where the weather is varied so Haldi mostly lives inside, but on dry/warmer days we put him in his outside enclosure (nb cover not photographed but it has one and he is secure when out).
Haldi wakes around 7-8am. We pop him under his heat lamp, where he stays for about half an hour. If we don’t move him to his lamp, he wouldn’t make it to the heat lamp for a couple more hours. We leave his food and fresh water out but he will rarely eat then and never drinks from his bowl. Once he’s warmed up he then mooches off back to bed in his hide up amongst the botanical bedding. We fish him out of there 4+ times a week for a soak (10mins to 30mins depending on how keen he is to get out of the sink). We put a floppy plant in the sink with him so he’s got something to hide under if he wants. He drinks this water and we refresh it when he does his business in it. Once done we pop him back under his heat lamp where he stays for a short time then makes his way back to bed. He will usually stay in his hide for the rest of the day until the children get him out at around 4pm to say hello (and check he’s still alive). He’ll mooch about his enclosure for up to half an hour then back to bed again.
In his outdoor enclosure he will spend 10-15 mins in the open before burying himself.
Haldi weighed 50g when we got him at start of March, he now weighs 89g and has definitely grown.
In the last month we’ve noticed he doesn’t eat by himself, and will only take food if hand-fed (in his enclosure, we don’t hold him for this). He’s also stopped going to bed in his downstairs more humid area, preferring his dryer upstairs hide.
The substrate in both enclosures is coir, and additionally in his indoor enclosure he has orchid bark (pet sterile brand), and botanical mix.
He has daily dandelion leaves, pellets (although he won’t eat the dark green ones!), and likes a thin slice of cucumber. A few times a month he might nibble a small amount of nigella, spider plant, campanula, nemisa, nettle. He won’t eat a lot of other things we’ve tried including other ‘safe plants’ and kale, carrot, pepper.
So really I’d like to know
- does he sound healthy?
- is it ok that he doesn’t stay active for long?
- should we be worrying that he’s not eating more?
Many thanks in advance.
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