1 month old Ibera Greek behavior?

[WamBamCam]

received my new Ibera Greek tortoise about 6 hours ago and gave him a nice 30 min soak and mist his shell every 5 minutes while soaking.
I put him in the right end of my enclosure. He immediately scouted the whole enclosure. Now he's just sitting below the uvb lamp under a log for about 2 hours. Temp reads 79.5F and 57% humidity. Is this normal behavior? I would think we would spend most of his day basking.
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[farber2028]

I have a month old Greek hatchling. He spends 90% of his day buried under sphagnum moss in dirt. In research I've done, most tortoise hatchlings spend the majority of their time living under plant roots. Mainly to avoid becoming food. They also experience higher humidity and a little cooler temps down there. They'll come out to eat food and then go back in hiding. Tom's theory on Sulcatas being raised hot an humid is a testament to that. Now I realize we're talking Greeks here but I think it's relevant to most species out there. I would say this is normal behavior. Take into account that he is in a new surrounding where he has no idea if it's safe or not, I think it's ok. I've only come to my hatchlings enclosure a few times in the month he's been out of the egg to see him roaming freely around his enclosure. Now after I pull him out of the dirt he may explore a little more, but even then it usually doesn't last long. I think their natural instinct is to hide so they don't get eaten. I am no expert by any means, just telling you what I think.

 

[WamBamCam]

Thanks for the feed back. That makes a lot of sense.
How often do you soak your 1 month?

 

[farber2028]

Everyday. I try to do it early enough in the morning so he's not warmed up already. I shoot for 20 minutes but sometimes that doesn't happen because he's trying to get out so hard, so I let him out.

 

[WamBamCam]

Thanks for taking the time to be as informative as possible I really appreciate it.
I was think basically the same and misting him frequently as well.

 

[GBtortoises]

If you got your tortoise 6 hours ago it will not be acting "normal" for a while! It's been taken from familiar surroundings, and if you bought it online it's spent a day or two in a dark box being bounced around delivery trucks until it arrived 6 hours ago. Now it's in completely new, unfamiliar surroundings again and it's going to take some time (days) to become acclimated and familiar with it's new environment. Keep it well hydrated, offer fresh food daily, keep the lights on 14-15 hours a day, increase the basking temperature to 90-100 degrees (79f is way too low) and handle the tortoise as little as necessary for a week or so. It will be fine.

 

[WamBamCam]

That is true.

I have my basking light on the the opposite end that he's hiding at. ( my enclosure is 6ft long). Basking side is at 96F. Would you recommend I move the light to the side he's on?

He's on the right side basking bulb is on the left.

 

[farber2028]

If it were my enclosure what I'd do is have it setup like you do except I'd put a basking light on the right side too. That way on either side he chooses to hang out is warm enough and if he wants to cool down he can go in the hide box that you made. That just my opinion though. All in all, I think what it boils down to is once he gets used to everything he'll find a spot that's his favorite. That's where I'd put the basking light near. That way where he likes to hang out is warm enough for him.

 

[WamBamCam]

I think I'll add a MVB bulb for the right side just to be safe

 

[farber2028]

If you're gonna do that put the MVB light opposite to the side you have the strip light. To me, there's no sense in having two lights that become redundant. Just a thought

 

[WamBamCam]

Haha yeah of course. I'm going to run up to the store in a few minutes

 

[mikeh]

What brand and wattage? 100W seems appropriate.

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[WamBamCam]

It's an Exo Terra basking bulb. I've decided to block off a side of my enclosure and keep all the lighting on one side of my enclosure.