Hey everyone, so a further update on my sisters russian and the situation there. For anyone who has not been following what is going on a brief wrap up.
He lived outside at my parents then my sister took him home when the female tortoise died. They did not have the proper setup and he was just staying buried and refusing to eat at all. Not cold enough for true hibernation at mid 60's to low 70's ambient apartement temp. I went over and set him up properly, showed her how to soak him, he got a clean bill of health from a reptile vet.
Current setup
Rubbermaid container in their apt, playsand/coir mix substrate, water bowl and a hide on the cool side, MVB bulb on the warm side. It is on a timer and turns on at 6am and turns off at 8pm. Temps when I set it up as measured by a probe thermometer, 96-98 right under the lamp and 70 give or take a degree on the far far oposite corner. Basically ambient apartement temp. I monitored the temps for over an hour to make sure they were stable, so unless they have moved the lamp they should be the same. Mom says Sis has been checking temps with the thermometer and she knows what they should be.
The problem? Well first off she has stopped soaking him, she had mentioned that he did seam to be eating or drinking some of the soaking water (babyfood soaks) but I just talked to my mom and she has been there since Friday and he has not been soaked once. My mom thinks it all might just be to much for him since he was used to being outside in the extremes and rarely handled at all. He has basically dragged or pushed his hide over to the water bowl and dug himself in under the water bowl on the far end of the enclosure away from the light. Mom says he seems to not like the light and acts like he wants to get away from it. He still hasn't really eaten besides possibly some of the babyfood in the soaks.
Besides the obvious of get his butt out and soaked every day, any other reasons he is still like this? My mom says he just seems like he wants to dig in and hibernate and be left alone. But at the apartement temp I am worried he'll use up his fat stores far to fast. when I went over and set him up I forgot my kitchen scale or I'd have a weight and measurements for you, but he felt solid and heavy, like a good sized rock. He didn't seem really light.
He lived outside at my parents then my sister took him home when the female tortoise died. They did not have the proper setup and he was just staying buried and refusing to eat at all. Not cold enough for true hibernation at mid 60's to low 70's ambient apartement temp. I went over and set him up properly, showed her how to soak him, he got a clean bill of health from a reptile vet.
Current setup
Rubbermaid container in their apt, playsand/coir mix substrate, water bowl and a hide on the cool side, MVB bulb on the warm side. It is on a timer and turns on at 6am and turns off at 8pm. Temps when I set it up as measured by a probe thermometer, 96-98 right under the lamp and 70 give or take a degree on the far far oposite corner. Basically ambient apartement temp. I monitored the temps for over an hour to make sure they were stable, so unless they have moved the lamp they should be the same. Mom says Sis has been checking temps with the thermometer and she knows what they should be.
The problem? Well first off she has stopped soaking him, she had mentioned that he did seam to be eating or drinking some of the soaking water (babyfood soaks) but I just talked to my mom and she has been there since Friday and he has not been soaked once. My mom thinks it all might just be to much for him since he was used to being outside in the extremes and rarely handled at all. He has basically dragged or pushed his hide over to the water bowl and dug himself in under the water bowl on the far end of the enclosure away from the light. Mom says he seems to not like the light and acts like he wants to get away from it. He still hasn't really eaten besides possibly some of the babyfood in the soaks.
Besides the obvious of get his butt out and soaked every day, any other reasons he is still like this? My mom says he just seems like he wants to dig in and hibernate and be left alone. But at the apartement temp I am worried he'll use up his fat stores far to fast. when I went over and set him up I forgot my kitchen scale or I'd have a weight and measurements for you, but he felt solid and heavy, like a good sized rock. He didn't seem really light.
