could really use some help!

[sam22188]

So a couple things are starting to worry me about my new baby Golden Greek tortoise and could really use some help.

I have started to notice her shell looking like its dried up?? Not sure if this is possible, but I guess she looks ashy. I will post a photo so you can see. I saw on somebodies post that you should spray them everyday? Which wouldn't that make their humidity go way up, which can hurt them? Right now her humidity is around 50-60% on the cool end and 30% on the hot end.

Also I have noticed this since I got her a few weeks ago, but sometimes the moves her head and from legs in and out of her shell. Not sure what that means or if its even normal?

And I just noticed today that she is starting to scratch at one corner of her cage, and not sure what that means.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[wrmitchell22]

Boulder moves his legs and head like that also on occasion, he also had dug a hole in one corner of his indoor enclosure, so that all seems normal. Do you soak her?

 

[sam22188]

Boulder moves his legs and head like that also on occasion, he also had dug a hole in one corner of his indoor enclosure, so that all seems normal. Do you soak her?

Since I have had her(which will be 3 weeks on Tuesday) I have soaked her twice. Should I do it more often?

 

[wrmitchell22]

Boulder moves his legs and head like that also on occasion, he also had dug a hole in one corner of his indoor enclosure, so that all seems normal. Do you soak her?

Since I have had her(which will be 3 weeks on Tuesday) I have soaked her twice. Should I do it more often?

Alot of people say everyday, I soak Boulder every other day. I think more is probably better to avoid dehydration. Make sure the water is warm and soak for at least 15 mins. You can warm up the water if it cools before the 15 mins is up.

 

[sam22188]

Boulder moves his legs and head like that also on occasion, he also had dug a hole in one corner of his indoor enclosure, so that all seems normal. Do you soak her?

Since I have had her(which will be 3 weeks on Tuesday) I have soaked her twice. Should I do it more often?

Alot of people say everyday, I soak Boulder every other day. I think more is probably better to avoid dehydration. Make sure the water is warm and soak for at least 15 mins. You can warm up the water if it cools before the 15 mins is up.

Oh ok, well then I will have to try maybe every other day. Thanks!

 

[bikerchicspain]

Her shell looks perfect,

You should be soaking her 2 or 3 times a week, the rest of the time you need to trust her/him.
I noticed in the pic that the food is pretty basic, with no nutritional value, is this the normal diet? If so you need to change it.

The movement of the head and legs could be due to breathing, torts do not have a diaphragm so they use their legs and head to inhale and ex-hale.

Also what are your temps and what sort of lighting do you have?

 

[sam22188]

Her shell looks perfect,

You should be soaking her 2 or 3 times a week, the rest of the time you need to trust her/him.
I noticed in the pic that the food is pretty basic, with no nutritional value, is this the normal diet? If so you need to change it.

The movement of the head and legs could be due to breathing, torts do not have a diaphragm so they use their legs and head to inhale and ex-hale.

Also what are your temps and what sort of lighting do you have?

Well the past two weeks since I have had her she was eating dandelion greens with occasional mazzuri(although never saw signs of her eating that). After I ran out of dandelion greens I got some kale, mustard, and collard greens to switch it up. Yesterday was the first day of feeding this mix to her, she definitely isn't as interested in it as she was with the dandelion greens.

As for her temps and lighting. I just have a MVB bulb over one side, the basking site is right around 100 and her cool end is around 80. Her night time temps usually drop to about 70.

So far today she has been very active, she'll bask for a couple minutes, then walk around, eat a little bit, bask some more, etc...

---

I also have her on a mixture of play sand and loose coconut fiber. But already thinking about switching her over to cypress mulch. I am just getting too paranoid of her ingesting any of it. What do you think?

 

[Angi]

I soak every day or every other day. Usually when I bring them in the house I soak them I just put a big dish in their enclouser, put them in it and they get out when they want to. After I dump the water and slide the dish under the enclosure. It is not that hard. I would keep offering all the different greens and muzuri. I don't know anything about Greeks diets, so I don't know if the fruit or whatever it was on the plate is okay. If it is you might want to chopit smaller for a baby.
Do you have a place you can grow some of your own food?

 

[sam22188]

I soak every day or every other day. Usually when I bring them in the house I soak them I just put a big dish in their enclouser, put them in it and they get out when they want to. After I dump the water and slide the dish under the enclosure. It is not that hard. I would keep offering all the different greens and muzuri. I don't know anything about Greeks diets, so I don't know if the fruit or whatever it was on the plate is okay. If it is you might want to chopit smaller for a baby.
Do you have a place you can grow some of your own food?

It was zucchini on the plate and she was loving it lol. Yes, I can grow my own food and was considering that today actually.

 

[tortoiseboy8o8]

I soak all three of my tortoises everyday. Mist their shells when I am home during the day. About the digging thing, does he/she completely burry itself or digging a hole in one corner? Is that corner under the basking light? My baby Golden Greek and Hermanns completely bury themselves right under the basking lamp when they're about to go to sleep overnight. I keep the basking area substrate moist, compared to the cool end. Humidity and heat is good. Back to the corner thing, if its just a hole under the basking end, I found that my Sulcata does that more often when the substrate under the lamp gets too dried out. So I add water and mix it in to make it moist and he doesn't dig afterwards untill it get dried out again. If it is just the corner its trying to dig deeper to get to that moist substrate, more humidity etc..hope this helps. Heres a pic of my Sulcata and his hole he makes when its too dry.