Hello all,
I'm new to the forums and to torts in general. My wife and I have had Natasha for about a month and a half now. At first we had her in a 40 gal glass terrarium but after seeing how she was constantly bumping into the sides we decided to relocate her into a ZooMed tortoise house with a coconut and mulch mix substrate. This has been the enclosure she has been in since a week after we have had her. She was a typical newbie just hiding the first few days and then finally a week later started being out and about more often and eating. Well now for about a week or so she has just been digging in and not at all eating. When i make her food in the morning i will move her in front of it. 10 min later i will look and she would just have moved back to her hole. She almost solely stays in the built in hide away that the tortoise house comes with.
The heat in her "house" stay's in the low 80's in the cold spots and 90's in the warm with the basking spot being around 95. We use a 100W "red" heat lamp and a "curly" UV lamp (I know most people suggest the Powersun 100W and i am considering returning all current lights and getting that). I have a mounted temp/humid thermometer and i use a infrared thermometer to double check temps. So i believe these are the correct temps.
As for diet we feed her the ZooMed grassland pellets mixed with collard greens, spring mix, fruit, and i have even tried to get her some reptivite fruit gel. All the foods listed is being fed interchangeably and not all together. We only give fruit about once a week and we feed her every other day.
I have to admit i have not given her the soakings that i have seen suggested on here. so far i have only soaked her about once a week in baby warm water. could this be a cause?
My wife and i are college students so we would definitely like to avoid a vet bill if at all possible. We have no clue as to what to do for her anymore and that is why i am turning here. Please help us! Thanks for reading this and i appreciate any suggestions.
I'm new to the forums and to torts in general. My wife and I have had Natasha for about a month and a half now. At first we had her in a 40 gal glass terrarium but after seeing how she was constantly bumping into the sides we decided to relocate her into a ZooMed tortoise house with a coconut and mulch mix substrate. This has been the enclosure she has been in since a week after we have had her. She was a typical newbie just hiding the first few days and then finally a week later started being out and about more often and eating. Well now for about a week or so she has just been digging in and not at all eating. When i make her food in the morning i will move her in front of it. 10 min later i will look and she would just have moved back to her hole. She almost solely stays in the built in hide away that the tortoise house comes with.
The heat in her "house" stay's in the low 80's in the cold spots and 90's in the warm with the basking spot being around 95. We use a 100W "red" heat lamp and a "curly" UV lamp (I know most people suggest the Powersun 100W and i am considering returning all current lights and getting that). I have a mounted temp/humid thermometer and i use a infrared thermometer to double check temps. So i believe these are the correct temps.
As for diet we feed her the ZooMed grassland pellets mixed with collard greens, spring mix, fruit, and i have even tried to get her some reptivite fruit gel. All the foods listed is being fed interchangeably and not all together. We only give fruit about once a week and we feed her every other day.
I have to admit i have not given her the soakings that i have seen suggested on here. so far i have only soaked her about once a week in baby warm water. could this be a cause?
My wife and i are college students so we would definitely like to avoid a vet bill if at all possible. We have no clue as to what to do for her anymore and that is why i am turning here. Please help us! Thanks for reading this and i appreciate any suggestions.