- Joined
- Aug 4, 2013
- Messages
- 11
I've had my Russian Tortoise Orwell since July 1, and recently I upgraded his home. I have to keep him indoors unfortunately, ( keeping him outdoors permanently is out of the question at least until the girlfriend and I find a new place to live ) I just recently put him in a big dresser with 120lbs of topsoil topped off with coco coir and sphagnum moss(about five inches deep).
On one side is where I've been keeping his heat lamp and uvb light. Temperatures here regularly are 95°, the opposite side around 75...humidity is around 30-35 on the hot side, and 40-45 on the cooler side.
Underneath the ramp and under the second level it gets a little more humid, but he hasn't been under there in weeks.
I take him outside at least every other day for at least half an hour.
His diet so far has been varied, changing weekly from romaine lettuce, kale, spring mix, endive, a veggie mix I bought from petco, weeds from outside (no chemicals are sprayed outside) and dandelions.
Lately he's been staying exclusively on the hot side in the corner, (which is almost directly under the heat lamp) where he has dug a little hole in the corner. Since I bought him he would walk around through out the day, explore, eat etc. But the last week or two he will wake up shortly after the lights turn on at 7, move about 2 inches under the heat lamp, go eat very little. Then go back to his corner for the rest of the day.
He will eat more if I hold it in front of him. But today, he didn't even try for the food dish. I hand fed him to get him to eat and he did, then went back to the corner. He use to pig out, especially with the kale or romaine lettuce, but now he barely touches the food, and today I don't think he would have eaten if I wouldn't have fed him by hand.
The last two days he has been holding his head up with his eyes closed as well. Both times in the morning, but eventually he'll open them up like normal.
So I'm seeing lethargy, closed eyes and decreased appetite? Or maybe he's just too tired to eat?
This leads me to think he's dehydrated, so I've been soaking him daily for at least 15 minutes, always after we go outside, and misting his home/food.
I had also heard about the coil type uvb lights (which I was using at the recommendation of PetCo) causing problems, so just today I switched that out with a regular uvb light just to be safe.
I don't know if it's related but a few days ago he pooped when we were outside and their was hair coming out. Since then I make my girlfriend tie her hair back when around his home.
Other than that he normally poops every third or fourth day or so and lately it has been runny? But before about two weeks ago it was normal tortoise poop.
I don't know what to do, please help! I'm sorry for such a long winded post I'm just trying to be detailed. If you need any more info let me know. Thank you for any help.
The pictures are from before I finished everything, so the guard walls for the second floor look like crap in the pictures lol sorry
Sent from my SCH-I535 using TortForum mobile app
On one side is where I've been keeping his heat lamp and uvb light. Temperatures here regularly are 95°, the opposite side around 75...humidity is around 30-35 on the hot side, and 40-45 on the cooler side.
Underneath the ramp and under the second level it gets a little more humid, but he hasn't been under there in weeks.
I take him outside at least every other day for at least half an hour.
His diet so far has been varied, changing weekly from romaine lettuce, kale, spring mix, endive, a veggie mix I bought from petco, weeds from outside (no chemicals are sprayed outside) and dandelions.
Lately he's been staying exclusively on the hot side in the corner, (which is almost directly under the heat lamp) where he has dug a little hole in the corner. Since I bought him he would walk around through out the day, explore, eat etc. But the last week or two he will wake up shortly after the lights turn on at 7, move about 2 inches under the heat lamp, go eat very little. Then go back to his corner for the rest of the day.
He will eat more if I hold it in front of him. But today, he didn't even try for the food dish. I hand fed him to get him to eat and he did, then went back to the corner. He use to pig out, especially with the kale or romaine lettuce, but now he barely touches the food, and today I don't think he would have eaten if I wouldn't have fed him by hand.
The last two days he has been holding his head up with his eyes closed as well. Both times in the morning, but eventually he'll open them up like normal.
So I'm seeing lethargy, closed eyes and decreased appetite? Or maybe he's just too tired to eat?
This leads me to think he's dehydrated, so I've been soaking him daily for at least 15 minutes, always after we go outside, and misting his home/food.
I had also heard about the coil type uvb lights (which I was using at the recommendation of PetCo) causing problems, so just today I switched that out with a regular uvb light just to be safe.
I don't know if it's related but a few days ago he pooped when we were outside and their was hair coming out. Since then I make my girlfriend tie her hair back when around his home.
Other than that he normally poops every third or fourth day or so and lately it has been runny? But before about two weeks ago it was normal tortoise poop.
I don't know what to do, please help! I'm sorry for such a long winded post I'm just trying to be detailed. If you need any more info let me know. Thank you for any help.
The pictures are from before I finished everything, so the guard walls for the second floor look like crap in the pictures lol sorry
Sent from my SCH-I535 using TortForum mobile app
since I've started soaking him daily I've taken out the water thing completely though
