Hello everyone, my name is Derek and I'm new to this forum. I live in Hong Kong and recently met my aldabra Ada (presuming a girl) at a local dealer about a month ago. When I first got her she was 15cm (5.9 inches) in length and weighed 580g. I have been feeding her mainly with Timothy hay, supplemented with Mazuri and Zoomed Grassland as well as some finely chopped opuntia cactus mixed in occasionally. She has had a great appetite and has steadily gained weight to about 743g in the past 4 weeks.
For enclosure she is being kept indoor inside a terrarium with free access to the outside (also indoor for now, we're in the process of switching to a new place with an open deck). In the meantime the indoor area is able to receive direct sunlight of around 5 hours daily through opened windows. The temperature inside her terrarium is being kept at about 27-29°C (80-84°F) at night and 30-32°C (86-89°F) during the day. A 75W Exo-terra intense basking spot light is added for her basking needs as well as a 10.0 UVB bulb. Cypress Mulch is used as the substrate and humidity is kept at around 65-70%.
I have been giving her daily soaks in the morning.
However I am somewhat concerned for Ada's health and noticed the following phenomena:
1) She always made a lot of arm pumping actions and particularly fast when she first woken up. I know tortoises pump their arms to assist breathing but she just seems to do it a lot more, sometimes even when she's in her "cogwheel" posture during sunbathing.
2) She makes a lot of "puffs" mostly during eating and drinking/soaking but also out of the blue at times.
3) Her excretion has been quite soft and watery lately (see attached photo)
4) For the past 2 days or so she just seems to sleep a lot inside her cave and had to be pulled out for her meal (which she'll directly rush in and clean up)
So is she showing symptoms of URI or just really tired?
Should I adjust the temperature settings? Too hot? too cold?
She is able to walk steadily upright on 4 limbs (see attached photo)
For enclosure she is being kept indoor inside a terrarium with free access to the outside (also indoor for now, we're in the process of switching to a new place with an open deck). In the meantime the indoor area is able to receive direct sunlight of around 5 hours daily through opened windows. The temperature inside her terrarium is being kept at about 27-29°C (80-84°F) at night and 30-32°C (86-89°F) during the day. A 75W Exo-terra intense basking spot light is added for her basking needs as well as a 10.0 UVB bulb. Cypress Mulch is used as the substrate and humidity is kept at around 65-70%.
I have been giving her daily soaks in the morning.
However I am somewhat concerned for Ada's health and noticed the following phenomena:
1) She always made a lot of arm pumping actions and particularly fast when she first woken up. I know tortoises pump their arms to assist breathing but she just seems to do it a lot more, sometimes even when she's in her "cogwheel" posture during sunbathing.
2) She makes a lot of "puffs" mostly during eating and drinking/soaking but also out of the blue at times.
3) Her excretion has been quite soft and watery lately (see attached photo)
4) For the past 2 days or so she just seems to sleep a lot inside her cave and had to be pulled out for her meal (which she'll directly rush in and clean up)
So is she showing symptoms of URI or just really tired?
Should I adjust the temperature settings? Too hot? too cold?
She is able to walk steadily upright on 4 limbs (see attached photo)