Is my tortoise ill

[Marj&RickyBobby]

I have a Russian who I’ve only had for just over 2 months. I keep him in my classroom during the week, but moved him home, recently, because we had a long break. I will he taking him back for 2 weeks. Since I got him home, he is acting odder than normal. He’s not eating as well, when I take him out he doesn’t seem to walk as well, when I touch his back feet (or front) he pulls them in and once even snarled at me, and he released some kind of white tarry substance into his water with poop. Last night, he went into his cave, something he typically has not done. Oh, and he even will not get out of his water when I put him in there. My daughter did discover that the heating pad, which is under the tank was making the floor too hot, even to touch, so we turned it off for a few days and moved some things around so he’s not walking on it. I wonder if he burned his feet? He used to try to get out of his habitat by pushing against the glass, but now for 2 - 3 days he’s had very low activity. Any ideas what I can do(

 

[JoesMum]

Hello and welcome

Let’s start with the white stuff... that’s called urate and it is perfectly normal. It’s how your tort rids itself of excess dietary protein.

That your tort is self soaking and enjoying it is great, that shows he is keeping himself hydrated.

Tortoises like peace and quiet and minimal disturbance. They are not social, especially not with each other, and don’t make great classroom pets as they stress easily. Similarly in your home, they prefer to be left alone to get on with things. If your tort is heading for shelter then that is where he feels safe and protected. It is perfectly normal behaviour.

Heat pads are not recommended for providing the warmth they need to be active and healthy. They evolved to get their heat from the sun which is above. So you need the enclosure to be properly heated from above with a basking lamp that has a temperature of 95-100F dire underneath. Your tort also needs a UVB source which can be a separate fluorescent tube fixture or combined with the basking lamp in a Mercury Vapor Bulb (MVB).

It is also important that the enclosure is dark at night, but doesn’t get too cold. Do you know the overnight minimum in your tort’s enclosure?

Photos of your enclosure and lighting will help us to help you further