mynamesmittens
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2014
- Messages
- 1
I got my russian tortoise two or three years ago from the pet shop. He's not super friendly, but he's not really a hermit, either. He hisses when I pick him up and goes back in his shell, but that's it. Then he comes out and tries to get me to put him down.
Today I came home from work and thought I saw something on his foot while he was basking (it was just a piece of lettuce) and I brushed his foot with my hand (which doesn't normally make him do more than pull his foot in) and a few seconds later he was freaking out. He ran around his enclosure for about twenty minutes and kept making a hissing noise before he settled into the corner and spent about forty minutes digging. There's nothing about him that makes me think he's sick. No nasal drainage, his eyes look normal.
I put food in his habitat to see if he was just hungry, but he didn't even notice it. He just walked all over it and I have no idea what he thinks he's running from. I hear him hiss every once in while in the corner, as if something's startled him. I tried taking him out, thinking maybe he was just having issues with being in his habitat too much, but when I put him on the ground, he hardly took a second to look around. He just kept running. He's never gotten scared like this before. It makes me wonder if something happened while I wasn't home that freaked him out, but my mom says he was fine when she came in to look at him. She showed him to two of her friends while I was gone, but nothing happened other than that.
Does he sound sick or just scared? I have no idea what kind of sickness would make him act like this. And if he's scared, how do I make it stop? Him being scared makes me scared.
Edit: deleted a lot of this. Too much for an easy read. Thought I'd keep it simple.
Today I came home from work and thought I saw something on his foot while he was basking (it was just a piece of lettuce) and I brushed his foot with my hand (which doesn't normally make him do more than pull his foot in) and a few seconds later he was freaking out. He ran around his enclosure for about twenty minutes and kept making a hissing noise before he settled into the corner and spent about forty minutes digging. There's nothing about him that makes me think he's sick. No nasal drainage, his eyes look normal.
I put food in his habitat to see if he was just hungry, but he didn't even notice it. He just walked all over it and I have no idea what he thinks he's running from. I hear him hiss every once in while in the corner, as if something's startled him. I tried taking him out, thinking maybe he was just having issues with being in his habitat too much, but when I put him on the ground, he hardly took a second to look around. He just kept running. He's never gotten scared like this before. It makes me wonder if something happened while I wasn't home that freaked him out, but my mom says he was fine when she came in to look at him. She showed him to two of her friends while I was gone, but nothing happened other than that.
Does he sound sick or just scared? I have no idea what kind of sickness would make him act like this. And if he's scared, how do I make it stop? Him being scared makes me scared.
Edit: deleted a lot of this. Too much for an easy read. Thought I'd keep it simple.