New owner whose tortoise won't eat

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NinaBree

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Hello!
My name is Nina, I'm a first time tortoise owner and I live in Oakland, California. I got my Greek tortoise, the Countess, from the East Bay Vivarium. She is approximately 7 to 10 years of age, and appears to be perfectly healthy (she has no pyramiding, her skin looks fine, and there are no problems with her nose and eyes: all things that I read to look for). I don't have any information on her previous owners or parents. We brought her to her new home 6 days ago. She lives in a rather large tortoise table (2.5' by 4') with a small upper deck (1' by 2.5'). She has two heating lamps (150W and 100W) and a UVB lamp. Her enclosure is about 95 degrees at the hot end and 70 in the coldest part of her enclosure. The substrate is a mixture of peat moss and orchid mix (wood chips) with a top layer of cypress mulch. When we brought her home she immediately dug in under her ramp (which serves as her hide in the warmer side of the enclosure, she also has a larger hide in the other end but she never goes in there). Every once in a while she comes out from under the lamp to warm up, but she spends 90% of the time hiding. She hasn't touched her food, so we were worried she might be getting dehydrated. Two days ago we gave her a bath so she could soak and drink. She peed, and released a fair amount of urates (cottage cheesy consistency, not chalky). That means she's dehydrated but not dangerously dehydrated, right? I've been refreshing her food every day, it usually consists of some spring mix, some weeds (plantain, mallow, or dandelion), wildflowers (bachelor's button and clover), and some prickly pear pads. So far she hasn't touched it. I even put a sliced strawberry to entice her (I know that they are not supposed to eat a lot of fruit, but I saw her eating it at the pet store and it might be like a familiar comfort food to her, she didn't eat it though). I stopped putting her calcium and multivitamins on it in case she wasn't eating because it tasted bad, but that didn't work either. I know it takes some tortoises a while to get used to their surroundings, but 6 days seems like a long time. We've been doing our best not to touch her and to give her some space.

I can paste photos... but I got to run
 

Tom

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Hello and welcome. What type of UV bulb are you using? The coil type compact flourescent ones can damage their eyes.

The temps sound a bit cool at the cool end. Try warming it up a bit to 75-80 over there and see what happens.

Also, make a pen outside and see how she behaves in the sun on a warm day. That can give you some insight into whether or not some aspect of the indoor cage is bothering her. Here's a couple ideas for that:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread...ut-Safe-Outdoor-Baby-Enclosures#axzz1bv5qbbcz

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-Cheap-Easy-Simple-Sunning-Enclosure#axzz1bv5qbbcz

A week or two is not an unusual adjustment time for an older tortoise, especially right at the start of spring. Do you know if she was hibernated this year?
 

NinaBree

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IMG_0490.jpgIMG_0448.JPGIMG_0436.JPGThanks for the quick responses!

We have a ZooMed 24" 10.0 UVB Bulb, also we would love to bring her outside, but the weather hasn't been great in oakland lately, and we only have a front yard so we'd have to chaperone her the whole time so nobody messes with her. I don't know if she hibernated this year, she was at the pet store for some time so I doubt it. She was living with a bunch of Russian tortoises there

I've attached two photos of her home and one of her in the pet store (best photo since she isn't hiding). We have moved her lamp to the end of the tank so that she get some UVB when she pokes out of her hide
 
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ascott

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Welcome to the Forum :D and I would say to give her time to adjust....the prior temp suggestion is good...also, you say she was housed with Russian tortoise...does she look and feel solid? Not light weight? Have you seen her poo? Does it look formed and not runny? I would continue with what you are doing and try to offer food somewhat close to where she likes to hide out...so the smell is much more tempting being closer and not so far away from her hide spot...:D
 

Tom

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I highly recommend that you secure that clamp lamp somehow. Those clamps always fail eventually, and many house fires have started that way.

I am hoping that your tortoise just needs some time to settle in. Did you see her eat at the shop?

I must tell you that mixing species is a really bad idea, and of all the species that it would be possible to mix with, Russian would be lowest on my list. Russians are known to carry all sorts of baddies. Once you get a fecal sample, I would get it to a vet for a parasite check. I'm not saying that your tortoise has contracted all sorts of bad stuff from the Russians, but I am saying that it is a distinct possibility. It's really sad that a store with their reputation would do that. I'm a little surprised frankly.
 

NinaBree

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She pooped on the way home. It looked good to me, dark green and firm. When she goes again I will bring it to a vet. I'm no tortoise expert, but she looks very healthy to me and her shell feels solid. We have yet to weigh her. We have a chart to compare her weight and length, but since she hasn't gotten adjusted to us yet, I think we will hold off on that. I did see her eating the strawberries and salad mix at the store... in fact she was the only one eating while the Russians were sleeping. She didn't hang out with them the few times we saw her at the store.

Thanks for the clamp advice!!! I was surprised when I brought them home, the don't seem very reliable. I certainly don't want my house to burn down! Does anyone else have these lamps, if so how do you secure them? Maybe I will buy new holders for the lamps.

Also how sensitive are tortoises to sound? My boyfriend plays guitar and he tries to play softly, but could that be another thing bothering her?
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Nina:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!
 

ascott

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Observed her chowing down in her prior enclosure...good thing
She feels solid and not light....good thing
Good poo....wonderful thing
Hiding and being anti social right now...totally normal

Clamp light...you can remove the clamp device...you can install a ceiling hook and hang the lamp at appropriate level hanging above enclosure....OR if your enclosure is close to a wall..you can mount a simple book shelf support bracket (the 12" long ones) from the wall and hang the lamp there and adjust the height...I do this for the indoor enclosures ..I drape the light over the end of the bracket and then use a zip tie to make a secure loop....or you can use a piece of wide chicken wire cut for the tank top where you want to place your light and can set the dome directly on it...there are loads of things...you can put a couple bricks stacked outside the enclosure and both ends and then cut a piece of 2x4 the length to reach and lay on the bricks across the top and mount or hang your fixture from that....lots of ways ...:D

I say be patient and remember that the world as she knows it has just been entirely changed....:p
 

Tom

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That's not unheard of. Glad to hear some good news. I hope the good news continues.
 
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