Pangolin123
New Member
Hi scaly mamas and papas
I got my Horsfield tortoise Tolstoy in February this year. He's about a year old. He has bright black eyes and a beautiful shell.
I have some general questions for more experienced hands as I've never owned a tortoise before and only know one other person who does (an older Hermanns, so can't always compare). Quick low down on how he’s set up:
He's in a tortoise table situated in the living room where the temperature holds quite steady. His substrate is top soil and the dried grass, with some logs and rocks to clamber on. There’s a shallow water dish and a food bowl. At one end he has a UV bulb for basking which kicks out about 30-32 degrees (Celsius) and a hide at the other end where he can bury himself in grass.
We change his water a couple times a day (he likes to walk through it with soily feet) and we change his food every day. A couple of times a week we sprinkle the food with calcium. He eats dandelion, rocket, cress, clover, strawberry leaves, and flowers. There’s a dried flower mix for young tortoises we bought but he turns his nose up at anything not moist. Sometimes we dampen the food to make it more appealing.
We bathe him every other day. Lately it looks like he’s scraped his face (he tends to climb and then fall on his face, nothing in his table is very high but he's only small and not as good as climbing as he thinks he is) and his left eye wasn’t opening with the right, unless we soaked him first, and the area around it looked a little grazed. No blood, no pus, no clouding. We kept an eye on it and started soaking him every day instead … it looks like it’s nearly all better. He has some shedding around the neck lately as well but again it’s not sore or weepy and we just soak him until it sloughs off as he’s growing.
Now its summer he goes outside and has a stomp around too. I’m getting an empty sandpit which I’ll fill with weeds and soil so he can have a supervised outdoor enclosure to explore.
In temperament he is inquisitive and bold (though he understandably doesn’t like being disturbed if he’s doing his own thing) and he loves to climb and dig and scratch and will crawl all over you. He doesn’t mind being handled at all as long as you’ve given him prior warning (we don't touch him when he's asleep) though we don’t get him out very often as we don’t want to alarm him. He likes to have his head stroked
My issue & question:
Since the weather changed for spring/summer he’s been a bit lethargic. He’s taken to burying himself under his log instead of sleeping in his house (he still does this occasionally, but the logs become the favourite). Is this because he’d rather sleep in the colder soil? Its actually warmer temperature wise where the log is as its just outside the direct light of the bulb, but maybe the soil makes it cooler. Is he too hot? He seems like he wants to doze a lot.
When he’s awake and we put food in front of him he chomps it down with gusto, but seems to ignore the food in his bowl in favour of this. He drinks (sometimes in his bath) and when he’s in the garden he samples plants as he strolls. So it’s not that he isn’t eating or pooping, its just that he seems to have grown a bit sluggish in the day. He used to roam around his table all evening (he’s a noisy beggar) but he doesn’t do this so much now. Occasionally he’ll sleep the whole day away under that log. When he is up he’s active, and when he’s in the garden you should see his speed. If he’s on my lap he’s determined to climb and in his bath he’s always stamping around. There’s no injury or illness I can *see*. Maybe he’s just settled in. Maybe he’s warm and lazy. Am I being over worried? I would hate for anything to happen and not be aware of a problem.
My other question is, how much should a 1 year adult Russian Horsfield weigh and how much should he be gaining? We're off to get some scales shortly so we can keep track.
I got my Horsfield tortoise Tolstoy in February this year. He's about a year old. He has bright black eyes and a beautiful shell.
I have some general questions for more experienced hands as I've never owned a tortoise before and only know one other person who does (an older Hermanns, so can't always compare). Quick low down on how he’s set up:
He's in a tortoise table situated in the living room where the temperature holds quite steady. His substrate is top soil and the dried grass, with some logs and rocks to clamber on. There’s a shallow water dish and a food bowl. At one end he has a UV bulb for basking which kicks out about 30-32 degrees (Celsius) and a hide at the other end where he can bury himself in grass.
We change his water a couple times a day (he likes to walk through it with soily feet) and we change his food every day. A couple of times a week we sprinkle the food with calcium. He eats dandelion, rocket, cress, clover, strawberry leaves, and flowers. There’s a dried flower mix for young tortoises we bought but he turns his nose up at anything not moist. Sometimes we dampen the food to make it more appealing.
We bathe him every other day. Lately it looks like he’s scraped his face (he tends to climb and then fall on his face, nothing in his table is very high but he's only small and not as good as climbing as he thinks he is) and his left eye wasn’t opening with the right, unless we soaked him first, and the area around it looked a little grazed. No blood, no pus, no clouding. We kept an eye on it and started soaking him every day instead … it looks like it’s nearly all better. He has some shedding around the neck lately as well but again it’s not sore or weepy and we just soak him until it sloughs off as he’s growing.
Now its summer he goes outside and has a stomp around too. I’m getting an empty sandpit which I’ll fill with weeds and soil so he can have a supervised outdoor enclosure to explore.
In temperament he is inquisitive and bold (though he understandably doesn’t like being disturbed if he’s doing his own thing) and he loves to climb and dig and scratch and will crawl all over you. He doesn’t mind being handled at all as long as you’ve given him prior warning (we don't touch him when he's asleep) though we don’t get him out very often as we don’t want to alarm him. He likes to have his head stroked
My issue & question:
Since the weather changed for spring/summer he’s been a bit lethargic. He’s taken to burying himself under his log instead of sleeping in his house (he still does this occasionally, but the logs become the favourite). Is this because he’d rather sleep in the colder soil? Its actually warmer temperature wise where the log is as its just outside the direct light of the bulb, but maybe the soil makes it cooler. Is he too hot? He seems like he wants to doze a lot.
When he’s awake and we put food in front of him he chomps it down with gusto, but seems to ignore the food in his bowl in favour of this. He drinks (sometimes in his bath) and when he’s in the garden he samples plants as he strolls. So it’s not that he isn’t eating or pooping, its just that he seems to have grown a bit sluggish in the day. He used to roam around his table all evening (he’s a noisy beggar) but he doesn’t do this so much now. Occasionally he’ll sleep the whole day away under that log. When he is up he’s active, and when he’s in the garden you should see his speed. If he’s on my lap he’s determined to climb and in his bath he’s always stamping around. There’s no injury or illness I can *see*. Maybe he’s just settled in. Maybe he’s warm and lazy. Am I being over worried? I would hate for anything to happen and not be aware of a problem.
My other question is, how much should a 1 year adult Russian Horsfield weigh and how much should he be gaining? We're off to get some scales shortly so we can keep track.
