new tortoise adjustment to environment?

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redbeef

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Hi all, I just wanted to make sure I'm doing everything right,

my greek tortoise arrived on Tuesday and he was up and active. I soaked him in luke warm water for 15 minutes because I thought it might help w/shipping stress, put him in his indoor enclosure and he pretty much immediately found the chopped greens I put in there and chowed down...then went and pooped in his water dish and after stomping around his enclosure and checking things out, found the humid hide and bunkered down.

I figured he may just chill in there for a while, which he did for all of wednesday but when I checked the temp in his humid hide on thursday AM it was around 70F (which i know should be fine for a greek) but I was concerned because of the sudden cold snap we'd had here in Socal so I immediately set up the temp sensor activated CHE to keep the humid hide in the mid 70s. I put him out under the MVB when I did this and he sat there for a good while but then while I was walking around and doing other stuff that morning, I'd check in on him and I saw him yawn once and I thought I saw a bubble come out of his mouth...but no gasping or gaping and otherwise he was using his nose to breath (still is)...but I was worried anyways because I thought maybe I should bump the heat up (i moved the MVB down a little to bring temps on hot side above 100). I soaked him in warm water (around 92-95F) in a shallow dish on a heating pad for about 10 minutes and that got him pretty active by the time it was done. then I put him back in his enclosure and he immediately pooped and while i was cleaning up the soaking bath he ate the food i'd left for him and went back into his humid hide...so I guess he's feeling alright, but I want to be sure.

i've got the temps in there ranging from just over 100 under MVB to 72 on cool side and 77 in the humid hide (where he's hanging out)...at night after the MVB goes off its 12 hour cycle, the CHE keeps the temps in his hide at the mid 70s.

Does this sound OK?

Am I overreacting and just need to give him more time to adjust?

He hasn't been yawning and/or blowing bubbles since that one time and I watched him for a full 2-3 minutes after he did it that time to see if he'd do it again and he didn't...so maybe he was just yawning?

thanx for reading all of this
ERIC
 

ascott

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Hi....if it were me??? :D The coolest side would be 75ish and the warmer side between 95ish.....

A single yawn is fine :D They do yawn. A single bubble, not a great issue....HOWEVER, since he is new to you and had the stress of change recently, I would simply be certain to keep an eye/ear out for him while he is getting use to his new digs....IMHO :p
 

redbeef

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Thanx Angela, he does seem to be doing better: ate and drank today and decided to dig a scrape in a different location after wandering around his enclosure when I replaced some of the moss in his humid hide :) I'm definitely keeping a close eye on him and my roommate is checking in on him periodically while I'm at work.
 
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