New tortoise behaviors.

[sachmn]

Alright, so, general air temp. is around 75-ish; basking temp. is about 90-ish and then there is an area a bit cooler than the general air temp. He is constantly burying himself. Is this normal behavior? I mean, I know that they are burrowers but do they do it in the middle of the day when there is food out and a pretty decent, albeit not perfect, temperature gradient?
I have one other question that I have been unable to find the answer to, unless I'm just missing it. How often do they eat? I have food out all the time but he is very unimpressed by it. Do they eat a lot at once and then abstain from food for a while?

 

[tortoisenerd]

Russians especially like to burrow. If the tortoise is burrowing in the day, my first guess is that there is not a hide the tortoise likes in that temperature zone. You need at least three--a cool one, a medium one, and a warm one right next to the basking area. Also, some tortoises just prefer burrowing to hide rather than hides. My little guy will only use fake plants or a timothy hay pile, not a box hide. You may try that to encourage him to stay above ground during the day. A tortoise should eat every day in captivity, unless it is over weight for its length and an adult, in which case you would want to offer food every other day. Most owners place a portion out in the morning and it is mostly gone by the afternoon/evening. A pile about the size of the tortoise or less is a good starting point if it is just greens. If your tortoise is not eating a noticeable amount of food, you need to remedy this immediately. In the wild their normal behavior would be to gorge on any food available when not in hibernation, which is why captive tortoises tend to get overweight between the constant food and smaller enclosures.

If your tortoise is not eating, something could be wrong, unless this is a very new tortoise and it is just settling in. Having hides available near the food and near the basking spot will encourage the tortoise to bask and eat. If they cannot warm up, they will not want to eat. If they don't feel safe going to bask, they will stay cold and therefore not eat. What temperature area in the enclosure is he burrowing? Do you see him up and active each day? A tortoise should be up and active each day, basking and eating. For a hatchling it would be normal for it to be sleeping and napping for maybe 20 hours a day, but definitely active the other hours. An adult slightly less than that. How old is the tort and how long have you had it? What are you offering for food? If this is a new tort, you need to find out what it was previously eating and start out with that. Temperature gradient from 70/75-95 F during the day is good. Night temperature 60-70 F for adults and 65-75 F for hatchlings. What heat/light/UVB set up do you have? Can you provide enclosure pictures? Best wishes.

 

[sachmn]

It is a very new tortoise, just a couple days. He does seem to be eating a little though I haven't SEEN him eat.
He does have a hide which he checked out but moved around the side of it and started digging. He's been active off and on, mostly off though. He's done some basking and soaking, escape attempts and general wandering.
The heat lamp is about 12-13" away from the very top of the substrate. I moved it there because it seemed too hot with it closer. The Repti-Sun 5.0 is about 6" away from the substrate.
Currently I have some Arugula, Romaine lettuce, carrot slivers, sprinkling of calcium powder, some Repto-min tortoise pellets(which I've considered switching to a different dish). We tried some peas(which some seem to use and others seem to curse). This is what he was being fed, or close to.
Water is deep enough to get just under half-submerged in. The substrate is a little wet; still dry enough to easily part by running fingers through...this also seems to be a source of debate among tortoise owners so I went with wetted but just enough so the substrate isn't "dusty".
He seems to favor the corner just out of directly under the heat bulb...so it's still in the exterior ring of light and slightly warmer than the cooler parts of the enclosure. Which you can see in, I believe the third picture.

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I also forgot to add that his eyes seem to be clear, and his nose is not drippy and I have not heard any rasping or anything that would make me think "breathing trouble". His legs are strong. He really seems to enjoy the water when he gets in.
He's 4 3/4" long and 4" wide.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Love those super-hero legs. All that burrowing must be building his muscles!

 

[sachmn]

Any help/suggestions/recommendations...anything would be greatly appreciated.
All that burrowing would be great if he ate something too.

 

[Floof]

I can't help you a whole lot with the tortoise itself (being new to them myself), but, judging by the fixtures over your enclosure, your UVB bulb is a compact fluorescent? As a whole, compact fluorescent UVB bulbs have been known to cause health problems... I'm not sure if your bulb is actually causing problems, or if any problems it may be causing are related to your expressed concerns, but I feel it's worth mentioning.

(Also, I'd bet money your tort would appreciate some more hides and/or ground cover. The one you have is extremely open, and not "hidden" at all... It may be burrowing behind it because the area is darker and more private.)

You may want to check out Russiantortoise.org, too. It's got some really great care information for the species. =)

Good luck with your tortoise!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Your area is too open. They are generally prey and so they hide a lot. He needs a better hide. Something he can get in and 'hide' completely.
As adults they are out more. I feed mine once in the morning. She comes out and eats it all then goes back into her hide (a cardboard box) and that's mostly all she wrote! Sometimes in the evening she will soak. After she goes back into her hide I remove whatever food is left otherwise you get bugs...Here she is. Because she's a Russian I named her Natasha, but now we just call her Fat Nat. She has 0 personality and most of the time I feel like I am feeding an empty tank. She only has one eye and will sell her soul for cooked squash...
Her carapace didn't grow along with her body so she looks a little different...

 

[Yvonne G]

Cute little Fat Nat butt!

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Poor Fatty Natty didn't even merit a face shot!

Do you know why her carapace didn't grow? Is that typical with Russians?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Poor Fatty Natty didn't even merit a face shot!

Do you know why her carapace didn't grow? Is that typical with Russians?

No I don't know. She's just that way and with only having one eye she's not very pretty. That's why she doesn't like her picture taken so she hides her face from view...