New tortoise, possibly sick.

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pandiddy

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Hi,

My girlfriend has wanted a Greek tortoise for awhile and we finally got one. We picked it up this past Saturday and put him into his new home. Right now its a 20 gallon aquarium, I'm building a new one this weekend approximately 4 feet by 3 feet. The pet store owner wouldn't let us take him home until he ate to ensure he was OK. Since then he has not eaten, that I know of, and has not gone to the bathroom, that I know of. The first night he moved a bit back and forth trying to get through the glass it seemed, so I covered the sides with black paper. Since then he mostly just goes in his hide area and sleeps.

There seems to be no discharge from his nose and when he opens his eyes the look clear. He does move and wake up when I pick him up, but will then stay in the spot that I put him down in, eventually moving back to his hide. My room drops to about 65 degrees at night. I have monitored the cage temperature with the UVB bulb and heat lamp on and it stays steady at about 75 to 80 degrees, and about 90 to 95 directly under the heat lamp. I am using repti-bark for in the cage (should this be changed for.the new cage?).

Can anyone tell me what may be wrong and what I should do. And to be more specific he is a golden Greek tortoise.

Thank you!
 

rachael

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Have you soaked the baby? what are the temps in the enclosure? what is the heat source?


ps hi!
 

sibi

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Sometimes when new torts are brought to a new environment, they will tend to sleep and stay I their hide. I would try and make as little noise and distractions as possible so that the tort can get accustomed to his new environment. Give him warm soaks daily, and put fresh food out daily regardless of whether or not he eats it. Make sure he has access to water nearby. If he still doesn't eat, poop, or pee after a few days, then get back to us with stats, like what are his temps in his enclosure, what kind of UVb bulb are you using, etc.
 

MasterOogway

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What is your humidity? Golden Greeks can be a few different sub-species. Mine is very sensitive to humidity and temps. I would increase the temps and not let the night temp or cool side drop below 80 . My Greek seems to do well with higher temps.and dry substrate but they may not be the same sub species.


MasterOogway said:
What is your humidity? Golden Greeks can be a few different sub-species. Mine is very sensitive to humidity and temps. I would increase the temps and not let the night temp or cool side drop below 80 . My Greek seems to do well with higher temps.and dry substrate but they may not be the same sub species.


Never mind my advice I thought I read he had a runny nose so scratch the raise temp advice sorry :/
 

pandiddy

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He seems to be doing much better!

He's been drinking water when we are soaking him, and he pooped at some point since this morning. He still doesn't seem to be eating much, I'm going to go back to the pet shop and see if there's some other food I could give him, maybe he just doesn't like the food we have.
 

Eloise's mommy

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You shouldn't buy your tort food from the petstore feed them fresh weeds..dandelion is a good one...if you have to go to the grocery store grab some spring mix or kale, collard greens, etc. I spent 10$ on petstore food that my tort wont eat.
 

pandiddy

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Thanks!

Weeds are still hard to come by in Western PA, as its still snowing on and off. But next time I go to the grocery store I'll be sure to pick up some of those things.
 

MasterOogway

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pandiddy said:
He seems to be doing much better!

He's been drinking water when we are soaking him, and he pooped at some point since this morning. He still doesn't seem to be eating much, I'm going to go back to the pet shop and see if there's some other food I could give him, maybe he just doesn't like the food we have.

I am glad there is some improvement! I agree trying the greens. Mine won't eat pellets either & I have tried them all. Did you get it from Petsmart? If it is possibly a wild caught tort they don't see pellets in the wild so the smell of greens might do the trick.Keep us posted. I am looking forward to more good news :)


pandiddy said:
Thanks!

Weeds are still hard to come by in Western PA, as its still snowing on and off. But next time I go to the grocery store I'll be sure to pick up some of those things.

I am in Western Pa too ! Go Steelers!
 

biochemnerd808

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Sounds like you already got some good advice. If you still have cold enough weather that you need to buy food, try alternating Spring mix, kale, collard greens, endive, mustard greens and the like. If you buy 2 different ones each week, you'll get a bit of variety going - and you can eat some yourself if the little guy doesn't eat a whole lot yet. :)

As far as substrate, repti-bark is actually really not good at all for Greek tortoises. It doesn't hold any humidity, and they can't burrow in it. I use coconut coir bricks (called 'Eco Earth' but there are other brands too). You can usually get a set of 3 bricks for $7.99 at Petsmart... or a HUGE brick at the garden center for around 20, then chop that in a few pieces (I have several tortoise enclosures, so just use a huge one, and divide it up). Once you've added the water to the brick, it will swell up and you can spread it into the enclosure. You'll likely want to get a flagstone or other similarly flat rock for the basking area (it will help hold the temps constant under the basking light - measure the temps throughout the day for a few days, to make sure it doesn't get too hot). I also use a flat rock to feed on, and I put river rocks around the water dish so not as much substrate gets tracked into the dish.

I'm glad you're building a bigger enclosure - 20gal is very small... but 3x4 will be nice, and you can create different micro climates. :)

pandiddy said:
Hi,

My girlfriend has wanted a Greek tortoise for awhile and we finally got one. We picked it up this past Saturday and put him into his new home. Right now its a 20 gallon aquarium, I'm building a new one this weekend approximately 4 feet by 3 feet. The pet store owner wouldn't let us take him home until he ate to ensure he was OK. Since then he has not eaten, that I know of, and has not gone to the bathroom, that I know of. The first night he moved a bit back and forth trying to get through the glass it seemed, so I covered the sides with black paper. Since then he mostly just goes in his hide area and sleeps.

There seems to be no discharge from his nose and when he opens his eyes the look clear. He does move and wake up when I pick him up, but will then stay in the spot that I put him down in, eventually moving back to his hide. My room drops to about 65 degrees at night. I have monitored the cage temperature with the UVB bulb and heat lamp on and it stays steady at about 75 to 80 degrees, and about 90 to 95 directly under the heat lamp. I am using repti-bark for in the cage (should this be changed for.the new cage?).

Can anyone tell me what may be wrong and what I should do. And to be more specific he is a golden Greek tortoise.

Thank you!
 
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