Please help, need advise. (doesn't eat)

[Ane-Michelle]

Hello- I rescued a Russian tortoise about a year ago. His name is Leonard. We lived in Southern California at the time. Leonard was very happy living in our backyard; he ate well, traveled all around and had some favorite spots to hang out. In September we moved to Southern Indiana and he seemed even happier being in a garden and having all kinds of interesting things to eat (green tomatoes, dandelions) and lots of room to roam. The problems arose once the cooler weather came along. It got too cold to keep him outdoors so we brought him inside in an aquarium (18”W by 48” L) with a full spectrum UVA/UVB light. Leonard hates the aquarium. He will constantly hit his shell on the side, for hours and hours and hours. He seemed to want out sooo, I decided to just allow him to roam the apartment for the time being. Since then he began to eat less and less and now he has been “hibernating” under a rug in the bathroom. He will not eat at all and seems to just want to stay there? It’s been a month now and I don’t know what to do now?! Help, please. Anyone with any advise I would so greatly appreciate. Thank you for reading this long post.

 

[Ane-Michelle]

Oh and we keep the temperature at 68 degrees but at night we turn the heater off and it may sometimes get to 63-65 degrees. He has not had any (or very little) light as he won’t come out from under the rug. I’ve tried putting the reptile lamp in the bathroom for. him but he won’t come out. We did rescue two kittens since moving here. Maybe he hates them? They don’t really bother him other than occasionally finding him interesting for a short while but never harming him.

 

[wellington]

It's too cold on the floor for day time. The night time temps are fine. Set him up in a 4x8 foot enclosure with heat and light. Keep the temp at 75-80 during the day with a basking spot of 95-100 and must have a uvb light. All heat/lights can go off at night.
A portable or pop up green house works good.

 

[wellington]

 

[Ane-Michelle]

It's too cold on the floor for day time. The night time temps are fine. Set him up in a 4x8 foot enclosure with heat and light. Keep the temp at 75-80 during the day with a basking spot of 95-100 and must have a uvb light. All heat/lights can go off at night.
A portable or pop up green house works good.

Hello Wellington... Thank you so so much for your response! I really appreciate the helpful info. We will get started on your suggestions right away. Once we get Leonard better set up I’ll post a picture! Also, I know I’ve got some more questions that I will post along the way. Thank you again! So glad I found this site and reached out

 

[Gillian M]

Hi @Ane-Michelle and welcome to the forum.

Don't worry: you will hopefully get the help you need at TFO. Please post a pic of your tort asap, so as to enable the experienced members to help you more.

As far as the cats are concerned, please keep in mind that torts are solitary animals and do not like/need company. They do not like change either. Therefore, it will take your tort time to adapt.

@Yvonne , please help. Thank you very much.

 

[Gillian M]

By the way @Ane-Michelle , have you read the thread below? If not, please read it.

https://www.tortoiseforum.org/forums/russian-tortoises.81/

 

[RosemaryDW]

Gosh @wellington, this is honestly the first time I’ve seen mention of a pop up greenhouse, that’s awesome.

I’m rarely in the enclosures section, maybe that’s why? It seems so obvious but I would have never thought of it.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Oh, oops, also WELCOME @Ane-Michelle!

 

[wellington]

Gosh @wellington, this is honestly the first time I’ve seen mention of a pop up greenhouse, that’s awesome.

I’m rarely in the enclosures section, maybe that’s why? It seems so obvious but I would have never thought of it.

I have mentioned it a lot of times and even have posted pics before. Sorry you have missed them. They do make great enclosures and there are so many to choose from, one is sure to find one that will work.

 

[RosemaryDW]

I have mentioned it a lot of times and even have posted pics before. Sorry you have missed them. They do make great enclosures and there are so many to choose from, one is sure to find one that will work.

I will know better now, thank you!

 

[Lemonade]

Have you thought about just letting him hibernate?

 

[Ane-Michelle]

Have you thought about just letting him hibernate?

Hello, yes and have been letting him do so for about a month now but is it ok that he is not eating? I worry about him...

 

[Lemonade]

It's not really cold enough in the house--cold enough to slow way down, but not to go completely dormant. I would put him in a box, and store him someplace cold and safe, like the garage. That's what I do with my desert torts. My Russian is sleeping outside, but I am in Southern California, so it's not too cold. You can check on him once in a while to be sure he's still sleeping.

If he stays in the warmer house but doesn't eat, he may burn excess reserve calories that he needs to survive through the winter.

I think that is easier for you and him than trying to keep him happy inside all winter.

 

[Archie's mom]

Hi Ane....I had great advice here on the forum that helped me with my Russian Archie. It started to get cold and dark in NY and all he did was bury himself in his hide a way and sleep. I was told to wake him up every day and give him a warm bath ( I literally dragged him out kicking and screaming)...after the bath offer him food under a UVB light and warm heat lamp (about 80) I did this every day...at first he still wouldn't eat and after his bath would crawl back to his hide a way..... after about a week he started to eat and ate a little more every day. Another thing was I had the lights on 14 hours a day consistantly even though he was buried in his hide-a-way. After about 3 weeks of doing the warm bath, feeding afterwards, and keeping the lights on a timer faithfully Archie is back to his old self eating (sometimes 2 times a day) and running around the house a couple times a day and happy like its spring time.

 

[Ane-Michelle]

Hi Archie's mom & Lemonade & all others

I honestly cannot thank you enough for your supportive and helpful responses! Your sharing and experience have eased my mind and heart, My husband and I are currently living in a very small apartment a short distance from the hospital (hubby is an RN) where he works. We have re-located to Southern Indiana from So Cal and are trying to adjust and settle in the best we can. We moved here to purchase some land and start a homestead style life however it

 

[Ane-Michelle]

...... (my apologies, one of my new kittens is very interested in my laptop and posted before I was finished) back to what I was saying.... This adventure has proven to be more challenging than we expected. We are temporally living in this apartment while we hunt for property. We do have a lot of plans for our new home and property including the best habitat for Leonard that we can make.. as for now we do not have much room and are hesitant to build something so permanent for our tortoise or difficult to move. We are praying to find the home and property for us SOON. Could be another month or two, we are hoping not three or four but we cannot predict this. After reading your advise and experiences we have decided to try as temporary a habitat as we can make for him using heat and UVB light. We do not have a garage or any area that is cooler than the apartment which is a steady 68 degrees. The only other place we have is a patio which I think is too cold? The night time temps range from 25-40 so far. I believe this next two months will be even colder at night. We are trying the best we can. We will try the advise Archie's mom has shared as I am concerned with what Lemonade said about him using up calories he needs to survive. Tomorrow we plan to go and buy a heat light to use with the UVB light we already have and try to construct some kind of temporary space for him to eat, bask and hide. I wanted to ask; what kinds of foods do your tortoises eat? We have heard conflicting info about this. Leonard seems to love romaine lettuce and kale the most although I have offered him many, many different foods. We also have a food pellet called "Zoo Med Grassland Tortoise Food" with added vitamins and minerals but he does eat it, at all. The pellets are super hard so we have soaked them in water and tried mixing in with what he likes to eat... I really wish he would eat this as I know it would be good for him.

Again, THANK YOU guys so much for your help, it means a lot to us and to our Leonard.

 

[Lemonade]

Kittens. So cute!

Here's another thought: if your nighttime temps are freezing and below but daytime are above freezing, bring the box inside during the night only. That would work to be inside only that much.

As far as food, if you can get dandelion at a specialty food store, like Sprouts in California, they love that. Also, I once asked about favorite foods on the facebook Russian group and owners said radicchio is a big winner. They also mentioned cucumbers. I don't blame him on the food pellet. I don't think I'd like that either but it would be easiest. Another pellet-type is Muzuri. The redfoot I used to have LOVED it.

I hope things go well with your plans for your new home. Things are kinda crazy here in California, and lots of people are leaving. I hope your fresh start with a wonderful habitat for your Russian turns out to fulfill your happiest dreams.

 

[Ane-Michelle]

Good morning Lemonade

So I tried putting Leonard in a small box and covered him with a towel similar to how he is in the bathroom under the rug. I will add a pic of what happened. He clawed up the box (he was outside about 2 hours) and I got really worried that he is burning up calories so I returned him to his usual spot in the bathroom where he has again stopped moving and gone to sleep. My husband and I are going to look at some property this morning and will also pick up a heat light... I guess we will be trying to construct some kind of space for him to get heat and bask and eat. I’ll try giving him the daily warm baths in hopes that he will eat something. Thanks for hanging in there with us.. to be continued..

 

[Gijoux]

View attachment 284365

Such a great idea to have one of these on hand in the event a Tortoise needs to come inside for health reasons or weather.