TortoiseNovice17
New Member
Hi,
This is my 6-year old daughter's Russian Tortoise. We have had her since the beginning of October. I am not letting her hibernate this year since this is the first year, we have her/him.
For context: I am feeding her every day fresh greens trying to get as big of a variety in there as I can but it is radicchio, dandelion, reds and green lettuces, collards, etc. (no bok choy or spinach). I have a calcium cactus block in her enclosure but she doesn't touch it so I shave some over her food every second day or so. I also have been giving her warm soaks every day and she has water in her enclosure but she never ever goes near it. Red warm light for the night, UVB and warm light for the day. Coconut and cedar mulch bedding. The temperature is always between 75-90 in her basking spot, at 50-60% humidity. Oh, am I have been weighing her. She weighs 424gr. I have timed her during eating as suggested but she will eat for a few minutes and come back several hours later. Since she has put on more weight (I got her at 382 gr) but it's evened out now.
My questions:
1) she has been changing a lot - e.g., under her shell, the indentation and the last plates of her shell seem to be separating. Now she seems to have brown spots on the sides of her head that look like they could hurt. Is that something normal or is she sick?
2) Is there something I can do better?
I don't want her to suffer or be unhappy. Once we moved to our piece of land we are buying, she will have an enclosure outside for part of the year, but I am stressing so much about this, I rather give her to someone who knows what they are doing than have her mistreated. I am reading everything online, but so much contradicts the last info I just read, I just don't know anymore.
Thanks for your help.
H
This is my 6-year old daughter's Russian Tortoise. We have had her since the beginning of October. I am not letting her hibernate this year since this is the first year, we have her/him.
For context: I am feeding her every day fresh greens trying to get as big of a variety in there as I can but it is radicchio, dandelion, reds and green lettuces, collards, etc. (no bok choy or spinach). I have a calcium cactus block in her enclosure but she doesn't touch it so I shave some over her food every second day or so. I also have been giving her warm soaks every day and she has water in her enclosure but she never ever goes near it. Red warm light for the night, UVB and warm light for the day. Coconut and cedar mulch bedding. The temperature is always between 75-90 in her basking spot, at 50-60% humidity. Oh, am I have been weighing her. She weighs 424gr. I have timed her during eating as suggested but she will eat for a few minutes and come back several hours later. Since she has put on more weight (I got her at 382 gr) but it's evened out now.
My questions:
1) she has been changing a lot - e.g., under her shell, the indentation and the last plates of her shell seem to be separating. Now she seems to have brown spots on the sides of her head that look like they could hurt. Is that something normal or is she sick?
2) Is there something I can do better?
I don't want her to suffer or be unhappy. Once we moved to our piece of land we are buying, she will have an enclosure outside for part of the year, but I am stressing so much about this, I rather give her to someone who knows what they are doing than have her mistreated. I am reading everything online, but so much contradicts the last info I just read, I just don't know anymore.
Thanks for your help.
H