Hi all! My russian tortoise Tatlin got to his home at the end of March, and things have been going well for the most part. However, as the summer has been a lot warmer than usual, our appartment has heated a lot - the inside temperature was around 25-26 C for a couple weeks. I tried to keep Tatlin's enclosure cooler by burying ice in the substrate every night, but he still started aestivating. I let him do that, as his previous owner said that he was very prone to brumation and aestivation and would self-starve for weeks even if he wasn't properly brumated. So, he's been digging burrows in his enclosure, being mainly asleep/inactive for about a month now, sometimes coming out on his own. I've continued to soak him 2-3 times a week to avoid dehydration as he is not really eating (he only eats a few leaves of dandelion/other weed if fed directly under his nose). His weight has remained bretty stable, started from 858 g, now down to 841 g.
But on today's soak I noticed the skin around his cloaca had changed colours: it has went from the olive green/yellow to a duller, almost gray colour. Should I be worried? If none of you have had similar experiences, I'll call a vet first thing in tomorrow morning. I sadly don't have pics as I didn't have a camera ready when I noticed, and as I came back, Tatlin had already went back to his burrow.
But on today's soak I noticed the skin around his cloaca had changed colours: it has went from the olive green/yellow to a duller, almost gray colour. Should I be worried? If none of you have had similar experiences, I'll call a vet first thing in tomorrow morning. I sadly don't have pics as I didn't have a camera ready when I noticed, and as I came back, Tatlin had already went back to his burrow.