Hi all. We have had my Russian (Bananas) now for about a month, and things are going well, I think, and I am starting to get attached to "my son's" tortoise.
For the most part, our guy starts to stir in the am around 7-8am, shortly after i put out his food, he heads over to eat, he eats (romaine, mustard greens, shaved carrots, cukes, with crumbled tortoise pellets sprinkled on every other day or so), then heads to his basking rock for a while, and then for a little while longer explores his enclosure and then he just buries himself and hangs out a good part of the day. He will come back to life and pop up in different areas through the day, but he is pretty mellow. To me he seems happy and seems to be doing well, but he is fairly inactive for a good part of the day. Is that normal?
Last night, I was relaxing near the side of his enclosure and he walked over to where I was, I happened to be near his feeding rock. He was poking around his feeding rock, so I thought he wanted food. I gave him some greens. My son and I watched him for a bit, but he was hesitant. After a while, my son left and he then started eating. I have been the primary care giver to this point, and it struck me that he is aware of that and was only comfortable eating in front of me. Am I reading into that?
This post really comes because I read that you should never buy a tort at PetSmart because they all have disease, and that is where we got ours, so it got me wondering. All in all, he is a really cool little guy and we are having fun with him, and to me he seems fine, but am curious to know if his behavior is typical.
Thanks
For the most part, our guy starts to stir in the am around 7-8am, shortly after i put out his food, he heads over to eat, he eats (romaine, mustard greens, shaved carrots, cukes, with crumbled tortoise pellets sprinkled on every other day or so), then heads to his basking rock for a while, and then for a little while longer explores his enclosure and then he just buries himself and hangs out a good part of the day. He will come back to life and pop up in different areas through the day, but he is pretty mellow. To me he seems happy and seems to be doing well, but he is fairly inactive for a good part of the day. Is that normal?
Last night, I was relaxing near the side of his enclosure and he walked over to where I was, I happened to be near his feeding rock. He was poking around his feeding rock, so I thought he wanted food. I gave him some greens. My son and I watched him for a bit, but he was hesitant. After a while, my son left and he then started eating. I have been the primary care giver to this point, and it struck me that he is aware of that and was only comfortable eating in front of me. Am I reading into that?
This post really comes because I read that you should never buy a tort at PetSmart because they all have disease, and that is where we got ours, so it got me wondering. All in all, he is a really cool little guy and we are having fun with him, and to me he seems fine, but am curious to know if his behavior is typical.
Thanks
