Russian Tortise May be Sick

[LagariAsher]

So i have read around and this seems to be a fairly common problem but i wanted to get the best information for my tortoise.

- Turtle cant open his eyes
- I don't think he has eaten in about a week
-- I usually feed him kale and Dandelions
-- He does open his mouth when i soak him
- I have noticed small bubbles pop on his nose (very rarely)
- He moves very little but is still able to
- I have been soaking him at least twice a day for about a week
-- I try to clear his eyes each time only the first time was their significant build up on the outside

He lives in a 50 gallon tub with two other Ornate Turtles and we are getting things to build them a bigger environment now.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi LagariAsher:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

May we know your name and where you are?

Well, you are describing something that happens frequently with turtles and tortoises, but its really not a common problem. What you are describing is normally due to poor or incorrect husbandry.

You should not house different types of tortoises/turtles in the same habitat. They have individual-type pathogens that may be harmful to different species of turtle/tortoise.

Without knowing where you are, or being able to see how you house your tortoise, I can only guess at what's wrong with him. My gut feeling is that he's not being kept warm enough.

Can we see some pictures of your tortoise set-up?

 

[ascott]

Well....I would like to understand why you are housing a Russian tortoise with ornate turtles???

What is the temperature in your enclosure...what is the hot spot temperature as well as your cold side temp?

So with what you have described you need to take the Russian and set him up in his own enclosure....he needs to have temps on a hot side of 95-110 for basking and warming up to digest his food....does he ever get outside sun time? His cool side should not fall below 80-85ish degrees especially since he is sick....what are you feeding him? What type of substrate are you using...

I also would be worried about the health if your ornate turtles..they are a delicate turtle that can get ill easily if they are not kept in a pretty exact environment....

 

[LagariAsher]

Okay so:

- I live in Colorado Springs
- The cool side is about 80 degrees right now and close to 95 on the warm side
- The substrate is cypress and some moss.
- I take him out side a lot when its warm but its starting to get cold now

- The two turtle are showing no signs of being ill or unhappy the come out regularly to eat and have plenty to burrow in. I don't keep them in the pen much i tend to let them be out and walk around the room i keep them in.

- I did some checking and it didn't seem like the two animals couldn't be kept together and until now there hadn't been a problem. they have all been together since May.

-They are all pet shop turtles/tortoises if that matters.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

One of the biggest rules of tort keeping is not to mix species. The second rule is don't argue with us when you have asked for our help. What kind of a light bulb are you using? Is it a coiled bulb? If so get rid of it immediately. It sounds also like he is not warm enough.

You shouldn't mix species because each species carries pathogens indicative of itself and they don't harm their host, but they could make the other species sick or dead. That's very important. I am assuming by Ornate turtles you mean T. ornata box turtles. They need to be kept much more wet than a Russian tortoise and a 50 gallon tub is not big enough for 3 turtles. Also you are calling the Russian a turtle but he is a tortoise, very different from a turtle. A Russian needs to be kept more dry than wet; and the Ornates need to be kept more wet than dry. The Ornata need a protien based diet and the Russian needs weeds and some grasses; 2 very different diets. The Russian should be kept about 95 degrees on the hot side and 85 degrees on the cool side. When he's not sick anymore you can let his cool side get down to 70 degrees. What that means is the Ornata eat worms and snails and slugs and the Russian needs grasses and weeds. What have you been feeding them? See how the diets are different? That is part of the problem.

Also it is not a good idea to allow the turtles out on the house floor. It may feel warm to you but it is cold. He could be eating dust bunnies and safety pins or cat hair or paper clips. Take off all your clothes and lay down on your kitchen floor. See how cold it feels? The Russian needs to be 85 degrees inside himself in order to metabolize his food and I know your floor is not 85 degrees. What kind of light are you providing? What is your humidity?
See why they should not be allowed to roam around the floor?

Your husbandry needs to be changed immediately. Just because the Ornata are not sick doesn't make it right. Here's a link to a care sheet for the Russian, please read up on his care...I hope this helps...

http://www.russiantortoise.org/

 

[Talka]

Aww, get that little one outta there. Russians don't like to mingle. You gotta cater to his specific environment requirements. Right now you should keep him warm, and change his diet ASAP.

Kale is more of an occasional food, as I understand. Switch to a mix of lots of stuff. Bok choy, collard greens, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, etc. He needs variety to stay healthy.

If you got him from a pet store, did you get him checked for worms? Lots of pet store torts come with parasites.

It's really, really easy to set up a place for him. It'll cost you about $40 to start. You simply must do this.
Just get a Rubbermaid tub, a bag of bedding, a box with a cut-out side to serve as a hiding place, and a cheap basking lightbulb + lamp from a pet store. It's an easy, upgradable place for him, and it should be better than sharing space with a species that likes it humid and eats different stuff. You can improve the habitat, get a nice bulb, a better hiding spot, etc. later on. For now I'm just concerned for him, you should try to get a basic habitat put together no later than tomorrow.

 

[ascott]

I am happy that you care for your tortoise and turtles...I know this because you started researching for help

I am figuring that you have gathered by now how important it is to set up your Russian in his own enclosure ....I think so far we ran that suggestion home...lol

I am happy that your ornate are doing well....please do understand that they are a turtle that is not a hardy forgiving species...they are delicate in that they have to have exact set ups to live a long time (they can live up to 100 years, but in captivity they are lucky to live 25-30 years) please please please research their exact needs and you can make any necessary tweaks to your care if needed

Back to your Russian....out of all that you describe ..his not opening his eyes...lethargic...not eating....these are potential signs of a tortoise in danger of respritory infection...so please understand that you will benefit this tortoise by increasing the temps as outlined. Now if your tortoise was not showing the closed crusted eyes his behavior could be mistaken for a wild tortoise trying to brumate...BUT BUT BUT I believe this NOT to be the case based on what you have described ....I also believe if you do not see improvement after your enclosure change then you may want to have a good reptile vet take a look at him.......

 

[LagariAsher]

I have had the tortoise and the turtles all checked and they were light but showed no other problems. This is all helpful i just need to know a few more things before I start implementing steps.

- I know my turtles don't have enough humidity and i need to raise that. I read about humidity bags but would like a better way to raise the humidity if possible.

- I read that since my tortoise hasn't been eating I could mix a 50/50 solution of baby food and warm water for him to soak in. is this actually okay?

- My tortoise usually eats outside so thanks for the food recommendations.

-The two ornate turtle eat meal worms usually and some but not a lot of turtle pellets. I understand that the pellets aren't the greatest for them. So I would like to know what might be more interesting to them so far they only really like strawberries and the meal worms.

- and finally for future reference can any tortoises or turtles be mixed with these two species or should I sick to separate pins for separate breeds?

 

[seetsjakers]

Hey Asher, thank you for adopting my 2 RT's, I really appreciate you taking them in.
I was just reading through some of the posts here, and stumbled upon here. I hope everything we gave you works. I used to keep the RT's in a Rubbermade Bin(much like they described) but waffles grew so much, so fast, that I made the current set up, using 2 garden trays I got from lowe's. I kept the sub-straight moist. It's a 50/50 mixture of Core and Playsand. Mix moist and lay through out. I used the UVB/UVA bulb as their light source and heat(I hung it about 10-12inch above the sub-straight, temps usually sat around 95-100). I just this winter added the ceramic heater because the office they were in, was pretty chilly. During the winter they don't come out for too long, in the am, to warm up and eat, then they would retreat back to their box, to sleep.
The cool side I didn't keep moist. I added some timothy hay in with the core/sand, and then used a box for them to sleep in(i cut a wide entrance on one side, so they could come in and out, it resembled a garage That side was kept at room temp, so probably around 70-75 degrees.
I fed them every day, but during the winter, some days they would just sleep through.
I usually bought organic mixed greens from grocery store. I'd also mix in kale, or collard greens, or butter lettuce. They also LOVE carrots. I would usually top of their greens with a few shredded carrots. In the summer I would stop and pick dandelions wherever I could. They LOVE dandieions...and i would throw 12-20 in with their greens, whenever I could find them.
I also included some TNT that I bought online. It's the green powdery stuff. I would sprinkle a little over the greens, every other day.
Again, in the summer, I would put them out in a kiddie pool in the backyard, so they could soak up the sun. I fed them out there, and kept their indoor pen a little cleaner(putting them in there for the evening, so they could sleep).

I hope this helps. I hope your other turtle and Rt are doing better.
Let me know if I can ever help or answer anything. But now you see why i didn't want a child to take them...my own son couldn't have taken care of them properly...RT's are ALOT of work!!!
Chanda