Sick tortoise or hibernation?

Geng

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Jun 22, 2015
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Hi guys,

The past few months my Russian tortoise has been extremely leghartic: sleeps all day and doesn't wake up to roam or even eat. She stays hidden all day. Even after a soak session she would move back to her hide. This all happend when I came back from holiday at the beginning of August.

Mid August I took her to a new 'reptile specialized vet' to see what the problem was. The vet had no idea, and the stool sample showed no result. He gave her an injection anyway, which 'cures all kind of diseases'. Told me to give the injection daily, but after 3 shots my tortoises only looked worse. At one point she even vomited! The medication turns out to be Baytrill, which is according to TF-members deadly, so I stopped immidiately. To help her feel better I warm soaked her daily twice and let the lights burn longer. Her leghartic behaviour could be caused by the shortend days: I think my parents turned off the light early (or even left off the lights) during my holiday, which made her hibernation behaviour kick in.

Anyway, it is October now. Her behaviour hasn't changed, but she looks much better without the medication. She still sleep the whole day, but I try to wake her up by warm soaking her for 30 min before I head off to work. But even after the soaks she ignores her food and moves back to her hide. However, she DOES eat, but only when I hand feed her dandelions and sow thistles during the weekend. So she only eats 2x a week a amount of dandelions / sow thistles of her shell size.

I let the lights burn longer, and I try to warm soak her before I move to work, but no change in behaviour. The first vet visit showed no results about diseases (if not it made it worse with the injection). Should I see the vet again? This time my old vet, whome helped me 2x before with succes. Or is it really the hibernation behaviour kicking in? Members here told me tortoises start slowing down in August? Do I just keep the current routine up (soak, longer lights, hand feed)?

Help please!

Some info:
- 3 year old Russian
- Temps: Basking 100F, warm 80 - 90F , cool 70F, night just below 70F
- Coco Coir substrate
- During the period I let her roam outside when the temps were right and sunny. She seemed much active then (walking around, looking around).
 

JoesMum

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Please can you post photos of the enclosure and lighting as that might give us some clues. Lack of activity is nearly always caused by the temperatures not being right. Yours sound right, but it may be that your thermometer is not a particularly accurate one. A temperature gun type thermometer is best for measuring spot temperatures; they're easily available from amazon and hardware stores
 

Geng

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5 Year Member
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Jun 22, 2015
Messages
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Please can you post photos of the enclosure and lighting as that might give us some clues. Lack of activity is nearly always caused by the temperatures not being right. Yours sound right, but it may be that your thermometer is not a particularly accurate one. A temperature gun type thermometer is best for measuring spot temperatures; they're easily available from amazon and hardware stores

The enclosure has a 80W MVB from the brand Reptech and 50W heat bulb from Exoterra. The 50W bulb broke this week, so currently I'm using my other old 80W MVB that has run out of UV, but still gives off the heat.

Screenshot_2017-10-03-16-07-45.png
Screenshot_2017-10-03-16-07-45.png
 

JoesMum

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That analogue thermometer is not the best for accuracy - a digital temperature gun will give you much more accurate temperature readings.

The bars on your enclosure let all the heat and humidty out, so you cannot posdibly maintain the temperatures and humidity necessary for your tortoise to be healthy.

I think it's colder and less humid in there than you realise.

I suggest you take a look at closed chamber setups in the enclosure forum
 

Geng

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5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2015
Messages
146
That analogue thermometer is not the best for accuracy - a digital temperature gun will give you much more accurate temperature readings.

The bars on your enclosure let all the heat and humidty out, so you cannot posdibly maintain the temperatures and humidity necessary for your tortoise to be healthy.

I think it's colder and less humid in there than you realise.

I suggest you take a look at closed chamber setups in the enclosure forum

Thanks, will do.
 

Markw84

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I personally feel that the type of light has a lot to do with activity and hibernation cycles. From the pictures, your room where the tortoise is kept looks very dark, with the light for the enclosure the only real light provided. I can't tell where in the world you live, but as the seasons change the light from any sun coming in a window dramatically changes and shortens each day towards fall and winter. The blues and UVA in natural light play a key role in activity. Those wavelengths are dramatically decreased with fall and winter sun along with the shortening days. I believe your lighting is your main problem with your tortoise's activity level.
 
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