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).
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).