Urgen Help! New Tortoise Owner need advice

[hpfirework]

I just received my first tortoise – a 4 month old Greek tortoise – yesterday. So it’s been with me for 24 hours now. It hasn’t eaten anything. It doesn’t show the least interest in the food I provided. It hides in the substrate all the time. It’s not active and when I picked it up, it took quite a while to even open eyes.

I think the temperature is right. The basking spot is around 90F, the cooler part is around 80F. But I do have difficulty in keeping the humidity down. I am in North Carolina. The weather here is really damp these days. I use “Yesterday’s Newspaper” paper pallets substrate and it’s completely dry, I did not spray any water on it. But the hygrometer still says 70% even with the lights on during the day. I am confused as how to keep the air dry, not only the substrate. I do not know if its refusal to eat is related to the humidity problem. Do you think give it a warm bath would help recover its appetite?

 

[Yvonne G]

I can give you some "general" information, but bear in mind, I don't keep Greeks and don't know their husbandry.

Usually, if you have the correct lighting and temperatures in the habitat, the lights will dry out the air.

It takes a new tortoise several days, sometimes a week or more, to acclimate to new surroundings. He will learn that you are the food god and come out when he sees you, but it will take some time.

Occasionally you will see a tortoise that seems to think he is invisible if he keeps his eyes closed...however, this is also a sign of illness. If the eyes don't open right away, give him a nice warm soak...for about 15 or 20 minutes.

Good luck with your new tortoise. Take a trip around our Greek section, and put up some pictures for us. We can give you better advice if we can see your habitat.

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And I forgot to say...

Welcome to the forum!!!

 

[hpfirework]

Thanks very much for your quick reply. I will upload pictures soon.

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum

Greeks can take any amount of air humidity as long as they are warm (which your's is). I'm in the Northeast and the humidity is high here also and my hatchling greeks are loving it. Actually the high humidity is beneficial to your hatchling to make sure he/she isn't getting dehydrated.
I'm not a big fan of the paper substrates (neither is the hatchling ) I'd go with either topsoil, cyprus mulch or shredded aspen for a substrate.

Danny

 

[agiletorts]

Take your tortoise outside under the natural sunlight, wait for a while and see if it's active or not. I'd worry if it still prefers sleeping after 10-15 minutes.