Welcome_Ghosts
New Member
I "adopted" a Russian tortoise (from a family who could no longer care for him) a little over four years ago. As far as I can tell, he is still fairly young (around eight-years-old). He is normally very active in the summer; however, as of the past month or so, he has been EXTREMELY lethargic. He does NOTHING but sleep 24/7. only waking up for his daily soak. I am growing more and more concerned by the day and would greatly appreciate any advice. I'll attempt to provide as much detail as possible about his lifestyle/setup below.
He is kept in a 6' x 2' open-top table (two conjoined ZooMed Tortoise Houses sans lid) in my (room temperature) finished basement. His substrate consists of ZooMed Eco Earth and Quikrete Premium Play Sand, though I am planning on replacing the sand with organic top soil.
I use a brand new 80-watt ZooMed PowerSun UV bulb in a ZooMed Deep Dome Lamp Fixture, which is hung vertically from a ZooMed Reptile Lamp Stand. It is plugged into a ZooMed ReptiCare Day & Night Timer. The timer is plugged into a surge protector, and the surge protector is plugged into a regular outlet. His light remains on from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. The basking spot is around 95 degrees, and the cool end is around 75 degrees. I determined this by holding a Kizen LaserPro LP300 thermometer about one foot from the substrate. (It has a 12:1 distance-to-spot ratio.) The cool end has an All Living Things Reptile Hide for him to rest in.
He has access to fresh (faucet) water (in a shallow dish) at all times, and his diet consists primarily of grocery store greens, such as dandelion greens and kale. Unfortunately, I am unable to pick wild plants for him, due to the fact that I have no grass in my yard. I also reside in a development that uses chemicals on the common grassy areas and in the neighborhood park. If you have any suggestions as far as his diet goes, I'd gladly welcome them. I have a Giant (regular grocery store) nearby, as well as several organic/vegan grocery stores. He had a cuttle bone in his house for ages but never touched it. He pees regularly, but doesn't poo nearly as often.
He gets several hours of playtime in my garden every day and often munches on the plants that I have growing (cucumber leaves, tomato leaves, zinnias). I live in Pennsylvania, and the temperatures lately have been in the 80s and 90s. He usually LOVES roaming around out there and practically RUNS the entire time. Lately, he has been choosing to sleep instead.
Questions and Theories
- I frequently pour water on his substrate, in order to prevent it from getting too dry and dusty. White mold often grows on the surface, which I promptly remove. Is that making him ill?
- I occasionally spot tiny gnats(?) flying around in his habitat, despite keeping it incredibly clean. Could they be biting him?
- I switched from a 100-watt PowerSun bulb to the 80-watt one right around the time that he began showing signs of lethargy. (My 100-watts kept blowing, so ZooMed suggested that I use an 80-watt instead.) Have I been failing to measure the temperatures correctly?
- Is his diet not varied enough? Is he beginning to show signs of metabolic bone disease?
- He had a playdate with several of my friend's gigantic tortoises on June 8. Could he have caught some sort of illness from them?
I apologize for the lengthy post. As you can imagine, I'm experiencing terrible anxiety over this situation but am hesitant to call the vet. His eyes aren't watery, nor is his breathing out of whack.
He is kept in a 6' x 2' open-top table (two conjoined ZooMed Tortoise Houses sans lid) in my (room temperature) finished basement. His substrate consists of ZooMed Eco Earth and Quikrete Premium Play Sand, though I am planning on replacing the sand with organic top soil.
I use a brand new 80-watt ZooMed PowerSun UV bulb in a ZooMed Deep Dome Lamp Fixture, which is hung vertically from a ZooMed Reptile Lamp Stand. It is plugged into a ZooMed ReptiCare Day & Night Timer. The timer is plugged into a surge protector, and the surge protector is plugged into a regular outlet. His light remains on from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. The basking spot is around 95 degrees, and the cool end is around 75 degrees. I determined this by holding a Kizen LaserPro LP300 thermometer about one foot from the substrate. (It has a 12:1 distance-to-spot ratio.) The cool end has an All Living Things Reptile Hide for him to rest in.
He has access to fresh (faucet) water (in a shallow dish) at all times, and his diet consists primarily of grocery store greens, such as dandelion greens and kale. Unfortunately, I am unable to pick wild plants for him, due to the fact that I have no grass in my yard. I also reside in a development that uses chemicals on the common grassy areas and in the neighborhood park. If you have any suggestions as far as his diet goes, I'd gladly welcome them. I have a Giant (regular grocery store) nearby, as well as several organic/vegan grocery stores. He had a cuttle bone in his house for ages but never touched it. He pees regularly, but doesn't poo nearly as often.
He gets several hours of playtime in my garden every day and often munches on the plants that I have growing (cucumber leaves, tomato leaves, zinnias). I live in Pennsylvania, and the temperatures lately have been in the 80s and 90s. He usually LOVES roaming around out there and practically RUNS the entire time. Lately, he has been choosing to sleep instead.
Questions and Theories
- I frequently pour water on his substrate, in order to prevent it from getting too dry and dusty. White mold often grows on the surface, which I promptly remove. Is that making him ill?
- I occasionally spot tiny gnats(?) flying around in his habitat, despite keeping it incredibly clean. Could they be biting him?
- I switched from a 100-watt PowerSun bulb to the 80-watt one right around the time that he began showing signs of lethargy. (My 100-watts kept blowing, so ZooMed suggested that I use an 80-watt instead.) Have I been failing to measure the temperatures correctly?
- Is his diet not varied enough? Is he beginning to show signs of metabolic bone disease?
- He had a playdate with several of my friend's gigantic tortoises on June 8. Could he have caught some sort of illness from them?
I apologize for the lengthy post. As you can imagine, I'm experiencing terrible anxiety over this situation but am hesitant to call the vet. His eyes aren't watery, nor is his breathing out of whack.