# Russian with sunken looking eyes.



## Tornado (Oct 16, 2013)

I just went in to check on our little buddy and he looks off to me. He's bottom eye lids look dark and sunken. He's otherwise a healthy guy. He finished all his breakfast, pee'd and pooped this morning. 

I soak him several times a week, he always has water in his dish, he eats, poops, pees fine. His enclosure temp is a little on the cool side (upper 60's, low 70's), but his hot spot is still 90-95 and the rest of that side in the 80s. 

I'm reading that sunken eyes is usually dehydration, but I don't see how he could be.

We just switched his substrate from alfalfa pellets to top soil & peat moss. The top soil does not have any fertilizers, etc, but it's more of an organic potting soil-organic compost, sand, and peat. I don't see any sand though, so I don't think there's much in it. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## wellington (Oct 16, 2013)

You should soak him every day for a while. Being on the pellets is very drying. He also looks under weight too me. Up his food to as much as he will eat, having some left over. If he eats all of it, give him a little more for snacking all day if he wants.


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## Tornado (Oct 16, 2013)

He always has left over food. He's only about 3-5 yrs. How much should a 3-5yr, 4.5" Russian weigh?


I just got a scale in the mail yesterday, so I'm not sure how well it works, but it has him at 297-297.5g


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## Yvonne G (Oct 16, 2013)

Like Barb said, I'd also soak him daily for a couple weeks, for about a half hour each time...and if he doesn't like it, too bad. You can also ("also" means in addition to, not *instead of*) sprinkle some water over his food offering every day.


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## WillTort2 (Oct 18, 2013)

One of my female Russians, Charlotte, was very under weight when I received her. After 3 months of soaking twice a week and eating daily she grew from 300 g to 422 g and was 4.7 inches long straight line shell measurement.

Good luck.


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## Tornado (Oct 21, 2013)

He gets fed twice a day and soaked every-every other day. We were doing every day (sometimes twice cause he'd go outside and get filthy and need a bath lol) until about a week before I posted and I've been doing every day since posting. 

Wouldn't a longer tortoise, especially a female be bigger than a shorter male? He hit 4.5" exactly. 

Of course I may just be paranoid that his eyes were looking different...


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## hippohugger13 (Oct 21, 2013)

He does look a little underweight. What do you feed him usually? Quantity and quality of food can vary depending on growth and cycle stage. Has he been wormed lately? If he goes outside at all there is always a chance of parasites that you can't otherwise detect. Soaking is a great idea too! Sounds like you're really being proactive so keep that up!


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