- Joined
- Dec 28, 2016
- Messages
- 164
Hi RussianNinja, I have a Russian tortoise also. I found that every time that I change his substrate, he would bury himself for a while. Even when I dig him out and give him his daily soak, he would still go back to bury himself right away. Last time when I changed the substrate in summer, he buried himself for more than a week, and we had to travel, so instead of leaving him to my friend, we just left him alone for another week. After we got back, the substrate hadn't even been moved a bit. He just slept through the whole two weeks. In the end, we dug him out and bathed him and fed him, he finally realized that he was always in his own tank and the food gods are still the same, so he gradually came out of his sleeping mood. Actually, it was like he went to hibernation during summer, so that he is super active right now in December. Last year, he couldn't keep himself awake at all since October, and we had to put him in the fridge to hibernate in early November.
My point is: your tortoise is probably just shocked by the change of environment. If you keep giving him bath and provide him with food, he will eventually snap out of it. Or, you can let him sleep for couple of weeks, and when he wakes up, it's like a computer reset, he will snap out of it also.
My point is: your tortoise is probably just shocked by the change of environment. If you keep giving him bath and provide him with food, he will eventually snap out of it. Or, you can let him sleep for couple of weeks, and when he wakes up, it's like a computer reset, he will snap out of it also.