Greek acting sluggish, any advice?

ImaGreek805

New Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2019
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4
Location (City and/or State)
Thousand Oaks, California
Hi, we have a small Greek tortoise that's been acting unusually sluggish for the past 10 days or so. He's a little over four years old and until now, has been fairly active. But all he really wants to do lately is sleep, even during the day. We're in Southern California.

Basic housing info:
  • ~33 gallon indoor enclosure
  • ~90-95 degrees F under the basking light
  • ~80 degrees F on the cooler end
  • Substrate is about 75% Timothy hay and 25% Spagnum peat moss
  • Typically 35-40% humidity
  • There's an overturned terracotta pot he sometimes uses for shelter, but burrowing is pretty frequent
Took him to a vet earlier this week. They thought he had a nutritional deficiency and made recommendations about enlarging the enclosure, changing the substrate, expanding the food varieties, etc.

We lately have been waking him up to soak, spend some time in the sun and try to get him to eat (typical foods include dandelion greens, kale, leafy greens, rose petals & leaves, hibiscus, zucchini, carrot, hens & chickens, tortoise pellets). We sprinkle calcium powder on the food every other day.

The vet visit earlier this week was all well and good, but the tortoise's behavior is unchanged and we're still worried about our little guy. Any advice would much appreciated!
 

ImaGreek805

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Joined
Aug 23, 2019
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4
Location (City and/or State)
Thousand Oaks, California
Adding some recent photos as well - the solo one was taken yesterday; in the paired photo, ours is the one on top!
 

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Yvonne G

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He might be a bit too warm. Try allowing an area where he can get to room temperature.
 

ImaGreek805

New Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2019
Messages
4
Location (City and/or State)
Thousand Oaks, California
Adding some recent photos as well - the solo one was taken yesterday; in the paired photo, ours is the one on top!
He might be a bit too warm. Try allowing an area where he can get to room temperature.
Admittedly, it’s also been pretty hot here, even inside the house gets to 80 degrees or more before the A/C kicks in. We’ll try to increase the temperature gradient in the enclosure and see what happens. Thank you for the tip!
 

Bee62

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Nov 13, 2016
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Location (City and/or State)
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Get rid of the hay in the enclosure asap. Hay will mold with humidity and the fungus damages the lungs of tortoises.
 

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