Recent content by FomTarro

I always water the greens when I feed her prepared food indoors, but come summertime she's shifted primarily to grazing outdoors which doesn't permit that quite as easily. Maybe that's the issue.

Yes, I did actually know that :D And I agree, the color does unfortunately match. I'm mostly surprised it would take such a sudden dive, as I believe her hydration regimen has been pretty consistent forever. But I'll up the frequency and report back in about I week I suppose.

Noted, I will increase the frequency of soaks to daily. Seems like folks don't believe it to be an organ issue? That's a relief.

Yeah, her behavior is COMPLETELY normal otherwise so I'm inclined to keep a cool head and write it off as that, but she eats shamrock every summer and I've never seen this before...

Hey all! I have a little Horsfield's tortoise, probably about 10 years old. Recently I have observed the liquid component of her urine being tinted what appears to be an orange color. It does NOT appear to be blood. The urate component has also been a little bit chalky. Otherwise her behavior...

Yeah, the reptile doctor referred us to poison control, and I wrote this post while waiting on hold. 😅 I figured it's probably an over-reaction, but the language on the database listing was pretty strong. She seems totally fine 10+ hours later, so I'm guessing it's only really dangerous if it...

Hello! Our little Russian Tortoise ingested a few leaves from low-hanging new growth from a boxwood today. The tortoise table lookup database lists this as "toxic" with a description of severe symptoms it can cause. How concerned should I be? I've immediately begun hydrating her in an attempt...

Interesting. Multiple vets have advised me to do this to avoid dehydration, but perhaps they were thinking that I'd be keeping her closer to room temperature, where she'd still be engaging in regular bodily functions/burning energy at an almost-normal rate, and therefore using up water quickly...

Hello again! After a week of gentle temperature gradation in the fridge, we have finally reached a temperature of 38F. Unfortunately, our Russian tortoise still does not seem to be sleeping as soundly as she was at room temperature, and we frequently hear scratches from the fridge. (It feels...

Plastic storage shoebox with a mix of Coco coir a tiny amount of reptibark. The same as is in her paddock, and the same that she buried herself in for weeks unprompted leading up to this. Last year, we tried a double-insulated cardboard shoebox, with the outer box being filled with newspaper...

Yes, I have read the thread. The colder we make it, the more agitated she gets. We increment the temperature at a gradient, as you advise. Unfortunately, she is most placid at room temperature, where she will actually sleep for long stretches of time (as mentioned, she was asleep at room...

Noted, I shall.

Hello! I was instructed to redirect my question here:

Hey all! We have an adult Horsfield's tortoise that we're trying to hibernate for the third year in a row. The prior attempts have been short-lived, as she has both times woken up and broke her way out of the box and fridge that we attempted to keep her in after only a few weeks, even at very...

Thank you all for the information! She eats ground elder no problem when freshly picked and placed on a food slate, but only under those conditions. Also, to be clear, we've had her for several years, but we haven't owned property for her to explore until this year, so watching her eat plants...