Shelvy hasn't eaten for 5 days now, he hasn't moved from a corner of his tank and has burrowed deep down into his substrate. He is breathing as I can see his legs moving. Do you think he is trying to hibernate even though it's summer? Getting really concerned now, a trip to the vet could be...
Sorry he has a 6ft long enclosure with lots of hides and different types of terrain. When we got him his enclosure was 2x1ft witn nothing but a food dish and bulbs. His weight has more than doubled in 9 months so I don't think he's sickly.
He is a Russian and about 4 years old. He won't eat strawbs at all. We got him as a rescue where he was only fed shop bought rocket. We introduced a varied diet but recently he's refused and greens of any kind.
Shelvy has decided not to eat! I have tried everything I can think of, all types of greens and weeds and plants but nothing except those holistic pellets will entice him to eat a thing. I've tried mixing greens in with these pellets but he just picks out the pellets and leaves the rest. He seems...
Shelvy my Russian has started to shed his skin, not in little patches but all over! Underneath his new skin is yellow like a chamois leather cloth. His scales/markings are disappearing. His skin underneath looks soft and healthy but the flaky skin coming away is very dry. Is this normal to shed...
They are a dried pellet which you add water to so they swell up. He really likes the dandelion flavour but I limit this to once a week or I think he'd become lazy and not eat his greens.
So Shelvy loves his new enclosure and gets friendlier everyday! When he's looking attention he comes up to the glass and taps his nose against it to say he wants let out to run about. He has the choice of 3 hides to sleep in but can often be found with only his head covered and his back end...
Shelvy's nails have got fairly long. He has a rough area in his enclosure which I thought would help keep them trim. He actually needs them cut now. I have a very small pair of nail clippers, the type you would use on a baby. How much needs nipped off, how do I know how much to take off, do they...
So Shelvy's new enclosure is just about finished and looks amazing but I was wondering what the height of the UV tube should be from the top of the substrate? The heat bulb is around 12 inches from the top of the substrate. We haven't put Shelvy in his new home as I want to get the temperatures...
Hi I've just read the discussion on urates. When I first got Shelvy he use to pee white stuff quite a lot but I have noticed recently that his pee is almost clear with no urates in it at all and there is much more of it, his pooh is also harder and darker and does not have as much an odour to it...
Hi WillTort2, the substrate I use is this
it feels really moist and Shelvy burrows right down into it. I did use a finer substrate but it was dusty and I was forever dampening it down, it also seemed to irritate his eyes. I read on somewhere that tortoises might confuse these little white bits...
Many thanks for your advice, being a tort newbie I want to make sure Shelvy is being cared for correctly :-) Hope to post some photos of his new house once it's finished!