tee_tee_bee
New Member
After many bumps, bad advice from the pet shop, and my own fails learning as I go I think I have my tortoise in a fairly decent set up. I know it’s not ideal. I’m trying to figure out why my Russian tortoise lethargic all day and if I should just keep doing what I’m doing now and wait it out longer or if there may be something else wrong. I read as many other posts as I can on this site and taken as much advice as I can from them. Hoping I’m doing things right.
Some background: I’ve only had her for four months. We’ve upgraded her home size twice now. She was very active when we first got her but slowed down in a month around the time we found out she had worms. A couple of doses of Panacur from the vet fixed that but at the time she would only eat escarole and endive. I know that they can be picky but the vet said that it was okay to just feed her those while she was sick because at least she’d eat something. We found her eating her old substrate reptichip (coconut) a few times so we went back to orchid bark. She was fairly lethargic at this time. I had been trying to incorporate new foods back in but she was hardly eating. I thought I could be a mineral or vitamin deficiency since she was basically only eating endive and escarole. She wouldn’t eat anything when I sprinkled anything on the greens, so I tried carrot soaks. Once a day in the evening for one hour. They seem to have helped. She started only eating what I’d hand feed her while she soaked. Now she finally is eating pretty much anything I give her with anything sprinkled on it. MinerAll a couple of days a week. Herbal hay added to her regular rotation of greens: dandelion, mizuna, endive, escarole, plantain, spring mix, nopales etc. I’ve been doing the carrot soaks for one week now. Her appetite seems okay but she hasn’t perked up yet.
Her day is basically I get her out of her hide and put her near the basking area. She moves onto the saucer to bask. Morning soak for about 20 to 30 mins, urates and poo during that time. Daily salad served. She eats and basks two or three times in the span of a couple of hours. Then naps near the basking area or in one of the smaller hides in the main area for the rest of the day till I get home. No activity whatsoever. Carrot soak in the evening and sometimes she’ll eat more after. Then she goes to her main hide for the evening.
Attached are some pictures of the enclosure set up and my tort. The interior pics are taken with the wifi camera I have set up so I can check in on her while at work. The dark hide behind it isn’t visible in the pics.
I think temps and lighting are good. 95 to 100 F in the basking area with a MVB. Warmer area in the 80s and coolest area in the 70s. I have a ceramic bulb but it’s been hot here so I haven’t needed to turn it on the past few days. The shop light has 2 – 48” LED tubes at 6500k.
The carrot soaks seemed to help her get her appetite back, which I’m very happy for but the lethargy worries me. Her eyes are clear. No discharge from the nose. She goes poo daily and the stool isn’t runny. The vet did a blood test when we got the first dose of Panacur and said everything looked good. Honestly, I just feel really horrible because I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong at this point and I don’t want my tort to have something wrong because of my incompetence.
To note, yes I know the water dish should be changed. I had a regular terracotta saucer in there but the water just seeped thru. I’m going to be purchasing a glazed saucer soon. The depth of the water in the current dish isn’t much so it works for now.
Some background: I’ve only had her for four months. We’ve upgraded her home size twice now. She was very active when we first got her but slowed down in a month around the time we found out she had worms. A couple of doses of Panacur from the vet fixed that but at the time she would only eat escarole and endive. I know that they can be picky but the vet said that it was okay to just feed her those while she was sick because at least she’d eat something. We found her eating her old substrate reptichip (coconut) a few times so we went back to orchid bark. She was fairly lethargic at this time. I had been trying to incorporate new foods back in but she was hardly eating. I thought I could be a mineral or vitamin deficiency since she was basically only eating endive and escarole. She wouldn’t eat anything when I sprinkled anything on the greens, so I tried carrot soaks. Once a day in the evening for one hour. They seem to have helped. She started only eating what I’d hand feed her while she soaked. Now she finally is eating pretty much anything I give her with anything sprinkled on it. MinerAll a couple of days a week. Herbal hay added to her regular rotation of greens: dandelion, mizuna, endive, escarole, plantain, spring mix, nopales etc. I’ve been doing the carrot soaks for one week now. Her appetite seems okay but she hasn’t perked up yet.
Her day is basically I get her out of her hide and put her near the basking area. She moves onto the saucer to bask. Morning soak for about 20 to 30 mins, urates and poo during that time. Daily salad served. She eats and basks two or three times in the span of a couple of hours. Then naps near the basking area or in one of the smaller hides in the main area for the rest of the day till I get home. No activity whatsoever. Carrot soak in the evening and sometimes she’ll eat more after. Then she goes to her main hide for the evening.
Attached are some pictures of the enclosure set up and my tort. The interior pics are taken with the wifi camera I have set up so I can check in on her while at work. The dark hide behind it isn’t visible in the pics.
I think temps and lighting are good. 95 to 100 F in the basking area with a MVB. Warmer area in the 80s and coolest area in the 70s. I have a ceramic bulb but it’s been hot here so I haven’t needed to turn it on the past few days. The shop light has 2 – 48” LED tubes at 6500k.
The carrot soaks seemed to help her get her appetite back, which I’m very happy for but the lethargy worries me. Her eyes are clear. No discharge from the nose. She goes poo daily and the stool isn’t runny. The vet did a blood test when we got the first dose of Panacur and said everything looked good. Honestly, I just feel really horrible because I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong at this point and I don’t want my tort to have something wrong because of my incompetence.
To note, yes I know the water dish should be changed. I had a regular terracotta saucer in there but the water just seeped thru. I’m going to be purchasing a glazed saucer soon. The depth of the water in the current dish isn’t much so it works for now.