I offer him food every day. Prior to him starting to act weird (thus finding a vet), he was eating almost all his food, every day. Since the new year, he eats maybe every third day (a.k.a. significantly less than when I got him).
This is mostly good and reasonable advice, except the feeding part. Tortoises are grazers and need to be able to eat every day. Sure they can survive days with no food, but is that good for them? I think not.I just wanted to update everyone. I got Crush's bloodwork back from the vet. Kept forgetting to post it over the weekend
Crush's blood work results:
CBC (Complete Blood Count): Crush's CBC is largely unremarkable, which indicates that the skin infection is localized rather than systemic. This is excellent news!
Biochemistry:
Calcium: His calcium levels are mildly low. Since you’ve recently adopted him and are already providing the appropriate lighting and oral supplementation, I expect his levels to normalize within 3–4 months. We can plan to recheck his calcium during that time.
Uric Acid: There is a mild increase in his uric acid levels.
High uric acid levels, a condition called hyperuricemia, can indicate underlying issues such as:
Dehydration – Often due to inadequate water intake or environmental factors.
Kidney Dysfunction – Impaired kidney function can affect uric acid excretion.
Excessive Protein Intake – Overfeeding animal-based proteins can contribute to elevated levels.
If left unaddressed, chronic hyperuricemia can lead to gout, where uric acid crystals deposit in tissues, causing pain and inflammation.
In Crush's case, I believe this mild elevation is likely due to dehydration. To address this, I recommend soaking him daily and wetting his salads before offering them. These measures usually resolve mild elevations. We’ll recheck his levels during his next visit to ensure progress.
Additionally, remember that tortoises don’t need to eat every day. It’s okay if they skip up to three meals per week, as long as their weight remains stable. Weekly weight checks are ideal to monitor this.
This is common in Russians and other temperate species that should be brumating this time of year. They recognize the lower temperatures, shorter days, and reduced light intensity, and it makes them want to shut down as they would in the wild. The fix is usually to warm things up, and increase light duration and intensity. Daily warm soaks often help with this too. In spite of our best efforts, some tortoises simply refuse to cooperate with our ideas and insist on brumation. More on this here:
tortoiseforum.org
Is it not concerning that when I first got him, he was eating 80-90% of the food I offered him, and then experienced the sudden change? If it's ok, than I'm okay. Just want to make sure there's not something more going on that either the vet or I are not catching.This is mostly good and reasonable advice, except the feeding part. Tortoises are grazers and need to be able to eat every day. Sure they can survive days with no food, but is that good for them? I think not.
This is common in Russians and other temperate species that should be brumating this time of year. They recognize the lower temperatures, shorter days, and reduced light intensity, and it makes them want to shut down as they would in the wild. The fix is usually to warm things up, and increase light duration and intensity. Daily warm soaks often help with this too. In spite of our best efforts, some tortoises simply refuse to cooperate with our ideas and insist on brumation. More on this here:
Tom's Brumation Thread
Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...
This is your first winter with him isn’t it? He could possibly get like this each year, @Tom what do you think to the weight loss? Is it of any concern?
I've only had him since December 10th :/
I'm also worried about his calcium because I can't get him to eat. Plain food or food with the supplements on it.
Have you tried offering cuttlefish?
Yeah. Stopped being interested in it after like day 3. So I tried ordering a Tortoise block (has cactus blended in), was interested in that for like 1.5 days and then lost interest there too...
It looks like shell rot try a foot fungus cream on it
See Yvone she is great with this stu ff
Thank you, wanted to check because I've read that that only happens on the plastron, not the carapace
What you are seeing is dead bone. I can't say why there are so many areas of it, IE why the integrity of the scute keratin was breached to expose the underlying bone, but that bone is now dead.
Okay. Thank you for the WEALTH of information. Sincerely. As previously stated, the vet said a few things:
Gosh I do kinda second Alex’s notion that its way out of my depth.. I’m personally with zovik though, you can see areas where it’s likely going to continue to flake off that top layer of keratin, I think this has been damage done long before under your care, I’m thinking it’s going to be one of those ‘it’ll look a whole lot worse before it gets better’ situations. I’m no expert by any means but I don’t personally think the carapace looks like rot, to me it looks like similar damage/abrasion, I could be wrong, but I’d be really surprised to see rot in a Russian, I don’t think athletes foot cream would necessarily hurt to try though.
Please see reply I posted back to @zovick , right above your post, and share thoughts of you have any
I don’t have experience with that medication but it sounds like it could be worth tryingPlease see reply I posted back to @zovick , right above your post, and share thoughts of you have any
If stylet got cream is better than the medicine the vet recommended, I'll go get it tonight
I’m sorry I wish I had better advice for you here, I’m hoping Tom can have a better look at those labs for you
