Fat, puffy or normal?

DarwinTheTortoise

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38039C7A-345E-48AA-A0BD-2DEF5374AA08.jpeg 8AC057EE-1FE0-430F-9A1E-706B9341648D.jpeg F964A0D0-C5EB-4746-AAE7-54D373F880DB.jpeg My Russian looks puffy around his front legs but only occasionally. I’ve only had him a week so I’m not sure what is normal. These photos were all taken at the same time and show the ‘puffiness’ and then what he looks like most of the time. Could he be fat? The pet shop I bought him from fed him fruity pebbles and Timothy hay, and since I’ve had him he’s been on organic dandelion leaves, spring mix and mustard greens, and I’ll introduce more as we go along. His basking spot is around 95, warm end is 82, cool end is 72. Night stays around 72. I’ll be taking him to a reptile vet for a fecal exam in the next week or so.
 

nightoff

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I'm not very experienced but that first picture definitely looks abnormal (puffy or overweight.) Hopefully someone with more experience can have give you better advice
 

DarwinTheTortoise

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B0F41DD0-8EE9-4D82-B1D5-6D7B09A38212.jpeg This is him right now and everything looks completely normal. Do they just do this when they move their legs a certain way and I’m just being too paranoid? He’s eating, pooping etc.
 

counting

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He looks overweight to me. Even in the "normal" picture I thi k it looks like he has extra flesh hanging out behind his legs especially. It seema common in russians....But I will wait for someone more experienced to chime in.
 
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Usually you can do a quick check for being overweight by checking to see if he can draw his head completely in his shell, but I don't think that's the issue. It looks to me like water retention I saw in a hatchling. Have you been noticing normal bodily functions?
 

DarwinTheTortoise

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Usually you can do a quick check for being overweight by checking to see if he can draw his head completely in his shell, but I don't think that's the issue. It looks to me like water retention I saw in a hatchling. Have you been noticing normal bodily functions?
He’s been pooping but I’ve found it hard to check for urination since he moved into his permanent enclosure a few days ago because there is so much substrate. I give him 15 min soaks every other day- should I be doing more? Less? Could that help?
 

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