Brittmarie24
New Member
Hi there,
First backstory info:
I’m pretty new to keeping my Russian tortoise. Oddly enough, she was found wondering the streets of a local neighborhood and since I’m a reptile rehabilitator (mostly alligators, removing snakes, and occasional turtle shell patch) they called me thinking she was a baby gopher tortoise and didn’t want her hit by a car. I realized she was a Russian and no doubt either someone dumped her or she escaped an enclosure but either way she had been on her own for a while. Vet checked her out, gave her all clear.
Fast forward 6 months later, she lives in a 15ftx15ft enclosure outside we originally had set up for rehabbing box turtles. She has two “pond” areas for soaking and a water bowl and has lots of vegetation to nibble on throughout the day like swamp hibiscus and stuff but I also supplement with every other day feedings of variety of greens and fruits and veggies (all from recommended list provided by vet). I change it up regularly so she always has some new stuff to eat so she gets plenty of variety and nutrients.
Okay, now that I’ve said all that: my worry is about her brumating for the first time! It’s been an 85+ degree F October, but the last two days it dropped to 40 degrees at night, 60 degrees during day, as is typical with crazy Ga schizophrenic weather.
She started making a burrow but she’s never been that great at burrowing? She makes like little half burrows just covering herself enough I assumed because of heat. I just thought when it got cold she would actually dig but she did the same thing over the last week and just made a little burrow deep enough to cover herself and that’s it. She has pine straw covering her back end and two logs she’s kinda pushed together over top of her burrow, honestly it looks more like a miniature beaver dam than a tortoise burrow?? I’m very concerned I need to bring her in but I don’t want to incorrectly house her and she not go into brumation. I have read about bringing her inside with a large sterile bin and coco fibers and dirt but I’d rather dig her a burrow outside myself and help her out? Would that be enough? She’s already stopped eating and has been pretty inactive for the past two days. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
First backstory info:
I’m pretty new to keeping my Russian tortoise. Oddly enough, she was found wondering the streets of a local neighborhood and since I’m a reptile rehabilitator (mostly alligators, removing snakes, and occasional turtle shell patch) they called me thinking she was a baby gopher tortoise and didn’t want her hit by a car. I realized she was a Russian and no doubt either someone dumped her or she escaped an enclosure but either way she had been on her own for a while. Vet checked her out, gave her all clear.
Fast forward 6 months later, she lives in a 15ftx15ft enclosure outside we originally had set up for rehabbing box turtles. She has two “pond” areas for soaking and a water bowl and has lots of vegetation to nibble on throughout the day like swamp hibiscus and stuff but I also supplement with every other day feedings of variety of greens and fruits and veggies (all from recommended list provided by vet). I change it up regularly so she always has some new stuff to eat so she gets plenty of variety and nutrients.
Okay, now that I’ve said all that: my worry is about her brumating for the first time! It’s been an 85+ degree F October, but the last two days it dropped to 40 degrees at night, 60 degrees during day, as is typical with crazy Ga schizophrenic weather.
She started making a burrow but she’s never been that great at burrowing? She makes like little half burrows just covering herself enough I assumed because of heat. I just thought when it got cold she would actually dig but she did the same thing over the last week and just made a little burrow deep enough to cover herself and that’s it. She has pine straw covering her back end and two logs she’s kinda pushed together over top of her burrow, honestly it looks more like a miniature beaver dam than a tortoise burrow?? I’m very concerned I need to bring her in but I don’t want to incorrectly house her and she not go into brumation. I have read about bringing her inside with a large sterile bin and coco fibers and dirt but I’d rather dig her a burrow outside myself and help her out? Would that be enough? She’s already stopped eating and has been pretty inactive for the past two days. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!