Funny question

[sheilae04]

Okay, so my new tortoise is doing something funny. I've had him a week and technically haven't seen him eat yet, but I knew that's okay. The funny thing is today he was sitting on his food dish. He ducked into his shell and came out chomping.I didn't want to disturb him but I didn't necessarily see anything in his mouth. He did this a few times while I watched. Is he hiding food in his shell? Ha ha.

 

[dmmj]

is he biting at the air? What type of bulb do you use?

 

[sheilae04]

It's the ones he's been used to from his former owner.Humidity is now 50% and 80 degrees under the light.

 

[sheilae04]

And he's either running away with his food or he has no idea. Lol. Either way it's cute.

 

[wellington]

That enclosure, water dish and food dish is all too small. Russians need a large space, a large low side water dish like a large clay saucer and the water dish you are using now would be better for his food. He needs a space 4x6 minimum or larger. Also are you feeding anything else other then the pellets? Broad leafy greens/weeds should be fed.

 

[sheilae04]

I've tried spring greens, grapes, butternut squash, all things he's eaten in the past. It's winter here, so I was going with what I could find in the stores. Do they sell weeds like dandelions in a natural foods store? I hadn't thought of that and I'm told he likes those too. The enclosure is what he was used to, so I was keeping him in that only until I felt he was acclimated, then he'll be moving into 2 zoomed wooden tortoise houses put together. In the summer, I'd like to have my brother build me a larger outdoor tortoise table with stairs. I soak him in the bathtub in a larger dish. I will change out the food and water dishes. I was actually wondering if he was able to get to his food so I had been setting it outside of the dish. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Lyn W]

The substrate is also a bit dry for a Russian I think. The caresheet will tell you how to increase his humidity with the correct substrate but a good thing to remember is
too cold +humidity = sick tort
correct temps +humidity = healthy tort
I feed my tort on a piece of slate which was only a couple of £s in a gift shop (string removed)


This also helps keep his beak trimmed