kricker
New Member
Purchased a CBB hatchling Russian from Tyler Stewart in Las Vegas. It shipped early December. Since it arrived, it's been extremely reluctant to eat.
I've tried keeping it in two setups -
Either a 10 gal aquarium, wrapped in construction paper on the lower 1/3, or a hutch like this with a ceramic heater and fluorescent full UV spectrum bulb. Coco coir bedding. Reptisun bulb keeping basking spot at @ 100 degrees, other side is consistently around 70. Undertank heater on side of hidebox. At night, turn off everything but the undertank, dropping ambient temp to around 62 degrees. Big piece of slate in the middle of the tank where I try to entice him to feed on spring mix. In the larger enclosure, I've never seen him take a step. In the smaller one, I've seen him eat twice.
Daily baths of roughly 15 min in slightly warmer than lukewarm water in the lid of a food container. Usually poops in the bath. His hidebox up until reading the caresheet on this forum had been dry.
Extremely lethargic. If moved, he'll sit where he's placed, periodically slightly extending his forelimbs and neck, retracting them, and sitting still. Wakes up a bit for baths, walks around the lid he's in. I've seen him eat two pieces of baby romaine roughly the size of his shell.
Today, soaked the coir in his hidebox over the undertank heater until it was thoroughly damp, but not to where it could be wrung out. I'll place him on top of that for the night. The wet coir is warm to the touch.
Seems clearly dehydrated.
I'd love any advice. Never kept a tortoise after success with snakes previously.
I've tried keeping it in two setups -
Either a 10 gal aquarium, wrapped in construction paper on the lower 1/3, or a hutch like this with a ceramic heater and fluorescent full UV spectrum bulb. Coco coir bedding. Reptisun bulb keeping basking spot at @ 100 degrees, other side is consistently around 70. Undertank heater on side of hidebox. At night, turn off everything but the undertank, dropping ambient temp to around 62 degrees. Big piece of slate in the middle of the tank where I try to entice him to feed on spring mix. In the larger enclosure, I've never seen him take a step. In the smaller one, I've seen him eat twice.
Daily baths of roughly 15 min in slightly warmer than lukewarm water in the lid of a food container. Usually poops in the bath. His hidebox up until reading the caresheet on this forum had been dry.
Extremely lethargic. If moved, he'll sit where he's placed, periodically slightly extending his forelimbs and neck, retracting them, and sitting still. Wakes up a bit for baths, walks around the lid he's in. I've seen him eat two pieces of baby romaine roughly the size of his shell.
Today, soaked the coir in his hidebox over the undertank heater until it was thoroughly damp, but not to where it could be wrung out. I'll place him on top of that for the night. The wet coir is warm to the touch.
Seems clearly dehydrated.
I'd love any advice. Never kept a tortoise after success with snakes previously.