I_12517
New Member
What's wrong with my tortoise? Am I doing something wrong? Does she need to go to the vet?
I have a Russian tortoise that is about 6-7 years old. Recently (the last few weeks) she has been hiding/burrowing all day and not eating. She is usually very active but gets less so in the winter even though I keep her inside with a basking bulb and do not hibernate her. The last two years I've had her she did not get less active this early in the year. I did stop taking her outside in her outdoor enclosure earlier this year than the last few years. I'm going to try to put her outside again this weekend to see if anything changes.
Is there something I'm doing wrong that could cause her to act like this?
-Temp- Basking- 90F; 70-72 away from hear bulb. Low to mid 60s at night
-She has UVB (not coil type; about 1 ft. away)
-Diet (when she used to eat)- endive, escarole, radicchio, clover, dandelion, tortoise hay from tortoisesupply.com, other plants from the broadleaf mix from tortoisesupply (she does not like those as much though), occasionally some Mazuri)
-Substrate- it was coco chips mixed with cypress mulch but I changed it to cypress mulch and orchid bark about a month ago
-I haven't seen her poop recently but she also hasn't really eaten
-I've tried soaking her, it did not help
I tried putting a picture of her enclosure her, not sure if it will work or not
Do you think I should have another heat bulb to make the basking spot bigger?
I have a Russian tortoise that is about 6-7 years old. Recently (the last few weeks) she has been hiding/burrowing all day and not eating. She is usually very active but gets less so in the winter even though I keep her inside with a basking bulb and do not hibernate her. The last two years I've had her she did not get less active this early in the year. I did stop taking her outside in her outdoor enclosure earlier this year than the last few years. I'm going to try to put her outside again this weekend to see if anything changes.
Is there something I'm doing wrong that could cause her to act like this?
-Temp- Basking- 90F; 70-72 away from hear bulb. Low to mid 60s at night
-She has UVB (not coil type; about 1 ft. away)
-Diet (when she used to eat)- endive, escarole, radicchio, clover, dandelion, tortoise hay from tortoisesupply.com, other plants from the broadleaf mix from tortoisesupply (she does not like those as much though), occasionally some Mazuri)
-Substrate- it was coco chips mixed with cypress mulch but I changed it to cypress mulch and orchid bark about a month ago
-I haven't seen her poop recently but she also hasn't really eaten
-I've tried soaking her, it did not help
I tried putting a picture of her enclosure her, not sure if it will work or not
Do you think I should have another heat bulb to make the basking spot bigger?