Is my Russian just a bit homesick?

[HelloBella]

Hi I've had my Russian tortoise for four days now. She's a big six year old who I've adopted from a friend who's moving abroad. The morning I went to collect her she had just polished off her breakfast and my firennd told me she was a keen eater. However, I haven't seen her take a single bite of anything since I brought her home with me. I've been offering her salad greens from the super market which is what my friend also regularly fed her(with the snow there hasn't been a chance yet to go picking weeds), but she has been ignoring these. I've also offered her the odd strawberry (I know they're on the naughty list but apparently she loves them as a treat and I thought it would tempt her), but she's ignoring this as well.

She has her ambient temperature up around 25(celcius) and at night this drops down to house temperature ~17 and she gets her UV 12 hours a day.

I'm looking for someone to reassure me that she's just a bit homesick and only needs a bit of time to settle in.

 

[cemmons12]

Moving them causes stress on them. I would soak her in warm water everyday to make sure she stays hydrated, but I wouldn't handle her other then the soak so she can adjust and calm down, I would think she will get back to normal soon. Is your setup about the same as she had?

 

[wellington]

DITTO. Tortoises don't get home such. That is a human thing. They just need time to get adjusted to their new surroundings. They have no clue what dangers are waiting for them in this new area. She will figure it out and will be fine. It probably won't take long, but could take upto a month.

 

[HelloBella]

Moving them causes stress on them. I would soak her in warm water everyday to make sure she stays hydrated, but I wouldn't handle her other then the soak so she can adjust and calm down, I would think she will get back to normal soon. Is your setup about the same as she had?

Hi Cemmons

I guess I've changed her set-up quite a lot. She was being kept in Hamster-style wood chip but I've changed that to a sand/soil/woodchip mix and given her a few plants and a bathing pool which she didn't have before. Bit of a shock to the system I guess. Thanks four your reassurance.