Is my tortoise sick?

[Donnasmama]

Hello, I’m a new tortoise mommy (kind of) I had a tortoise years and years ago that I inherited but he died (from old age believe it or not, was in the family for generations) so I’m a bit rusty on tortoise care. This is my first Russian Tortoise. I’ve read all the books and thought I was doing everything right but my tortoise seems sick? Brought her home two days ago. First two days she was very active wandering around her new home and eating everything. Today she has seemed very lethargic. She went to sleep around 6 ish last night, slept til about 9, hasn’t touched her food at all today. She came out of her house to bask and has since fallen asleep under the lamp and is now sleeping in the light. She seems to be sleeping a lot and it’s worrying me. Warm side of her enclosure is around 96-97, cool side is 85, humidity is about 43ish? She has no runny nose or eyes or anything and looks normal and poops are normal too. What am I doing wrong? I really want her to be okay. I have a vet appointment set up with her on Thursday (that’s the soonest they have available) but worried about her. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

 

[Golden Greek Tortoise 567]

Books usually have old outdated info, this care sheet will make your russian torts life much better ?.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tom]

The behavior sounds pretty normal. Once they've eaten, no need to be out and about exposed to predators. Then the basking is needed to warm up and digest the food.

All the while the tortoise is in new and unfamiliar territory. Are their other hostile tortoises around? Predators? Where is my shelter? What is the food over there? I remember the water being the other way... This substrate smells funny... Etc...

A wild caught Russian can take weeks or months to settle in.