lazy tortoise

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ehopkins12

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Hi there. Question about my male Russian. He is very lazy! He eats great but just doesn't do a whole lot other than eat and sleep. I thought this was normal until I saw my female that I bought recently. She is much more active right off the bat than my male has ever been. My male seems to be become increasingly inactive. He still doesn't fail to eat...a lot! He is very alert though, he always knows when I'm around and will occasionally walk around. I let him walk around my house sometimes but he usually just goes off under something and falls asleep. He's basically given up burrowing all together as well. He's never been much of a digger (at least in comparison to my new female) but now he's not digging at all. Is this possibly because it's winter? Or is there something wrong with him?
 

chadk

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My male goes through slumps like that. And my female is also much more active than him usually.

Keep your temp gradients right, and have good moist diggable substrate, hides on warm and cool ends, and good quality food, and your torts should do fine. There could be issues, like parasites, so keep an eye on him. But as long as your husbandry is good, I would not worry too much.
 

-ryan-

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Welcome to the world of russian tortoises! :) But you left one thing out: Mating. My male basically eats, sleeps, basks (usually well sleeping) and mates. In fact, sometimes he doesn't do enough eating because he gets distracted by the females (if you know what I mean) when he approaches the food tray. On the other hand, I notice that my females go through stages. At times they only sleep and eat, and at other times they have active days where they explore the enclosure quite a bit. They get really active, grumpy, and frantic just before they dig a nest and lay eggs. Wait till you see that! :)

Also, I am not sure that your female will reproduce right away based on her size and the fact that she has gone through so much as an import, but be prepared, because as soon as you see her start nesting (attempting to excavate with her hind legs) you need to get her on about 8-10" of dirt so she can nest successfully.

Good luck with the torts!
 
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