Long weekend away..

[CaviLyn]

All,

We have a new Russian in my home, Shellie. She is joining our very busy family life. Occasionally we take weekend trips. What is the longest we can 'safely' leave her with water and and a full dish of food. 1 night? 2 nights? I wouldn't think any more...

Should we leave her UVB and Heat lamp off/On? or buy a timer for them?

 

[wellington]

The longest I have left my leopard tort with no one checking in on him was two nights. I feed extra portion and give fresh water before I leave in the a.m. say on Friday. Then on Sunday when I get home I go right too him first and give fresh water and food and a soak. I also soaked him the Thursday before. Put all lights on times. If your using a CHE for heat, I would put it on a thermostat too if possibly. My was also in the house at that time and I did not use a thermostat just the timers. Never a problem, he is three and 1/2 now and has never been sick.

 

[wellington]

Oh, btw, now that he lives outside in a heated tort garage and grazing yard, I have someone look in on him and the others I now have every day I am gone, so they can be let in and out and locked up at night. In the winter time, when they cannot go outside, I will only have someone come in if it's more the. Two nights. Again, I have timers and now thermostats.

 

[CaviLyn]

I should note, Shellie has her enclosure in the house.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

A couple of days. Timers are great for all the time too, because they help if you forget, aren't there... Give him an extra large helping of food before you leave, and make sure he is soaked/subtrate is damp...

 

[smarch]

I've had too leave my Russian alone for a couple of weekend trips, one because we recently took a weekend trip with my go to tortoise sitter, so we both had to leave our little guys alone. I've always just made sure he's well hydrated and then pile up extra food and keep his UV light on but not heat so he stays slightly less active while i'm gone (to avoid him getting reckless and flipping). I've never gotten timers since I like needing to wake up to wake him up (depression makes it hard to get up, he needs me to wake up so is my reason to wake up). He's never had a problem and is always fine when I come back. Part of me thinks he likes the little vacation from all the hustle and bustle of my house.
The only time I've ever had trouble was last time was when Tropical Storm/Hurricane Arthur was headed up and we got some crazy thunderstorms up here in MA and a few tornado warnings, while I got to sit up in NH 3.5 hours away worrying... that wasn't pleasant!