Morty's back!

[HuyckB04]

Morty was taken to the vet by Petco because he wasn't eating. He has tested parasite-free and after several days of observation has been eating well. I was able to go pick him up today.

It's great to have him home. I've made a couple of adjustments to his enclosure and diet, thanks to suggestions from various users of this forum.

1. I've started lightly misting the coconut coir substrate with water each morning.
2. Tomatoes have been removed from Morty's diet.
3. I've added green pepper and cucumber to morty's food dish, along with the old staples.
4. I've sunk Morty's food dish deeper into the substrate so that he can see the food from anywhere in the enclosure
5. The timer for the UVB light has been adjusted so that the lamp will be on for 14 hours/day
6. I've unhooked the ceramic heat lamp from the timer to ensure adequate heat 24 hours/day.

Any other suggestions? Here's a picture of my little pal now that he's back!

 

[G-stars]

Glad he's back and doing good. What are your ambient temps? Humidity levels? Night temps? Basking light temps? All those are important. I use a thermostat controller to maintain my temps I just hook up the CHE to it and it maintains the temps where you want it night or day.


— Gus

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Yay! I bet he's happy to feel better
Your coir looks really dry! Try swirling around a couple cups of water in there, just to moisten it up and raise humidity.

 

[Yvonne G]

Is that the food the pet tore advised you to feed him? That's really not good. Please read the diet sheet on this link:

http://russiantortoise.net/russiantortoisediet.htm

 

[HuyckB04]

Glad he's back and doing good. What are your ambient temps? Humidity levels? Night temps? Basking light temps? All those are important. I use a thermostat controller to maintain my temps I just hook up the CHE to it and it maintains the temps where you want it night or day.


— Gus

Temps are as follows:

Basking rock: 92F
Ambient: 76F
Hide: 75F

Humidity unknown. I will be adding water to the coir though.

 

[HuyckB04]

Is that the food the pet tore advised you to feed him? That's really not good. Please read the diet sheet on this link:

http://russiantortoise.net/russiantortoisediet.htm

Excellent article. I'll improve his diet with my next trip to the grocery store. I noticed that spinach is not listed on the recommended foods. Is there a reason for this?

 

[smarch]

Excellent article. I'll improve his diet with my next trip to the grocery store. I noticed that spinach is not listed on the recommended foods. Is there a reason for this?

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/spinach-it-is-not-as-bad-as-you-may-think.35806/
spinach is kind of a controversial food.

 

[smarch]

I remember you saying the pet store torts had cucumber in their diet?
I'm not saying its a good food, since its not, but it may be wise to keep a few slices in his dish each day and slowly lessen it, just so what you know is good food is seen to him as actual food since its with what he knows is food. Frank had the same with tomatoes and now he eats greens perfectly fine.

 

[Tom]

Russians don't usually need night heat, but if you do, I suggest a thermostat to control your ambient temps.

Here is how I like to house and feed them. Hopefully you see some tips you like in there:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/semi-underground-russian-box.98590/

Here are some things not to do:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Tom]

Spinach and cucumber are both okay in small amounts once in a while, but not as a daily food item.