Greetings - I'm Zach from Louisiana. My eight year old has been wanting a turtle from some time and he finally convinced me to get one. When we got to Petsmart and they told us that the turtles needed live crickets we opted to get a tortoise. We like them better anyway but I just wasn't planning on spending that much money. We bought Sasha a female Russian tortoise on 6/30/12. We did everything that we could to care for her well. Her first day she would eat from our hands and she was very active. The next day it was like she was a different tortoise - very lethargic and uninterested in food. We tried different foods, we tried soaking her, taking her outside and nothing seemed to work. We contacted Petsmart and they assured us that everything was probably okay but we could make a vet appointment if we were worried. They said it was just the shock of moving and that tortoises could store food/water for weeks at a time. We made an appointment anyway, 3 weeks from the day that we purchased her and she passed away that morning before the appointment. It sucked. We went to Petsmart later that week and we got another tortoise - this time a Greek, and they said this one is a male - we named him Zeus (please confirm this is male, I can't tell). We thoroughly cleaned the old habitat, used new bark etc and Zeus seemed to be in perfect health his first few days. We are now on day 6 of owning him and he seems to be showing similar signs as Sasha. He's uninterested in food, hides under a log and sleeps non stop. I've tried soaking him with half water/half pedialite and he remains the same. Please take a look at my photos and tell if you see a red flag - we are now really attached to this little guy and can't bear to lose another one.
New Tortoise Owner - Struggling...
- Thread starter zachcaulk
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Just to be upfront it is next to impossible to kill a tortoise in 3 weeks, so please don't think you had something to do with it. Hell they can go 3 weeks without eating and not die. The main problem with petco/petsmart russians is they are wild caught, so you don't really know how old of a tortoise you are getting. First thing I would do is take it in for a vet check, and get a fecal done for parasites. What temps are you keeping the greek at? Also if you are feeding gim the fruit and vegetable small animal food I would stop. Are you feeding just commercial food? (nothing wrong just trying to see what it's diet is like).
Welcome!
At petsmart they had the food bowl filled with the tortoise food in the pic and then about 30% of it filled with the fruit mix in the pic. We had some iceberg lettuce that we would give him pieces of until someone said to use red lettuce so we've done that - but he won't really eat much more than a bite. He seemed to get really excited about some cucumbers as we usually have to dangle it in front of his face for a good few minutes and he went right for the cucumber bits right away. But the main portion of his diet are what we have in the pics. The temperature during the day stays at about 80 degrees in the middle of the habitat - it's warmer on the heat lamp end and cooler on the other end. Like are other one - he is spending the majority of his time on the heat lamp side hiding underneath an arch log.
Welcome to the Forum, Zach.
I have no idea what is wrong with your tortoise, but I see lots wrong with how you provide for the tortoise.
Get rid of the compact flourescent bulb and only use the MVB. Two UVB's is over-kill. Its probably warm enough in your house at night that you don't need night heat.
Your habitat is too warm. The tortoise needs a nice, hot spot directly under the light, but he also needs to be able to get away from the heat, and your tub is too small for him to find a cooler place.
Stop feeding the manufactured diets and feed him dark, leafy greens that you either pick from the yard (weeds free of pesticides/herbicides) or buy from the produce store...dandelion greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, endive, escarole are all good choices. Choose one or two types then next time you shop choose two different types.
Soak the tortoise in warm water every other day for about 15 minutes.
If its at all possible, set the tortoise up outside where he can graze naturally in the sun.
When you have time, read through some of the old posts about the Greek tortoises here on the forum. It will give you a better picture of how to care for your tortoise.
Good luck with your tortoise. I hope you are able to make him healthy and happy.
I have no idea what is wrong with your tortoise, but I see lots wrong with how you provide for the tortoise.
Get rid of the compact flourescent bulb and only use the MVB. Two UVB's is over-kill. Its probably warm enough in your house at night that you don't need night heat.
Your habitat is too warm. The tortoise needs a nice, hot spot directly under the light, but he also needs to be able to get away from the heat, and your tub is too small for him to find a cooler place.
Stop feeding the manufactured diets and feed him dark, leafy greens that you either pick from the yard (weeds free of pesticides/herbicides) or buy from the produce store...dandelion greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, endive, escarole are all good choices. Choose one or two types then next time you shop choose two different types.
Soak the tortoise in warm water every other day for about 15 minutes.
If its at all possible, set the tortoise up outside where he can graze naturally in the sun.
When you have time, read through some of the old posts about the Greek tortoises here on the forum. It will give you a better picture of how to care for your tortoise.
Good luck with your tortoise. I hope you are able to make him healthy and happy.
Hi and welcome! I think Yvonne covered just about all the things that had popped out at me. I also am not a big fan of the type of substrate your using. Don't get discouraged, it takes time and redoing things to get habitats set up correctly. Another thing I wondered about, is your son playing with the tortoise? Until this one gets settled in and is doing well, I would limit that if possible. 
Cool pics!
What types of substrate do you suggest? And I'm sure my son has handled him more than he should right now. I appreciate the advice, I got rid of the other light, swapped to natural foods and Zeus went to his food bowl at least twice that I've seen!
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