No longer sleeping in his hide

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dhu2154

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I've had little Orson for about 2 1/2 months. He has all the signs of being a happy and very adventurous little tort.

Within the last week though he has stopped sleeping at night in his hide. Instead he either sleeps out in the open of his indoor enclosure or he burrows down into the coco substrate. Both usually right under the red heat lamp.

The San Diego temperature is by no means cold and his enclosure never drops below 80. Is this normal behavior??
 

Jacqui

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The question is not what the weather is in your area or even the temps in your home, what matters are the temps at his level, in his enclosure. What is the temp within his hide? Sounds like they may be too cool for his comfort, especially if the hide is a damp one. Try moving the heat light to his hide or vise versa, then see if he goes back to sleeping in it. Another question is, has he outgrown his hide or did you change it or his enclosure any and way lately?
 

Tom

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Some of mine do this from time to time too. The first steps are to check temps, like Jacqui said. Can you put a remote temperature probe inside the hide over night and see what the temps is? For whatever reason, he wants to be warmer than the temp in his hide.

How is his behavior other than this? Still eating good? No squeaking noises or nasal discharge? Active during the day?
 

dhu2154

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I did recently reverse the position of his hide and his terra Cora water dish. I switched the two to avoid possible water damage to the wood floor from seepage from the terra cota.

I will probe the hide today and tonight and record the temps.

He does occasionally make squeaking noises. They are so soft and cute I didn't think anything of it. No nasal discharge, very active and a voracious eater.

I spray his wooden enclosure as much as possible to keep the humidity as high as possible. As you know wood does not retain humidity as well as glass does. My goal is to keep it as close to 80% as possible, but it seems to settle around 60%. I have a very demanding work schedule that keeps me away from my home approx 12 hours a day. I take him outside for sunshine and exercise as often as possible but can't always have him out there as long as I would like.

Let me know what you think. His growth is not coming along the way that I would like so I just started him on Mazuri yesterday.

I'm trying to be as anal retentive as I can, I just want to make sure I'm making the right choices. There really ought to be a tortoise husbandry expert that makes house calls!! Lol!!!
 

Tom

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Closed chambers make this much easier. With an open top, it will help to cover as much of the top as you can. This will help to prevent your heat and humidity from simply rising up and out into the room.
 

jason g.

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Rose slept outside her hide for a week till I realized when I cleaned the inside of her hide I took out to much of her dirt. I guess she was on protest as soon as I put the amount she likes in there she disappeared in the hide for 24 hours! Spoiled! Lol my bad actually but I learned to check better when I clean.
 
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