RT Sleeping more

[sunny_27]

Good morning friends!

I am a fairly new RT guardian, so I'm still learning about what is normal behavior. Sunny has been with us since June, we adopted him from a rescue. We aren't sure how old he is since we only know his previous owner had him for some years and we don't know where she acquired him but we assume it was a pet shop.

He is usually very routinely. We turn his lights on around 8 am and he starts to wake up and head to his rock to sleep a little more under his light. But for the past two days, he has stayed buried in his mulch and has been extra lazy. Yesterday he was still in his buried in the mulch until noon. We thought maybe we should force him out of there, because we thought it was odd.

This morning he was again still buried in his mulch after an hour of having his light on, so I decided to wake him up and put him on his rock. His skin did feel colder than usual.

He is eating normally, we soak him for 30 minutes every day, and he gets a minimum of two hours of outside time in his outdoor enclosure.

Is he starting to want to brumate, should I be worried?

Thanks in advance 💚

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello!

Any changes in diet or environment (ambient temperature, for example)?

How long do you keep lights on? Should be 12 hours at least or 13-14 hours to "trick" him that it's summer.

It's early for them to brumate, so it's probably something else.

 

[sunny_27]

Hello!

Any changes in diet or environment (ambient temperature, for example)?

How long do you keep lights on? Should be 12 hours at least or 13-14 hours to "trick" him that it's summer.

It's early for them to brumate, so it's probably something else.

Hi, Alex!

Environment and temperature are the same. For diet, we have changed a bit recently. We were feeding him weeds and testudo seed mix that we grew outside. He ate up all the sow thistle we had outside, which he liked a lot. We were giving him mulberry leaves too but he really didn't care for them, so we stopped giving him those. He stopped liking the testudo mix too, when it got bigger, he seems to like baby greens a lot better, so we are growing some fresh testudo mix for him and hoping he starts eating that again. For now, we are feeding him a mix of the more mature testudo seed mix leaves and started adding some greens from the store (spring mix but picking out the spinach). He really likes the radicchio!

We don't keep his UVB lights on for a full 12 hours since he goes outside, but we do keep his basking light on whenever he is indoor, as well as the ambient light. However, I was actually thinking of adding more ambient light because it's only on his "first floor" of his enclosure and he spends most of his time on the "second floor" so it may not be bright enough on the floor where he spends most of his time.

 

[Tom]

Hi, Alex!

Environment and temperature are the same. For diet, we have changed a bit recently. We were feeding him weeds and testudo seed mix that we grew outside. He ate up all the sow thistle we had outside, which he liked a lot. We were giving him mulberry leaves too but he really didn't care for them, so we stopped giving him those. He stopped liking the testudo mix too, when it got bigger, he seems to like baby greens a lot better, so we are growing some fresh testudo mix for him and hoping he starts eating that again. For now, we are feeding him a mix of the more mature testudo seed mix leaves and started adding some greens from the store (spring mix but picking out the spinach). He really likes the radicchio!

We don't keep his UVB lights on for a full 12 hours since he goes outside, but we do keep his basking light on whenever he is indoor, as well as the ambient light. However, I was actually thinking of adding more ambient light because it's only on his "first floor" of his enclosure and he spends most of his time on the "second floor" so it may not be bright enough on the floor where he spends most of his time.

Lights should be on timers. I like them to come on at sunrise and for a temperate species, I keep them on for 13 hours, unless I'm trying to induce brumation.

Almost everyone who keeps tortoise should add more ambient light. Few of us keep it bright enough.

To get him eating the better foods, chop small amounts of the new stuff and mix it in with a chopped up pile of the old favorite. Use hardly any at first and move gradually. You don't need to remove the spinach. Some spinach once in a while is good for them. Favor endive and escarole from the store, but use the lettuces and many other greens for variety. Add in the right amendments to grocery store foods the make them better, and you can also use the grocery store greens to get him eating the better stuff.

 

[sunny_27]

Lights should be on timers. I like them to come on at sunrise and for a temperate species, I keep them on for 13 hours, unless I'm trying to induce brumation.

Almost everyone who keeps tortoise should add more ambient light. Few of us keep it bright enough.

To get him eating the better foods, chop small amounts of the new stuff and mix it in with a chopped up pile of the old favorite. Use hardly any at first and move gradually. You don't need to remove the spinach. Some spinach once in a while is good for them. Favor endive and escarole from the store, but use the lettuces and many other greens for variety. Add in the right amendments to grocery store foods the make them better, and you can also use the grocery store greens to get him eating the better stuff.

We definitely don't want to induce brumation 😅 so I'll definitely keep his lights on longer. I just now added a lamp closer to his enclosure, just temporarily until I can add something more permanent.

Great tip about chopping up the different greens and mixing them together. I'll try that today! Good to know about the spinach too. I have seen on some online videos that you can buy dried flowers and add it on top of their greens, I thought that sounded like a great idea to keep him interested in his food/ a nice treat. He LOVES dandelions. We haven't tried many other flowers though.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Adding more ambient lighting might help to tricking him into thinking it is summer. Something in the 5000 to 6500 K is recommended to simulate sunlight. The Arcadia Jungle dawn LED bars are probably the out there on the market if you can get them.

 

[sunny_27]

Adding more ambient lighting might help to tricking him into thinking it is summer. Something in the 5000 to 6500 K is recommended to simulate sunlight. The Arcadia Jungle dawn LED bars are probably the out there on the market if you can get them.

Okay great! I'll look into the LED bar and hopefully more lighting and adjusting his food will do the trick. I just put him outside in his enclosure and he went straight for the new testudo sprouts.

Is it okay to only feed him the testudo seed sprouts or is it better to feed him the mature stuff? I think his preference is crisp greens and not soft greens. I think that's why he likes the stuff from the store too.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Mature leaves usually have more fiber, less moisture and higher in stuff like tannins. But he needs to get used to that - fiber helps with moving things through intestines. Less nutritious foods high in fiber is the bulk of their diet in the wild.