Russian Behavior

[Creteloc]

Couple questions on my sickly Russian

1. He walks on his toenails. Is that normal? On coir he walks flat-footed but when he goes up on the rock that I feed him on, he walks on the tips of his toenails.

2. He hissed at me. I was putting medicine on the plastron at his neck and he hissed at me. I'm afraid he's been so abused that he's going to be mean now that he's feeling better. Think he'll warm up? How can I get him to stop being so afraid of me? I have to put medicine on his neck.

Think that's all...

 

[ascott]

he is not hissing, that hissin noise is simply him being started/scared by your motion/movement....he is not being mean

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The hissing is likely accompanied by a tortoise pulling in their head or arms and such and while doing these sudden movements on his part he pushed in on his body and his lungs and this sudden rush of air moving is the hissing sound you hear.....completely a physical thing and not an aggressive thing.....they ram you for the aggression

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Also, with the length of the beak overgrowth he is working on his nails are also going to be a bit long....feeding him on the rock will let his beak and nails get worn down...also if you place a few of the flat rocks in the enclosure he will walk across those and wear down the nails.....hence when he walks on the dirt the nails have a place to sink into and when on the hard surface they do not...so you see him walk that way...

 

[Talka]

Giving them medicine is always stressful. Sheldon "hisses" at me when I do it. I call it sniffling. It's their way of protesting. Just keep at it, he'll get over it.

 

[pdrobber]

it appears that he is walking flat footed on coir because his claws go through the coir so his feet are touching the ground. On the feeding stone, he is walking on his claws. This is normal for them. Also, it may be that when he is walking on the rock his body is at an angle so it's like he's pulling himself up and the angle causes it to be like that.

the hissing sound is just him quickly exhaling as he pulls his head inside.

 

[dmmj]

The hissing sound is from them withdrawing quickly into their shell, like air shouting out. It is a scared or startled response. Don't fear russians usually don't hold a grudge, they respond to love and attention quickly, they do require time to do so though.

 

[Creteloc]

Little bugger is driving me nuts. I'm supposed to lessen his time on the substrate to keep his tail out of the coir... suuuuure. He slept solely in his hide, buried in timothy hay, for days, but last night he dug into the substrate so deeply I couldn't see anything but a lump. So I dutifully dug him up and headed him into the hide... he promptly walked out and dug a new hole, burying himself again. UNCLE =P

 

[Utah Lynn]

It sounds to me like far along on the road to recovery. Good Job. You think you're busy now? Wait 'til Summer and you have to keep track of him outside. Tanya, who was/is the Vet taking care of Chekov?

 

[Creteloc]

It's the Pet Vet in Clearfield. Nice guy!

 

[lynnedit]

Russians sure know what they want! The fact that he has an opinion must mean he is getting healthier!