Russian Tortoise not eating

[MateyTort]

Hello! I have a russian tortoise that is approximately 3 years old. We recently got her July 1, 2018. We used to take her outside for walks when it was warm out. Now we are in the fall and it is too cold for her. She is kept indoors.

Last week she started eating less and burrowing. We would take her out to walk around the house, but the house is set at 65degrees Fahrenheit, which didn't make her move at all. She is in the Tortoise House by ZooMed. She has a basking lamp that gets up to 95degrees Fahrenheit as well as a UVB bulb. There is a hideout on either end of the house, water for drinking/soaking, and her food dish. The temperature used to not go below 70 at night during the summer when we would have the AC on. Now it is cooler and we keep our thermostat set to 65. I am not sure if the temperature is what is making her burrow and sleep all day and why she hasn't eaten much the past 5 days. She gets a 20-30 minute soak every week.

Is there a way we can help keep the temperature up more at night? Right now the basking lamp and the UVB lamp are hanging on a lamp stand over the screened part of the tortoise house. These are on a timer and come on at 730am and turn off at 930pm each day. We can't use a heating pad as the tortoise house is wood. I have never used a ceramic bulb for heat and wouldn't know where to put it since there are already two bulbs. We have a reptile thermometer/hygrometer set up on each end wall of the tortoise house. Sometimes when we get up in the morning it says it is almost 60degrees.

As for food, she gets leafy veggies such as radicchio, dandelion leaves and escarole.

Any suggestions on helping to maintain a consistent temperature as we are heading into colder and drier winter temps? We are worried about her

-Laura

 

[Minority2]

Some picture(s) of your enclosure and lighting setup will be most helpful in determining what may be the cause and what may require changing.

1. The zoo med tortoise house is most likely too small for a 3 year old Russian tortoise. Your adult tortoise should be given at least a 6-8 x 3-4 ft enclosure.

2. 65F is low for a daytime cool side temperature. The cool side should at least be 70-80F during the day, possibly more during winter months when outside temperatures can lower the ambient temperatures of an open enclosure.

3. What type of reptile thermometer/hygrometer reader are you using?

Please be specific. Some cheaper models are not very accurate.

4. Are the temperature readings based on your room thermostat temperature or the temperature inside the enclosure?

5. A ceramic heat emitter or reptile basic heating panel paired with a thermostat will allow you to set night time temperatures to a certain range. Use that if your temperatures drop below 65-60F during the night.

6. Soaking every week is not enough. Stick to 2 to 3 times a week for your adult tortoise.

7. Do not use a heating pad. They are not safe for tortoises or any other reptiles.

8. Veggies and other store bought greens should not be a main staple to a Russian's diet. They require more broad leaf weeds, flowers, and succulents. Here is a very detailed care sheet on Russian tortoises:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/