- Joined
- Nov 6, 2011
- Messages
- 15
Hello, everyone! :shy:
I am new in this forum, sorry if such kind of a question has already been posted before (although I couldn't find anything similar).
So I have a Russian tortoise named Ralf. He is about 5 years old and I have him since July. During the summertime he was eating well (cabbage is his favorite, but he ate also egg white, lettuce, rocket salad, marrow and all kinds of leaf salad,pears are the only fruits that he loved). I took him to vet to check the worms and to get some vitamins. As I live in Latvia (Eastern Europe), it gets cold in here very soon and approximately by the end of September he stopped eating. I decided not to hibernate him this year and put a ceramic heater in his enclosure (he also has the uvb light) and both are turned on 8-10 hours a day. It is warm enough in his enclosure, especially under the heater, but Ralf seems not to like the warmth and he only wants to sleep. The problem is, he hasn't eaten since the beginning of the October, he sleeps all the time, he only wakes up for 1-2 hours in mid-day just to walk around a little bit, but nothing more (no eating or drinking). I don't know what to do, is this a normal behavior during the cold months of the year or is he sick and I should take him to vet? I bath him every day, his stomach should be empty (although I gave him an egg white a week ago and he took few bites and hasn't pooped yet).I used to add vitamins with calcium to his food, so it shouldn't be a lack of vitamins. His enclosure is as big as I can put in my small apartment - 80 x 80 cm, it is made of wood and stands on the ground. Substrate is river sand plus coconut fibre. Maybe it's too dark in his enclosure as the only light is from UVB?
What would you suggest me to do? I am really worried about my Ralf.
Thank you very much for reading!
I will try to add some pictures of the enclosure
I am new in this forum, sorry if such kind of a question has already been posted before (although I couldn't find anything similar).
So I have a Russian tortoise named Ralf. He is about 5 years old and I have him since July. During the summertime he was eating well (cabbage is his favorite, but he ate also egg white, lettuce, rocket salad, marrow and all kinds of leaf salad,pears are the only fruits that he loved). I took him to vet to check the worms and to get some vitamins. As I live in Latvia (Eastern Europe), it gets cold in here very soon and approximately by the end of September he stopped eating. I decided not to hibernate him this year and put a ceramic heater in his enclosure (he also has the uvb light) and both are turned on 8-10 hours a day. It is warm enough in his enclosure, especially under the heater, but Ralf seems not to like the warmth and he only wants to sleep. The problem is, he hasn't eaten since the beginning of the October, he sleeps all the time, he only wakes up for 1-2 hours in mid-day just to walk around a little bit, but nothing more (no eating or drinking). I don't know what to do, is this a normal behavior during the cold months of the year or is he sick and I should take him to vet? I bath him every day, his stomach should be empty (although I gave him an egg white a week ago and he took few bites and hasn't pooped yet).I used to add vitamins with calcium to his food, so it shouldn't be a lack of vitamins. His enclosure is as big as I can put in my small apartment - 80 x 80 cm, it is made of wood and stands on the ground. Substrate is river sand plus coconut fibre. Maybe it's too dark in his enclosure as the only light is from UVB?
What would you suggest me to do? I am really worried about my Ralf.
Thank you very much for reading!
I will try to add some pictures of the enclosure