Sleeping

killdashnine

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Joined
Apr 4, 2020
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17
Location (City and/or State)
NYC
2 yo Egyptian tortoise (new). Sleeping a lot (22+ hrs. day). At night sleeps in hide, at day wakes up walks over to favourite spot which is 88-90. He's eating normally. Wondering if this is normal behavior?

Temperatures:
- Basking: 95f
- Day (High/Low): 75-90
- Night: 70
 

ShirleyTX

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Nov 4, 2017
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Canyon Lake TX USA
I have a four-year-old and a one-year-old. Today they were awake for about 10 minutes, I swear. And that was because I woke them up to offer them food LOL. Some days they are very active and stay awake for hours. Other days they sleep and sleep. I think that when they are slightly cooler and they have eaten only fresh weeds, they are more active. But that is just my own observation and not at all scientific. When I got my first Egyptian, she wouldn’t even come out. She stayed in a hide around the clock for about a week. I thought there must be something wrong with her, but she was just fine. I think you should expect to see more active days from your tort, but I wouldn’t worry yet. You might try experimenting just a little by reducing the temperature. While they do live natively in a hot environment, mine have never seemed to be the happiest when it is too hot. I generally don’t let their basking spot go above 90° and often let it hover in the high 80s. The ambient temperature is 70 to 80°.
 
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killdashnine

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Apr 4, 2020
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NYC
I think they're fairly sensitive to both temp and humidity conditions. Seems to be most active in afternoon (1-3p) with temp of 80-90 and humidity of 60-70%. As soon as humidifier turned off and drops to 20% ambient goes back to sleep.
 

killdashnine

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Apr 4, 2020
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Location (City and/or State)
NYC
For anyone still following the tortoise is much more active. Some days runs around for hours before tiring out.

- time. 6m+. takes time to adjust to any change
- reduce lighting. I had a arcadia 12% bulb + basking bulb. I noticed the animal was light sensitive, always seeking dark places. I replaced basking bulb with ceramic heater. this made a big diff in activity level
- raised temperature. 95f to 75f, always on
- humidity. fogger runs 1 hr in morning, 1 hr in afternoon
 
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