Sleepy male Russian tortoise?

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Anybody else have male Russian tortoises that seem less active at this time? My female is rather active, but my male seems content to stay buried under the substrate. When I dig him out, he looks great (his shell has never looked better), and he even feeds once he's out, but the next day he's back underground.

I'm not sure if it's the new substrate that he likes so much (humid coco coir), or if it's just the time of year. In Central Asia, he would be aestivating right about now, although the females wouldn't be just yet. Do you think it's just his biological clock, even if the temperatures are comfortable? Or maybe he just needs some more time outdoors. How are your male Russians behaving these days?

 

[GBtortoises]

All of my Russian tortoises are currently outdoors and buried, male and female alike, have been for at least three weeks. What they would be doing in their native habitat at the moment has no bearing on their action in captivity. They're actions are based solely on their surroundings; light duration and intensity, humidity (or lack of), temperatures, food availability and probaby things like barometric pressures that we do not sense as well. Whatever environment that they're exposed to will determine how they will react, not a former one.

Depending upon environmental conditions, Russian tortoises will bury themselves for months on end if given the means to do so. I've seen my Russians within the same enclosure, exposed to the same conditions, do very opposite things. Much like you state, one may be buried for weeks while others are out rambling around. I've never had any concern over it. I trust that they know what they're doing.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Maybe light duration is a cue for them. It has been shown that Colorado pike minnows become primed for breeding in an indoor aquarium, as long as they can see daylight coming through a window; the longer days of summer signal to them that it's time to migrate and spawn (which is, of course, tough to do in a tank). A similar effect might be at play here with my tortoises.

I am keeping all my Russian tortoises' conditions the same, except for the substrate. I recently switched to coco coir after I found it in bulk, and I really think the tortoises prefer it, since it is "diggable," retains humidity well, and does not harbor pests. However, it seems like in the spring and early summer my male was the more active one, and now in late summer my female is the more active one. This does seem to be consistent with their phenology, or the timing of their behavioral patterns in the wild. So, although I'm sure prevailing conditions count for a lot, I wonder if there might not also be some innate instincts at work here, too, perhaps mediated by day length.

 

[ascott]

tossing in my two cents.... I too believe that instinct does play a role in some actions, I know that current environment is the primary trigger for alot of behaviors, however, with the length of time that these guys have been around, instinct absolutely has to play a steadfast role.... okay, butting out now , carry on

 

[tyler0912]

tossing in my two cents.... I too believe that instinct does play a role in some actions, I know that current environment is the primary trigger for alot of behaviors, however, with the length of time that these guys have been around, instinct absolutely has to play a steadfast role.... okay, butting out now , carry on

Let me butt in also.....^^^2nd this^^^ Butting out bye.

 

[GBtortoises]

Instinct definitely does play a role in some (most) actions that a tortoise does. One of the definitions of the word instinct is: "Biological Drive: an inborn pattern of behavior characteristics of a species and shaped by biological necessities such as survival and reproduction". The biological necessities that are being referred to are the environmental influences of light duration, intensity, temperatures and so on. In other words, the tortoises react to their environment, whatever it may be. But they can only react to the environment that they are currently in, not a former one in the wild.

 

[lynnedit]

I have not had my male long enough to establish a pattern yet, just a couple of weeks. We have had perfect tort weather and he has been very active, until the past cooler day, when he hunkered down in his outside hide for a good part of the day.
My 2 females have had periods of time (several weeks) where one or the other will burrow most of the time (even when conditions were good, either inside or out) and just don't get up for a day or two, or longer, even in good weather. One did this for several weeks in June. Yet they seem perfectly healthy.
Mine have all been outdoors since July full time when the weather finally cooperated.
Overall, survival instinct must play some role, because some of their behavior flies in the face of what is happening with the weather. Maybe there are periods where they need to just take a break from eating, etc., sort of a built in memory of the 'eat everything in site/hibernate or estivate' cycle. However, current weather conditions do seem to have the most influence.
I can certainly understand torts in the NY area hunkering down with the recent weird barometric pressure changes, in addition to days becoming shorter.
Gary, from past experience, are your torts winding down at this point, or does that final wind down come later?

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Here's an update for you guys. The female also buried herself deep in the coco coir yesterday, but today she has her head poking out (adorable, BTW), while the male is still completely covered. Again, this could mean that, although coco coir feels very nice for them to dig into, the female still feels like being at least somewhat active, while the male doesn't. So, this difference in behavior could be instinctive for them. Of course, I don't have a whole bunch of males and females to make this comparison with, but that's why I'm asking if any others are seeing the same thing. Hard to make the comparison, though, since there are so many other variables (substrate, geographic location, indoors vs. outdoors, etc.).

 

[GBtortoises]

"Gary, from past experience, are your torts winding down at this point, or does that final wind down come later?"

Actually all of my tortoises remain active throughout late September and depending upon daytime temperatures and daylight intensity, sometime do so through mid October. Here where I live I am at an altitude of about 2,000 feet above sea level, in the mountains so the day to night temperatures become farther apart from each other and can change dramatically as fall and winter approach (as well as in the spring). Last night was about 50 degrees, today it is supposed to reach 80 degrees later in the afternoon. Throughout September the night time temperature will get much colder, in the 40's, possibly hitting the high 30's. As long as the daytime temperatures reach the mid 60's and the sun comes out bright, the tortoises will be active. They just will not be active for as long during the daytime. They'll come out of their shelters later in the day and go back in earlier in the evening. In other words they react to their environment.

I do not begin bringing them indoors, (those that come indoors), until early to mid October, depending upon weather conditions.

 

[Ashliewood]

My male Russian is sleeping allot in his burrow. He comes out to eat and I get him out to soak. He will bask for a bit then go hide again

 

[Jacqui]

After reading you question yesterday, I kept taking some long looks and trying to compare with my gang. I could not see any difference in my two males compared to the females. All seemed to come out of their holes near the same time to start their morning ritual of sunbathing. All came running when the saw me in their area bringing food. Never noticed a gender separation for when they all went in for the night either. It was a female that was out first, but also a female who went in first (and not the same one).

 

[pdelpizzo]

I have two male russians (I'm pretty sure they're both male) and the larger more healthy one just started sleeping more the other day. He's been staying burried in the coconut coir most of the day. The smaller one was battling parasites and dehydration for awhile and is now too busy enjoying his good health and big appetite to bother sleeping. Interesting though.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Very informative. Sounds like this might be the time of year they start becoming less active. Here's an update for you. A couple days ago, the female started doing the same thing: burying herself deep down in the coco coir (which is about 6" deep or more) and not coming out. Saturday mornings are their bath time, so I rummaged around in their enclosures and found them. Both were deep beneath the shallow water dishes. Humidity is high under the surface, but maybe it's even a bit higher under the dishes, which spill out some water from time to time. Well, both tortoises were fine. Interestingly, their shells were yellower than usual, apparently due to the humidity down there. Anyway, I gave them breakfast (spring mix, dandelion, and plantago), and they ate well. Now they are basking.

 

[lynnedit]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Very informative. Sounds like this might be the time of year they start becoming less active. Here's an update for you. A couple days ago, the female started doing the same thing: burying herself deep down in the coco coir (which is about 6" deep or more) and not coming out. Saturday mornings are their bath time, so I rummaged around in their enclosures and found them. Both were deep beneath the shallow water dishes. Humidity is high under the surface, but maybe it's even a bit higher under the dishes, which spill out some water from time to time. Well, both tortoises were fine. Interestingly, their shells were yellower than usual, apparently due to the humidity down there. Anyway, I gave them breakfast (spring mix, dandelion, and plantago), and they ate well. Now they are basking.

Glad to know they are doing fine. Being so humid 'down there', they don't get dehydrated, and they just know that is it OK for them to do. They can't maintain the heavy spring/summer eating schedule, nor should they, and they also must also know that. Because they are inside, it does seem wise to check them at least weekly (bath, offer food) and then let them do what they want. Mine seem to be a lot happier when I don't mess with their preferences too much.
thanks for the update.