- Joined
- Sep 15, 2008
- Messages
- 31
Hi all -
I have some hibernation questions regarding my RT, Yuri. He lives in an outdoor enclosure, and pretty much sets his own schedule: Warm up, walk around, eat, lay around in the warm spots, tucks himself in early, around 1:30 - 2:00 PM.
I tried to include all the important details:
Last year, Yuri hibernated just fine: Made a deep burrow in his usual sleeping place (a "ferret castle" filled with hay) in early November, and emerged in February - headed straight for his feeding dish! He had a check up at the vet last year, and is estimated to be "between 3 - 10 years old."
I am concerned about him being able to hibernate this year. Yes, we are going to the vet next week, but I would like your experienced opinions as well.
3 days ago, I discovered some chipping/peeling on his plastern. It's dry; there is no pink or white showing. The chipping is uniform on each side. I have a tube of Silvadene from the vet (he scraped his carapace in a rose bush last year and required a visit to the vet) - and so I have been gently scrubbing him with Nolvasan and a soft toothbrush once a day, and then applying Silvadene to the chipping/peeling areas twice a day.
This time of year, our mornings are overcast and damp, (although his enclosure is dry) and I am worried that if he has the dreaded Shell Rot, the climate could affect his condition. If he does not have Shell Rot, I am still concerned any chipping/peeling could become infected.
I decided to make life drier and warmer for him, so I set up an indoor enclosure (the 50-gallon Rubbermaid tub, as suggested on russiantortoise.org) with a heat lamp and a UVB bulb, using the suggested substrate and layout.
Yuri has spent the last 2 nights indoors (I turn all his lamps off at night to get the temps in the low 70's) and in the morning, I put his heat and UVB on again. When the sun comes out, I take him back to his outdoor enclosure (after applying Silvadene), where he eats and cruises around. He has always gone back to his sleeping place early, by 2:00 PM, so when he goes in there, I take him out, do the soft Nolvasan scrub, dry him off, apply Silvadene, and place him in his warm dry indoor place (where he promptly makes a nest, and stays in it until morning).
Finally - my questions:
1) If he has any sort of infection on his shell (as determined by the vet), are we catching it early enough for him to return to his outdoor environment and get back on his regular schedule?
2) Have I disrupted his schedule by giving him more warmth and light, thereby depriving him of naturally occurring outdoor "clues" that it is time to get ready to hibernate?
3) Should I play it safe and keep him indoors 100% this winter?
Whew! If anyone has made it to the end of my post - thank you and I look forward to hearing what you have to say
I have some hibernation questions regarding my RT, Yuri. He lives in an outdoor enclosure, and pretty much sets his own schedule: Warm up, walk around, eat, lay around in the warm spots, tucks himself in early, around 1:30 - 2:00 PM.
I tried to include all the important details:
Last year, Yuri hibernated just fine: Made a deep burrow in his usual sleeping place (a "ferret castle" filled with hay) in early November, and emerged in February - headed straight for his feeding dish! He had a check up at the vet last year, and is estimated to be "between 3 - 10 years old."
I am concerned about him being able to hibernate this year. Yes, we are going to the vet next week, but I would like your experienced opinions as well.
3 days ago, I discovered some chipping/peeling on his plastern. It's dry; there is no pink or white showing. The chipping is uniform on each side. I have a tube of Silvadene from the vet (he scraped his carapace in a rose bush last year and required a visit to the vet) - and so I have been gently scrubbing him with Nolvasan and a soft toothbrush once a day, and then applying Silvadene to the chipping/peeling areas twice a day.
This time of year, our mornings are overcast and damp, (although his enclosure is dry) and I am worried that if he has the dreaded Shell Rot, the climate could affect his condition. If he does not have Shell Rot, I am still concerned any chipping/peeling could become infected.
I decided to make life drier and warmer for him, so I set up an indoor enclosure (the 50-gallon Rubbermaid tub, as suggested on russiantortoise.org) with a heat lamp and a UVB bulb, using the suggested substrate and layout.
Yuri has spent the last 2 nights indoors (I turn all his lamps off at night to get the temps in the low 70's) and in the morning, I put his heat and UVB on again. When the sun comes out, I take him back to his outdoor enclosure (after applying Silvadene), where he eats and cruises around. He has always gone back to his sleeping place early, by 2:00 PM, so when he goes in there, I take him out, do the soft Nolvasan scrub, dry him off, apply Silvadene, and place him in his warm dry indoor place (where he promptly makes a nest, and stays in it until morning).
Finally - my questions:
1) If he has any sort of infection on his shell (as determined by the vet), are we catching it early enough for him to return to his outdoor environment and get back on his regular schedule?
2) Have I disrupted his schedule by giving him more warmth and light, thereby depriving him of naturally occurring outdoor "clues" that it is time to get ready to hibernate?
3) Should I play it safe and keep him indoors 100% this winter?
Whew! If anyone has made it to the end of my post - thank you and I look forward to hearing what you have to say
