Tort that has been sluggish

[Lindsey Turner]

Pablo. my RT has been very sluggish lately. As far as I know, she comes out and eats then goes to the corner of her tank and lays down all day, not asleep. Just sitting in one corner. I don't see her eat on the week days because I am at school, but her food dish is empty when I come home. I understand that the dramatic weather change may be why, but she is inside. Does she still know that the weather is changing?
Also, I put a post on a RT facebook page and explained what is going on and people only tell me what I'm doing wrong. They told me that her tank is too small and the temperature gradient isnt correct, but I dont have any room for anything bigger. As of right now, she is in a 40 gallon tank. Does anyone have suggestions of things I can do in the tank I have now?

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Well, short of a larger space, what are your temps, and how/where are you reading them?

 

[Lindsey Turner]

Well, short of a larger space, what are your temps, and how/where are you reading them?

Right now I have a small temperature gauge in the middle of her tank that reads about 80 to 85. I got told last night that the temp gauge that I have is worthless. is a non contact infrared thermometer with laser targeting from a local freight harbor more accurate?

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Yes and no. There is a formula that you use in relationship to the distance the face of the reader is to the object being tested. I have one that I purchased on eBay, likely the same as harbor freight would offer. I like using wired probe digital thermometers for testing localized temps.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Lindsey:

You need to be thinking about setting this tortoise up outside for when the weather warms up. They really do better outdoors.

I think your Russian tortoise may be a little too hot. They tolerate a cooler space. Its hard to get a temperature gradient in such a small aquarium. But you want a warm end then a room temperature end. So move your light or heat source down to one end and hopefully the other end will cool down a bit.

As long as the food is disappearing, I think you're ok. It's probably pretty boring for the tortoise living in such a small space. There's no reason for it to walk around. You provide the food, it eats, then goes back and rests.

 

[Falcon70]

As the others said the best thing you can do is giver her a little more space. Outdoors is best, but making a not too large indoor enclosure out of an old bookcase is cheap and wouldn't take too much room.

Another, more temporary option is to take her outside yourself and just let her roam around with supervision a couple hours a week. Hard to do in the winter depending on where you are but allowing her to walk around a little when it's at least 55ish-60 (F) and the sun shining is better than nothing

 

[Gillian M]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Welcome.

 

[smarch]

Heres some tidbits from someone who certainly wont yell about it being to small of an enclosure... my poor RT is in a 20 gal (that'll be changing sunday but only to around the same size as yours). And I completely understand the not enough space for more thing, I got Nank with the knowledge that "a 20gal is enough" and really have no room to give him a good size indoor space.

First, when you have the chance, 1 thermometer on each side, its hard to get a warm and cool side but best to know how much of a difference you have. If you're having trouble with that I keep my guy in our finished basement that is always cool/cold, so it kind of forces the temperature difference to work. That's my personal experience.

How if your humidity? Last spring I had a problem with a very sluggish guy, turned out he ended up dehydrated because the humidity got low and I only soaked him when he didn't use his water. Do you soak him? If not do that daily for a little while.

Back to the possibility of being bored, that's probably not it.. since my guy is a wreckingball since he has little space to explore, he literally destroyed a plastic plant, rearranges his "furnature" and makes a huge mess, What do you have in the tank? can I see a picture? If you think its bored you could always add stuff, little branches/logs from outside to climb, make hills with the substrate, theres stuff you can do in even a small space to make it interesting.

*edit: sorry I called her a he, my Nank is a boy as well as my cat so everyone, even if I know better, becomes a "he"

 

[Lindsey Turner]

Hi Lindsey:

You need to be thinking about setting this tortoise up outside for when the weather warms up. They really do better outdoors.

I think your Russian tortoise may be a little too hot. They tolerate a cooler space. Its hard to get a temperature gradient in such a small aquarium. But you want a warm end then a room temperature end. So move your light or heat source down to one end and hopefully the other end will cool down a bit.

As long as the food is disappearing, I think you're ok. It's probably pretty boring for the tortoise living in such a small space. There's no reason for it to walk around. You provide the food, it eats, then goes back and rests.

I have always had her basking lamp more towards one side. Just yesterday, my dad and i made her a platform thing. i dont have a picture of it at the moment. but it has a ramp with tooth picks glued to it for a grip so she can crawl up and down. The platform is about 8 inches tall. that way she can crawl up and be closer to the light to be warmer if she wants or she can hide under it or she can just go to the other end of her tank to cool off. I will post a picture later when i get home

 

[Lindsey Turner]

Heres some tidbits from someone who certainly wont yell about it being to small of an enclosure... my poor RT is in a 20 gal (that'll be changing sunday but only to around the same size as yours). And I completely understand the not enough space for more thing, I got Nank with the knowledge that "a 20gal is enough" and really have no room to give him a good size indoor space.

First, when you have the chance, 1 thermometer on each side, its hard to get a warm and cool side but best to know how much of a difference you have. If you're having trouble with that I keep my guy in our finished basement that is always cool/cold, so it kind of forces the temperature difference to work. That's my personal experience.

How if your humidity? Last spring I had a problem with a very sluggish guy, turned out he ended up dehydrated because the humidity got low and I only soaked him when he didn't use his water. Do you soak him? If not do that daily for a little while.

Back to the possibility of being bored, that's probably not it.. since my guy is a wreckingball since he has little space to explore, he literally destroyed a plastic plant, rearranges his "furnature" and makes a huge mess, What do you have in the tank? can I see a picture? If you think its bored you could always add stuff, little branches/logs from outside to climb, make hills with the substrate, theres stuff you can do in even a small space to make it interesting.

*edit: sorry I called her a he, my Nank is a boy as well as my cat so everyone, even if I know better, becomes a "he"

for russian tortoises, what does the humidity need to be at?

 

[smarch]

Tom's statement here
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
states 50-70%
but basically I mean does it feel dry? I have dirt in mine so when it gets dusty and dry I know that's too dry

 

[Lindsey Turner]

Tom's statement here
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
states 50-70%
but basically I mean does it feel dry? I have dirt in mine so when it gets dusty and dry I know that's too dry

I spray water on her dirt almost every day. and about the dry, her skin is dry and peeling...including the top layer of her shell. Please tell me that is a normal thing?! I talked to a vet about it and she said tortoises shed, but not much. Any suggestions how i can help her poor skin??

 

[smarch]

I spray water on her dirt almost every day. and about the dry, her skin is dry and peeling...including the top layer of her shell. Please tell me that is a normal thing?! I talked to a vet about it and she said tortoises shed, but not much. Any suggestions how i can help her poor skin??

Ok, some shedding skin is normal, but the shell shouldn't be, i'd like to see pictures of that. Spraying down the dirt daily only does a little in helping humidity, I personally dig a hold in the middle and pour about a water bottle sized thing of water into it and then cover it back up, so the substrate is moist all inside and all but not muddy or anything.

She sounds like she's pretty dry, extra baths more than once weekly would help alleviate shedding, and if you scoop and pour some water on the top of her shell it'll help up there... and if it absorbs a whole lot of water and dries up on the bath you'll know she's dry.

 

[WillTort2]

If you're unable to increase the size of her enclosure, you may be able to increase the effective space by putting 2 levels inside your enclosure. On the end away from your heat lamp, try building a climbing structure or a tall hill or some combination. I think a raise 2 ramp design in the shape of a U might work in your enclosure. This would give the tort a sheltered hide area under the raised part; and a up ramp along one side then make a 90 degree turn going the full width of your enclosure; followed by another 90 degree turn and the 2nd ramp which would run along the other side of the enclosure. This adds a 3 sided rectangular track that your tort can use to do laps. Put sides on the elevated portions to prevent flipping. Make the ramps a little wider than necessary to allow for growth. May need to put slat along the top to prevent climbing over the wall.

Also, the deeper your substrate the more moisture it can hold and the more digging your Russian can do.

And the idea of soaking your tort is a good suggestion. Daily for the first few days, then twice a week, is what I like.

Good luck.

 

[Lindsey Turner]

Ok, some shedding skin is normal, but the shell shouldn't be, i'd like to see pictures of that. Spraying down the dirt daily only does a little in helping humidity, I personally dig a hold in the middle and pour about a water bottle sized thing of water into it and then cover it back up, so the substrate is moist all inside and all but not muddy or anything.

She sounds like she's pretty dry, extra baths more than once weekly would help alleviate shedding, and if you scoop and pour some water on the top of her shell it'll help up there... and if it absorbs a whole lot of water and dries up on the bath you'll know she's dry.

you cant really see it in the pics i take, but it is very dry and in some spots, the top layer of the shell is peeling off