Unhappy Horsefield?

[jenrichjames]

Hello all!

I'm hoping there might be someone who can give some advice regarding my parents new Horsefield tortoise.

They had a tortoise before, but that was some 20 years ago - and while not total novices as such, we could do with some advice!

The tortoise (approx 1 year old) seems very withdrawn e.g. as soon as it is put in the tank it buries itself, doesn't move around at all, and doesn't appear to want to eat or drink for the last day or two. My mum also thought she heard it making an unhappy squealing type sound.

It livens up a little bit when brought out of the tank, but as soon as it is put back it immediately buries itself again. I'm not sure how much it is possible to read into a tortoises mental state, but it seems very unhappy

Everything in its tank appears correct (4ft vivarium, spotlight 12hrs a day, just over 30 degrees, areas for shade etc)

Has anyone experienced a similar thing? Maybe it will just take a few weeks to get used to the new surroundings?

Thanks in advance!

Andy

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Andy: Baby tortoises are prey, and as such, they hide all the time. However, since your tortoise seems to liven up when you take it out of the viv, we'll have to assume there's something wrong with the viv.

Does he have a hiding place? What kind of spot light, and how close to the floor of the viv is it?

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

When you say 30 degrees I take it you mean Celsius. which would be 86F.
Is there a colder or hotter area in the viv? what type of substrate do you have him on and yes what type and size spotlight do you have and is it obstructed by anything like screen etc.?

 

[Torties]

The same thing happened with my tortoise. He wouldn't eat, he was lethargic and seemingly unhappy. We decided to pick up another tortoise and he instantly light up. He was eating, active, and communicating with the other tortoise. It was the best decision that we could have made.

 

[Minotaur]

I noticed with my tortoise that his level of activity depends a lot on his substrate - when he was on bed-a-beast he was miserable. He constantly rubbed his eyes and just buried himself and refused to move all day. Later I switched to a 50/50 sand/topsoil mix with similar results. When I finally switched to plain old "dirt" (simply dug about a hundred pounds or more out of the woods) which could be kept much more moist, he was more active. You may want to switch up substrates too - remember that russian tortoises can do a bit of humidity if they are kept warm (cold and wet is bad however) so having a substrate you can lightly moisten to help the tortoise be more comfortable is cool. I like dirt as the substrate, as I found that sand was usually dusty and didn't hold water well, and bed-a-beast dried out WAY too fast, and was disgusting when wet.

I also noticed that when there is more "empty space" he hides more. When he basically had a cave and 24 square feet of walking space and a couple small logs, he barely did anything - I suspect this is because as a small tortoise he felt too exposed and decided to stay hidden. When I added grasses (dead groupings of field grasses, which I planted as if they were alive - they look super cool), edible plants, a pond, a rocky area and more logs, he became more active; probably part curiousity, but also likely because with more items in the terrain he is not so much out in the open. I also noticed that changing the color of the enclosure from bare wood to black (plastic lining) he seemed more comfortable to move about, I'm not sure why this is, perhaps the tortoises feel comforted by having shadows around them, making them think there are overhanging branches or something to give cover. You may want to add some big leafy plastic plants (or live ones if you have a green thumb) or try the dead grasses like I did - branches and neat rocks can also be cool.

Also, if the enclosure is glass, it may leave him feeling very exposed. I've read many people who say that there turtle/tortoise becomes frustrated trying to continuously walk through the glass, which I've noticed in bolder individuals, but in the shyer ones it seems to scare them into staying hidden all the time. You could try getting a tank back-ground and cutting it to cover 3 sides of the tank (look for a dull background, not a super-flashy one) to help.

 

[Crazy1]

jenrichjames, How is that tort doing now?