VERY Inactive Russian tortoise, not normal with him

[Marker9898]

My russian tortoise is around 6-7 years old. I posted a while ago about a possible fungal problem with his shell. Some of you did not know what is was, someone said it is new shell growth, another suggested using athlete's foot cream. I used the foot cream daily for a couple a weeks and it looked a little better but it still looks kinda weird? During this time his behavior was normal, he was active and eating daily. However, since maybe about a two weeks ago, he has been VERY inactive, sleeping in the same spot all day (by his heat lamp), hardly moving. When I feed him I have to pick him up and show him the food, since he no longer wakes up when I put the greens in his bowl. Even then however, he usually just walks back to his spot and goes to sleep. That's what he did today. This behavior is very abnormal for him. Even in times of stress, he usually only remains inactive for a little while. He has never slept entire days without getting up. Could this weird mark, possibly fungus, be the culprit? He also has a long beak, but i have observed him eating and it does not hinder him that much to stop eating all together. Yes i have called a LOT of vets for a check up and a beak trim, only one near me sees tortoises and is booked till Sept. I also am wondering if he is not getting enough uvb? Since it only covers 36 inches in the middle of the enclsoure, and 17 inches on each end are not covered.

For the record, here is his care: His enclosure is a 6x3 open top wooden table with a proT5 12% fluorescent light 36 inch light hanging in the middle, and a 125w flood heat lamp hanging on one side. Basking temp gets to 100 sometimes, area around that is usually 80+ degrees, middle of enclosure is 80-75ish degrees, with the rest of the enclosure room temp (around 75). Humidity is definitely a problem, is usually lower than 20%. I spray his enclosure sometimes and he gets three soaks a week. Diet is tortoise supply weeds that I grew for him, romaine, and some spring mix. It is admittedly lacking and I have been trying to get him to eat different foods, its just slow as he has really only ate romaine for most of his life. He gets calcium power sprinkled on food twice a week.

Sorry for the long post. Just very concerned with this behavior. Any suggestions as to what could be causing this will be very helpful, thanks

 

[wellington]

Post pics of enclosure and the tort.
Be sure to be taking temps with digital not those puck type gauges pet stores sell.

 

[Marker9898]

Sorry for not responding. Below is most recent photo of him and then one half of his enclosure. I am using an infrared thermometer to check the temperatures

Picture of what the fungus/mark used to look like. It’s not as bad but there is still a somewhat visible film around the edges

 

[wellington]

What do you mean by the basking sometimes gets to 100?
It has to always be 95-100 or they can't digest their food properly which would cause what you are seeing and they will progressively get worse.
If he is sleeping under it, I'm thinking it's not getting hot enough. Be sure to check the temp at his level and the ground.
The spot to me that you were treating looks good just dry.
What is the humidity? Should be 30 to 50% for an adult Russian, 50% being better.

 

[Marker9898]

What do you mean by the basking sometimes gets to 100?
It has to always be 95-100 or they can't digest their food properly which would cause what you are seeing and they will progressively get worse.
If he is sleeping under it, I'm thinking it's not getting hot enough. Be sure to check the temp at his level and the ground.
The spot to me that you were treating looks good just dry.
What is the humidity? Should be 30 to 50% for an adult Russian, 50% being better.

What do you mean by the basking sometimes gets to 100?
It has to always be 95-100 or they can't digest their food properly which would cause what you are seeing and they will progressively get worse.
If he is sleeping under it, I'm thinking it's not getting hot enough. Be sure to check the temp at his level and the ground.
The spot to me that you were treating looks good just dry.
What is the humidity? Should be 30 to 50% for an adult Russian, 50% being better.

It does get to 100, I meant as in where I am pointing the thermometer. Directly underneath gets hot. Around that is 90-99. He is sleeping very close to it but I am telling you it is pretty hot, even if it was not hot enough I don’t think he’d spend 24 hours by it. I actually had to increase the height of the lamp before as it was getting over 100 degrees. I will check again tomorrow as the lights are off now. And like I said it never gets too cold at night either, lowest is usually only ever 68 degrees. For all the time I’ve had him in his enclosure with this light (around 161 days) he has never been inactive to this extent.

As for the humidity, yes this is a problem. Apparently it’s 20% right now but this particular humidity gauge is not that accurate I think. Judging by how dry the bedding is I think it is less than 20% for sure. I spray his enclosure/bedding with water and give him three soaks a week to compensate for this. However, is this enough if most of the day is low humidity?

 

[Marker9898]

By the way this is the link to the thermometer I’ve been using. I have had it for a couple months now

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Q3K43BC/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

 

[wellington]

Thermometer looks good. Temp sounds good. Humidity I would spray the top of substrate, soaking it. With the open top it's hard to get humidity up without soaking the substrate. Get it wet not just misted but no puddles.
The humidity though would really not make him inactive.
I have noticed quite a few threads in the last few weeks of Russians and Hermanns becoming inactive. Some were temps others not sure.
Double check all temps just to be sure. Then maybe keep doing what you have been and see if in about a week or so if he doesn't get back to normal.
Maybe try adding some more plants to give more coverage. See if that helps. You can also try changing things around. Lots of times they get active discovering all the changes.

 

[Marker9898]

Thermometer looks good. Temp sounds good. Humidity I would spray the top of substrate, soaking it. With the open top it's hard to get humidity up without soaking the substrate. Get it wet not just misted but no puddles.
The humidity though would really not make him inactive.
I have noticed quite a few threads in the last few weeks of Russians and Hermanns becoming inactive. Some were temps others not sure.
Double check all temps just to be sure. Then maybe keep doing what you have been and see if in about a week or so if he doesn't get back to normal.
Maybe try adding some more plants to give more coverage. See if that helps. You can also try changing things around. Lots of times they get active discovering all the changes

Ok thanks for the advice. I ordered another thermometer, same as the my current one but a newer model. Going to double check if the temps are accurate

 

[wellington]

Sorry, I did forget to mention that along with the other threads I have seen of inactive torts. My own leopard has stayed inside two days now. He has the freedom to go inside or outside on his own. Today and Tuesday he chose to stay in. When he was out yesterday, he was fine. Sometimes just a thing they go thru.

 

[Marker9898]

Coming back here to ask a question and also to clear something up. When I said he spends a lot of time by the heat lamp, I did not mean directly under it, only a little ways away (but not too far, just in a corner) The reason for this I think I realize: I always tested the temp by pointing the thermometer at the substrate. It is like 104 degrees right now. When pointing it at the top of his shell when I put him under it however, it’s only 83. Lower on his shell and his claws is 96 or so degrees. I was wondering then if maybe the lamp has been essentially baking the substrate underneath causing it to be too hot. I put a rock underneath it with a starting temp of 77 degrees, and 1-2 hours later it was 100 degrees. So clearly he has to spend a long time underneath it to really get hot. If the substrate is as hot as it is, he spends less time under it, only really getting around 85-80 degrees of heat from his usual spot in the corner. This could be causing the inactivity. It is worth mentioning, however, that like I said I’ve had the light for a while now and he was never this inactive. Your thoughts? Sorry for any misconceptions here

 

[Marker9898]

Coming back here to ask a question and also to clear something up. When I said he spends a lot of time by the heat lamp, I did not mean directly under it, only a little ways away (but not too far, just in a corner) The reason for this I think I realize: I always tested the temp by pointing the thermometer at the substrate. It is like 104 degrees right now. When pointing it at the top of his shell when I put him under it however, it’s only 83. Lower on his shell and his claws is 96 or so degrees. I was wondering then if maybe the lamp has been essentially baking the substrate underneath causing it to be too hot. I put a rock underneath it with a starting temp of 77 degrees, and 1-2 hours later it was 100 degrees. So clearly he has to spend a long time underneath it to really get hot. If the substrate is as hot as it is, he spends less time under it, only really getting around 85-80 degrees of heat from his usual spot in the corner. This could be causing the inactivity. It is worth mentioning, however, that like I said I’ve had the light for a while now and he was never this inactive. Your thoughts? Sorry for any misconceptions here

Sorry, it only took the rock 9 minutes to get to 100 degrees.

 

[TammyJ]

I think the constant low humidity is a problem. Why don't you close the enclosure at least three quarters to increase the humidity level? It's too dry. Just my thoughts.