HELP WITH TORTOISE NOT EATING

Try painting the edges with dark coloured none toxic paint. Do you have lots of points of interest in the central area of the enclosure? Try building a hill with rocks, logs etc to give him something to do. I still think you need to lower the ambient temps for him. I have a littel russian here for hibernation and at first he was extremely active during wind down due to the background temps of my lounge. Since popping him next door in teh dining room (unheated other than his basking lamp) he has calmed down a lot. Russians are very hardy torts and mine live outdoors until October, when they come in to wind down for winter. They have basking lamps out there but the heat does not extend any further than a small area. Also in the wild russians aestivate during mid summer when it is too hot - he could well be looking for somewhere to do this - the instinct is very strong.

[chatty123]

yes he has 2 of the log rolls that you can bend into shapes ..which he loves to climb over...i also have pebbles dotted about so he has to climb over them and he is forever climbing in and out of his water dish

[chatty123]

i think i will definately do the bigger table tomorrow and then i can have a real cool area, a bed area and a basking area.. do you hibernate yours? i am afraid to do it this year as i feel i don't know enough about the behaviour patterns now.. although i did my research before purchasing

I hibernate all of my tortoises apart from non hibernating species and rehomers/sick torts that have not been with me long. So long as you follow correct guidelines it is beneficial to their health especially in the case of such species as horsfields. Sopmetimes when they refuse to eat and otherwise healthy there is no other option. As yours is so lively though I would try a huge temp and enclosure change first though. You may find that he slows down and hides while still refusing to eat if you do this, iin which case I would check tht he is heavy enough to hibernate and go down this road. You will need guidelines though and as mentioned he may just calm down and start to behave differenlty without needing to do this. Good luck

[chatty123]

thanks again.. .. by the way he weighs 125g and is 3 inches

[scott.a.]

Hi chatty123. I beleive that dropping his basking spot to 80 or under is too cool. From speaking to extreamly experienced over along period (one being the first to successfully bread them in the states a long time ago) they all tell me that you should have the hot spot 90-95 and the cool spot at 70 maxium. He/she will move if need be to control their body temperature. I always make sure my substrate is slightly damp and from 3" to 7" in different areas. How long have you had he/she? Were they eating ok before this? If he/she was they might be going through a "slow" period due to weather ect: Mine is really greedy but has slowed down the last month or so. I feed him by hand alot at the moment because he's not eating as much as he was on his own. Hope this is of some help to you? scott.a.

[scott.a.]

Hi again. Over the last month or so mine has sometimes not come out for 3 days, at this point i pull him out and put him under his lamp. He will usually bask for a few hours eat something then go back to bed. I won't hibernate mine for two reasons first i've never done it and would worry too much second their is no scientific evidence that it's better for them to hibernate. The reason they do in the wild is because of the weather and food supply over the year. In captivity this is not a problem. Untill their is proof it's better to hibernate them i will give it a miss. Do you have a room of straw or shredded and cut up paper? Mine loves it. he never digs, he loves to burrow into his straw. Every week or two i lift it up and dampen the substrate underneath to keep it humid as best i can. If you don't then try it. This might stop him from trying to get out if burrowing is the problem? But do bare in mind that they are expert climbers and love to explore. Scott.

Any advice I have given Scott is based on my own findings and long term experience attempting to recreate conditions they would have in the wild and not kept in tanks and other indoor containers. It's something I have found to work for me and produced beautifully smooth russians. A lot of the US info is based on terrarium species with much higher ambient temps. The info I have seen offerred by JH and EP is not to hibernate as it is risky! I can only assume that there have been failures due to unnaturally high summer temps. While I completely agree that torts move out of the hot spot and into a cooler area (thermoregulation), it would seem that attempting to replicate their natural cycle would produce a healthier tortoise, with the lovely smooth appearance of their wild cousins. Hibernation is completely natural and in fact desirable for a species that has evolved to only eat for three to four months of the year.
You say that you have no proof that the normal lifestyle of the russian tortoise (i.e. hibernation) is particularly good for it! Why then do they occur in aras where this lifestyle is necessary then instead of their natural habitats spreading to cover other more clement climates? It's called evolution and if lifestyles of particualr species are changed to suit man then we see the different appearance of what is naturally a very beautiful smooth lined tortoise and not the fat quilted looking ones mostly in captivity.
Just my humble opion of course<vbg>

dear scott a

you have given a relative new person some extremly conflicting advice

perhaps you should make a new thread

[Eire_Ade]

Originally Posted by scott.a.

Do you have a room of straw or shredded and cut up paper? Mine loves it. he never digs, he loves to burrow into his straw. Every week or two i lift it up and dampen the substrate underneath to keep it humid as best i can. Scott.

Scott, dampened straw can create health problems, mould spores grow on straw and cause respitory illnesses.

Re: the hibernation issue, it is definately advantageous to hibernate all med species tortoise that do in the wild, as this controls their growth rates especially in russian horsefileds which are susceptable to over growth. As their natural metabolism which has evolved over thousands of years hasnt let them dowm yet, due to their natural habitation which is what really every tortoise keeper should be trying to replicate as far as possible. This is another reason to use sand / soil substrates as these are what they would burrow in in the wild, not shredded paper or straw.

This is also my first time to hibernate my two 12 month old Ibera's, and are now on week 2 of thier winde down.

Ade