Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Posted by: cutesyturtle at Tue Mar 7 18:51:14 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

ok so,I have been reading alot of sites and some say yes russians need humidity and some say its not good for them what does everyone here think?
how much if you think they need it?. right now my tort is in a huge drawer that used to be a Armiour(spelling?) anyhoo I am not sure how to keep the humidity up I spray it every A.M and then by say 1 ish it has dried up even with bedabeast mix I could try A humid hide but this tort doesnt seem to like to hide he sleeps right out in the open .
as for the swollen eyes what kind of vitamins could it be lacking? A? should i ask for that shot at the vets? when I get ahold of them.. I have only had her 2 weeks and I have no clue how old she is the store said 6 weeks but someone said she looks too big for that she is about the size of a small kiwi now I am scared :0( the store I bought her from had a vets certificate signed saying she had been seen by thier vet and was healthy ..what should I do for her till I can do the vet thing?
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~~*Erica*~~
1 puppy-cocoa
1 cat-Livvie
1 chinchilla-Lilo
3 Russian tortoises-baby,Calvin$Hobbs
1 Home's hingeback-Elephant
5 lil monkeys Jake,Matt,Amber rose,Zach,Kaitlin Grace
oh yeah and my husband Dave :0)
and too many fish aquariums to count

Tortoises need a choice of heat and humidity.

Just as you provide warm and cool spots, you should also provide humid and dry spots.

What I did with my russian tort hatchlings was to dampen an area of substrate. Just a little water. Then if he needed humidity, he would go there.

As for vitamin A, he'll get that from all dark greens and carrots (shredded).

good luck.

re the shredded carrot -- I used to give Boris (my Russian) a little bit of shredded carrot once in a while as a treat, and he loved it, but someone suggested a whole carrot is better as they get a lot of exercise rolling it around as they're biting it. So I did that last week, and it worked great: Boris got lots of exercise, and it kept his interest up, and he managed lots of little chunks out of the carrot (but I took it away after a while so he wouldn't eat too much of it).

Nina

sounds like fun to watch too! my baby isnt eating right now but i cant wait to try this when she is again .....
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~~*Erica*~~
1 puppy-cocoa
1 cat-Livvie
1 chinchilla-Lilo
3 Russian tortoises-baby,Calvin$Hobbs
1 Home's hingeback-Elephant
5 lil monkeys Jake,Matt,Amber rose,Zach,Kaitlin Grace
oh yeah and my husband Dave :0)
and too many fish aquariums to count

ok I can do the humid thing no prob but she still isnt eating and has swollen eyes I am still calling my vet every hour or so and hoping to have somone answer the phone grr.. her eyes are leaking clear fluid and wont open but her nose is clear she is drinking she is pooping & urates look normal does this sound like a eye infection or like the guy told me on a previous post a vitamin problem? I am sad and scared I hope to get her to the vet asap if they would just answer!
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~~*Erica*~~
1 puppy-cocoa
1 cat-Livvie
1 chinchilla-Lilo
3 Russian tortoises-baby,Calvin$Hobbs
1 Home's hingeback-Elephant
5 lil monkeys Jake,Matt,Amber rose,Zach,Kaitlin Grace
oh yeah and my husband Dave :0)
and too many fish aquariums to count

also when I told you the temps yesterday I meant that my digital thermometer has a little probe on it so the actual reading part isnt in the tank ..and it is right under the heat bulb (the basking spot) is about 100 and the rest of the warm side is in the high 80's the cool side is 77 ..do I need a humidity gauge or should I just hav a small wet spot on the bedding? I have a humidity gauge that is reading 41% on the cool side but i can move anywhere -this is so much harder than a sulcata they needed no humidity well maybe a litle but not like this.
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~~*Erica*~~
1 puppy-cocoa
1 cat-Livvie
1 chinchilla-Lilo
3 Russian tortoises-baby,Calvin & Hobbs
1 Home's hingeback-Elephant
5 lil monkeys Jake,Matt,Amber rose,Zach,Kaitlin Grace
oh yeah and my husband Dave :0)
and 3 fish aquariums

My advice to you once again is - relax!

You are overthinking this. Setup the temps, set up the variations in humidity. Nothing needs to be controlled at the level you are trying. It could be you are overwhelming the tortoise with attention and it is withdrawing.

Eventually the vet will be available. If the animal is defecating it must have eaten sometime recently. It won't get any better by hovering over it.

Step back - let go - just provide food, heat, hydration and the rest will take care of itself. See the vet when possible.

ok will do,so this is not a life threatening type thing it wont die if I dont tke it to the vet right this second lol I will continue to call her but will relax, I am just attached and dont want the poor thing to suffer.I am also a "new mom" so to speak I have never had this type of tort before so any new health tye issues scare me a little, I know I have read that this tort is hardy and I am not worried at all about the older ones I have they are doing great I think it must just be that Baby is SO small I just worry about her more.and you are right I have been hovering lol I pick her up every 5 min to see if she is still alive ! she is a strong one! she is still able to fight with me when I hold har she doesnt seem sick other than the eyes so maybe I was over reacting thanks for the reality check :.)
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~~*Erica*~~
1 puppy-cocoa
1 cat-Livvie
1 chinchilla-Lilo
3 Russian tortoises-baby,Calvin & Hobbs
1 Home's hingeback-Elephant
5 lil monkeys Jake,Matt,Amber rose,Zach,Kaitlin Grace
oh yeah and my husband Dave :0)
and 3 fish aquariums

I agree even if this is a problem caused by the lack of vitamin A or others vits, at this point it's not life threatening. I think too that you have time to wait for the vet to get back.

I had a box turtle who was in worse shape than your tortoise is right now. Her problem was poor diet, followed by closed eyes, both ears abscessed and hadn't eaten in the 6 weeks or so since she'd been out of hibernation.
She wasn't my turtle until her owner told my vet that she didn't want to pay for treatment so instead she'd just run the turtle over with her car. Hey there are some NICE people out there huh?
Fill in cuss word of your choice here _________

The vet took possession of the turtle at that point, operated on her ears, got her medicated & handed her over to me for nursing care. She got well a lot faster than I expected.. but my point is, your tort started this just 2-3 days ago.. so I think if a box turtle can survive so much mistreatment over a period of several weeks, your tort will probably be ok until the vet gets back.
Good luck & keep us updated on how yours is doing.
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PHRatz

Try to resist the urge to check on her so much, it is probably stressing her out immensly. Try to only check on her once a day (like when she gets soaked). You can peak in on her but I wouldn't pick her up as much.

For humidity, a humid hide is often a good way to provide a humid microclimate. A clay pot half buried into the substrate with some peat moss in it and misted daily works well.

When you do get ahold of the vet and get her in have a fecal done too. Often internal parasites can cause all sorts of problems, and are not always detected with just one fecal exam.