Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just bought a 8cm male egyptian from a close friend.he says it is wildcought and i thing it was because there is alot off old skin on its carapace and plaston.he bought it from a dealer and have keep it for 1 week after selling it to me because he will be out of town for a few month and cant bring it with him.

i have him for nearly 2 week now.the first few days he only eat a little.after that,he still eat a little but ONLY under HOT sunlight.now he start to stop feeding but still have a bite or 2 of his favorite food,water spinach.what should i do?i have keep its vivarium under low humidity condition most part of the day.i have given him many type of vegetable but he still only eat a little or doesnt

eventhough he doesnt eat alot,he is still quite heavy.quite active under high lit condition.but not very responsive when under dark and low lit condition.

so what should i do?any idea?i dont want to lose this beutifull tortoise!

Ok we nned more information, id this your first tortoise if not what and how long? hat size cage and type is it in, what is the substrate, does it have any hide areas? What is the abmient temp and what is the baskign spot temp, what is the humidity? What are you feeding it and how often are you useing any supplemants? Is he being soaked at all, was is or is he kept with andthing else? Lots of quetions you have somewhat of a rare and expensive animals bets to be bred, please give it good caare. I wouls stay it to a herp vet and have it check for URI and worms it wild cauthg it really needs to be taken in.
Xavier

this is not my first tortoise.i have 6 year experiance with indian star,redfoot,sulcata,leopard,pancake,burmese star,spider,elongated but did not have any big problem with them.

i soak it almost everyday now.he drinks alot.i put some Sera multivitamin in the water and sometime with calsium also.

i live in Malaysia where room tempreture normaly around 28-32C.basking spot is around 35-42C.it live in a exoterra faunarium with rabbit pellet for substraigh.i put a cardboard shelter inside.

i put the aquarium inside a close space and i put alot of dehumidifier (calsium cloride) inside to keep the humidity down.

i dont know any reptile vet nearby yet but i will try to bring it to the vet.any info how can i save this tortoise before i can find a vet?

thanks for any help.

ok thats good you have alot experiance with other turtle veyr cool
Used either washed sand or pre was oyster shell for substrate. If was use don't use card board as a hide box get a clay pot and break it half use one half oon each side of the cage on right next to the baskign spot. How big is the cage? Have to cage be 80-83 degrees and a basking spot of 85-100 degrees (sorry I forgot how to confert?). Also its reall should have a microhabitat a small eara where the cage is moist but you don't want this to get the rest of the cage moist. Mine kleinmanni is just under 2.5'' and in a 50 gallon rubbermaid tub with about 4'' of washed sand she has two baskign spot and the ambeint temp about 80-82. I have two micro habitat maid from small containers both about 5'' wide 7'' long? they have peat moss, sand, and spagnum moss I put water in it about twice a week. Contact ed pirog he gave me alot info and a care sheet also do a search on egyptian tortoise and Testudo kleinmanni se what you get. Maybe you can find as far as books and a great website is www.tortoisetrust.com. As far as baskign spot my cage get effect pretty easy from the basking lights so it a the lower in of what I said but if you cage is big enough to provde 100 degrees and have alot of space with out it being over 80 then that good. If I had a 4' long by 3' wide cage I would have one mecury vapor bulb making the basking spot 100 and another baskign spot 86. Oops I also have a cobra heat matt 2'' under the subrtae right below one of the baking spots.
If you need anything else you can e-mail me at harekrsna@turtleforum.com

I can tell you right now that you're soaking him WAY too often. Once a week for an adult Egyptian is enough.

My Egyptian hatchling loves dandelion flowers & leaves, & clover. Try offering him some of that & leave him alone while he gets used to his new environment.

BTW, mine lives outside in a pen on my front porch with a CB Hermanns & CB Russian & my only major concern with him is making sure he doesn't get bullied by the others at dinner time.

why that too much and where id you get this information from?

he's right. I've been keeping Kleinmans for years. I water adults once a month. I spray their greens with H2O. They get most of their water that way. They also like it cooler at night around 18 centigrade or 68 F I've had mine outside at nite into the low 50's or 12 degrees centigrade (it gets very hot and very cool in the desert). If you can get Romaine lettuce, that is their preferred food and has an excellent Calcium to phosphorous ratio. Put him out in the sun for 2-3 hours 4 or 5 days a week. Make sure he has a shaded area. Only put him out for that limited time due to the high humidity where you live. Make sure his indoor living quarters are dry and clean. This will avoid fungal infections.

If you have a wild caught animal (don't even want to go there) it is very difficult to acclimate them.
First problem, spinach... major no, no especially with egyptians. You want to try and find low to the ground broad leaved annular plants. I can't give you specific suggestions because of the area you live in but Dandilion greens and wild mustard are 2 that you should be able to find.
As to the soaking... you are on target because the no 1 killer of Egyptians is renal failure and I haven't heard of a single case of renal failure due to too much water.
All the suggestions give by Kuma are right on the mark and I highly recomend.
Last note, The low end basking temp seems high. If they get too hot they kind of estivate and don't do much moving/eating at all.
Try and get the low end to around 75 to 80 if you can (28, 29 C)
Ed

tanks for all the help you guys.but my egyptian died yesterday.i had put him in a cooler room at night,about 22-24c.and make the humidity much lower most time of the day.but he died thursday morning when i cheack him to give his dayly meal.i had like to give dayly update but my modem broke down.

thanks again for all the help