Getting Lance Healthy!

[Lances_girl]

Hi, I have had my Russian Tortious, Lance, for about 10 years now. I recieved him as a Christmas present when I was 9 years old. I feel he is very unhappy. The main food I have fed him for his whole life is peas and carrots! He avoids the carrots, but seems so enjoy the peas. Besides that- I have been a horrible owner. This complex animal was thrown at me without an idea of how to care for him. Now that I am an adult, I see he is really unhappy and want to make a change-- in his diet, habbitat, baths-- everything! He hasn't had a bath in about 5 months. And is only fed his peas once a week! I am ready to take care of this LIVE animal, and am ashamed of myself for the way things have been. Pretend I am a new tortious owner-- advice please!  He is a beautiful animal, and I truely love him. It's time to show it!
-Lances_girl aka Dani

[Tortellini]

Hi Dani,
 
We all have had pets when we were young, that if we had to do it over again, we would treat them differently.

Don’t beat yourself up Dani.  Russian torts are very complex and it is good that you realize this.  The site in which you wrote your post is one of the best sites I have found.  I am relatively new to this myself.  I have had a Russian tortoise for 6 years (female) her name is Louise.  I believe she is about 13 years old now.

Louise seems relatively happy, but we must always keep in mind that since we (humans) have taken them from their natural habitat, we must do all we can to make their environment the best we can.

You did not state where you live so I don’t know what climate you have there.  We take Louise outside a minimum of three times per week for about an hour.  During that time she is warmed by the natural sun and she grazes on fresh weeds; clover; dandelions and an occasional hibiscus flower.  We live in southeast Florida and the weather is relatively mild but for the rainy season and the summer which is very hot and humid.

Additionally we feed Louise store bought veggies:  Rapini; the stalks of broccoli; romaine; and occasional carrot; brussel sprouts; occasional sweet potato; occasional hibiscus; and I will be ordering the cactus (opuntia) from Carolina Pet Supply.  We also feed her very sparingly a piece of cantaloupe which she loves.  You must be careful of this because of the sugar content.

What do you use for strata and substrata?  How do you house Lance?  And what do you use for heating etc?

I ask this because this is very important.  There are many types of housing as you will read from the online posts of this site.

We find that a substratum (first layer) of play sand mixed with coir or play sand mixed with peat moss works very well.  The environment should have humidity of about 70; but keep in mind that too wet can cause shell rot.  On top of this mixture I place slate tiles.  This allows her to walk and keep her muscle tone in her legs while conditioning her beak and her toe nails.  We tried using newspaper and the pet shop told us to also use rabbit pellets, but this is not ideal as I found out from Joe Heinen DC.  By the way, Joe is the owner of Carolina Pet Supply.  He is also very knowledgeable and makes excellent suggestions and can give you sound advice.

It is important to have a cool end and a hot end of the pen in which you house Lance.  In fact, I have only recently learned just how important the temperature is to Torts.  The hot end must be between 90=95 degrees and can drop at night.  But they must also have a cool end in which to retreat and burrow.

Is Lance dehydrated?  We soak Louise a minimum of 4 times per week in chin deep tepid water for about 20-30 minutes.  It hydrates her and keep the pen cleaner as usually when you bath them they will void their urine and feces.

Dani, do not beat yourself up – just be thankful your Lance is still alive and move forward.  You can give him a wonderful home by simply changing a few things.

 

 

[Lances_girl]

Hi Donna, Thanks for the advice. Right now Lance is in a kind of Aquarium. It's about 25 Gal or so. He has a heating pad at one end, and also a kind of hallowed out half log (tunnel) that he used to climb on a lot, but after he flipped himself over quite a bit I started getting scared he'd do that while I was out for the day so I have tipped it up so he can't climb on it, but he can still hide out under there. I would like to invest in a bigger home for him that looks more like a natural habitat. The only thing is, I have the smallest room in the house and the only other possible room to have him in would be our back room which isn't insolated or heated. I live in Vacaville, Ca. It's near Sac. We have excelent weather for him in the summer, but in the winter it gets too cold for him to be in that room. Oh, on the floor of his cage I have a type of bark stuff. This week I am taking him to a local Reptile store where I have talked to the owner about doing a health check and taking a look at his nails. He told me that they don't normaly cut tortious's nails, but his are really long and starting to grow out sideways.
I'm not sure if he is dehydrated. I wouldn't be suprised. I bathed him last night and let him run around inside and he enjoyed that.
Thanks again for the advice
--Dani

[maturtlerescue]

Hi Dani,

I hadn't seen this message prior to my response to your other post.  As such, I hadn't realized you had your tortoise for so long.  Indeed, they are tough animals as shown here. 

Could you please describe the habitat sold to you recently?  If its a larger aquarium, again these make very poor habitats in general for tortoises. Please refer to the links I gave you for habitat, re-read this website again, and implement all the suggestions made. 

Its essential that you do get your tortoise into a habitat as I described to you in my previous response and a good diet, minus the dog/cat food.  I'd also have the tortoise evaluated by a vet that knows and understand in great depth tortoise and turtle veterinary medicine. Since you do describe eye problems and now here an idea of poor diet, it may well be due to a Vitamin A problem, but injections of other supplements of this vitamin aren't needed and can be fatal.  Please read:

http://www.maturtlerescue.org/vatamin-a-toxicity.htm

Improvement in diet will correct an deficiency present, including Vitamin A in fairly short order. 

An improved environment may also lead your tortoise to a healthier appetitie as well.  I genuinely hope that the 10 years of poor diet and environoment has not lead to anything critical for your tortoise, but it likely at the present time suffers from some sort of health issues.

Hi, I have had my Russian Tortious, Lance, for about 10 years now. I recieved him as a Christmas present when I was 9 years old. I feel he is very unhappy. The main food I have fed him for his whole life is peas and carrots! He avoids the carrots, but seems so enjoy the peas. Besides that- I have been a horrible owner. This complex animal was thrown at me without an idea of how to care for him. Now that I am an adult, I see he is really unhappy and want to make a change-- in his diet, habbitat, baths-- everything! He hasn't had a bath in about 5 months. And is only fed his peas once a week! I am ready to take care of this LIVE animal, and am ashamed of myself for the way things have been. Pretend I am a new tortious owner-- advice please!  He is a beautiful animal, and I truely love him. It's time to show it!
-Lances_girl aka Dani