Anyone know anything about Russian Tortoises?

[ann0306]

My next door neighbor has one that's pretty miserable. Doesn't eat or move around, hasn't for a good year or more. She has him set up with a basking spot of 95 and a cool side of 80 or so. He's on some kind of pellet substrate (lizard litter maybe?) and is offered romaine but not much else.

He's visiting me for a few days to see if I can fix him up (with all my tortoise knowledge- haha). He looks WAY underweight and has multiple retained sheds or just really bad skin. His color also looks very yellow to me. He looks bad.

He's soaking right now. What's my next move? Thanks in advance!

[JuliusSqueezer]

Romaine is only a little better than iceburg. You can figure this turtle likely has every vitamin defeciency and malnutrition problem in existance Vitamin A and Calcium defeciencies are a given. Please take it to a vet asap. There are tons of caresheets out there with listings of what to feed and what not to feed. Change the litter to timmothy hay though first thing. That way if it actually eats any substrate, it's actually something nutritious. It is also vital that they are brumated through the winter. If they are not brumated and go off feed anyway while their metabolism is still elevated, they will starve to death quickly. Good Luck.

[ann0306]

I just went back over and looked at his bulbs. No UVB. He's under one of my megaray bulbs right now.

	Ultra Violet Radiation B Ultra Violet Radiation B

[ann0306]

She's had him for 5 years- she said she can't believe she hasn't killed him.