Russian Tortoise nosebleed

Question
Our Russian Tortoise Jack has been very healthy. This morning I saw dried blood on his beak beneath his nostrils, and two drops of blood in the substrate of his tank. He did not want to eat this morning but has since eaten a baby carrot. He seems a bit more tired than usual. Any ideas about a possible cause?

Answer
Hi Catherine,

It's hard to say what the cause could be.  He may have bitten on something that caused a small cut, there could be something going on inside his mouth (infection of some type), it could be an environmental problem, etc.  If his appetite and lethargy don't improve in the next couple of days, I would take him to a vet.  

The other thing I would look at is how you have his enclosure set up.  You indicated you're keeping him in a tank, which is problematic for tortoises because of the difficult of establishing a good temperature gradient, among other reasons.  Pet stores unfortunately typically sell a 20 gallon tank as housing for Russian tortoises, but these are far too small.  It's almost impossible to prevent dehydration in an enclosure of that size, for example.  

If you could post back with details of how you're keeping him, including substrate, type of basking/UVB bulbs, warm/cool temperatures, and complete diet, I can help better.  Health issues in tortoises are very commonly associated with husbandry.  A pic or two would help as well.  Once you've posted back, I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.