Russian Tortoise in classroom

Question
I recently was hired as a teacher assistant in an elementary school. I discovered the teacher I work with has a Russian Tortoise living in the classroom as the class pet. The tortoise is kept in a 15 gallon plastic tub with top soil type substrate - no heat lamp, no UV lamp, shallow water dish and fed lettuce type greens only. The tortoise is taken outside each day for sun during recess. I was so concerned about it's care that I did some research and learned how much it needs and is not currently getting. Before Thanksgiving the teacher became ill so I ended up taking the tortoise home to care for it. I kept it indoors in room that gets some sunshine during the day. I let the tortoise have some time out of it's tub - and found it basking in the sunlight. I also let it soak in a shallow tub of water - poor thing drank quite a bit while soaking so I knew it was dehydrated. I fed him/her collard greens, hibiscus flowers, and escarole. I provided a cardboard box in it's tub to hide in returned it to the tub in the evenings. I made the decision to buy timothy hay, clean organic soil and grassland type food pellets to supplement it's feeding and a calcium bone (for birds ?# that I placed near the food dish. The last day the tortoise was in my home he/she had quite a bit of poo that seemed firm and also urinated. Nothing appeared to be a sign of problems from what I had read was normal for tortoise elimination. When it was time to return back to school with the tortoise the weather #I live in Phoenix AZ# had gotten quite a bit cooler and so taking the tortoise from the car and back into the classroom chilled him/her and I think initiated a hibernating process. I made sure there were fresh greens and water in his/her tub not knowing that the tortoise would start hibernating. When the tortoise was first back in the classroom he/she did eat a bit and then began to dig quite a bit in the soil #which had timothy had on top# and later in the day the tortoise found a place to settle under the box  and soil with only his/her shell and head visible. The tortoise has stayed this way since settling down. The classroom is very cool #about 62 degrees)but not as cool as the outside temperature. At the end of the third day I was concerned so I lightly touched the shell and the tortoise slowly opened his/her eyes and raised his/head but did not move very much. The tortoise did not appear to be in distress so I made sure there was water in the water dish and both the teacher and I needed to leave for the day. My question- (finally) is that I'm concerned that the tortoise is trying to hibernate but won't do well because of the higher temperature in the room and also I'm concerned about it's condition since it did not have a fasting period. I don't want the poor thing to become dehydrated and also don't want to needless disrupt out of a sleeping state if it will only try going to sleep again. What should I do to make sure he/she is not hurt and has the right environment to live a good life. I'm really struggling right now to see that he's in a classroom. I bought a big 50 gallon tub to put him in once I know what to do about this hibernation issue. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Answer
Hi Elizabeth,

First off, thank you for worrying about this tortoise and wanting to do the right thing for him!

You are correct that the classroom temperature is too warm for hibernation.  Hibernation temperatures need to be in the 40s for the tortoise's metabolism to slow enough to prevent starvation.  There also needs to be a preparation period of several weeks to allow the gut to empty.  The problem is that the classroom temperature is also too low for the tortoise to warm up enough to be active and eat.

I'm going to link to a website that will give you the basic information for setting up a 50 gallon tote as an enclosure.  There's also information on the site on diet, etc.  Basically, the tortoise needs a basking temperature (at the substrate level) of 90-95 degrees, and then a cooler area of about 70-75 degrees.  The basking temperature is the most important, along with a good source of UVB.  The light should be on at least 12 hours a day, but if the tortoise continues to be inactive you may need to increase it to 14 to 15 hours a day.  You can put the light on a lamp timer so you don't have to worry about turning it on and off.  I would suggest getting a ZooMed Powersun bulb, which will supply both heat and UVB.

Read over the care sheet and let me know if you have any questions about how to get him set up.  If you set your post to *private*, I'll give you my email so you can contact me any time you have questions.  

http://russiantortoise.org/care_sheet.htm