Hello. I'm very new to this hobby, so forgive me if this information is insufficient.


Lately, Zacharie has been burrowing deeper and deeper into the substrate, sometimes with only his eyes showing. Today, when I looked in the tank to feed him, I did not see him at all. I knew where his burrow was, though, and I put on some gloves and gently removed some of the substrate, eventually uncovering him close to the bottom. This alarmed me, but I didn't think too much of it until he started refusing food. I ran to google, which told me this is often the result of low temperatures (it did get pretty cold last night). I panicked and prepared him a warm water bath. He seemed relatively compliant when I was removing him from his enclosure, which is normal for him (he doesn't typically mind beng handled TOO much) but started trying to hop out of his bath, which he doesn't normally do. I did manage to get him to soak for a few minutes before returning him to his tank. I then began to notice very strange behaviour.


The first of which is that he began rubbing himself with his feet, as though scratching an itch. The second strange thing I noticed is that he began opening and closing his mouth randomly, as though yawning. I got both of these behaviours on video.





I began to clean his tank in search of anything that might be causing this and did find a bit of mold in the moss on the opposite side of the enclosure. I removed all the moss and was able to get Zach to eat, though he hasn't stopped acting strange.


As far as I'm aware, he hasn't gone into estivation for any length of time. I am very nervous, as I do not understand what is happening, and am fearful of the worst. Could it be impaction? Toxic out? Edema?? Something worse??? Please, please, please advise.