Help (not eating, sleeping all day)

[Court562]

Hello all. My 8 month Lepord tortoise is having some issues that I'm worried about. For one, she's not eating and is sleeping all day. Two normally she runs when I feed her and she just stays put. Also I noticed she's not opening her eyes, could something bad be happening? I haven't seen a poop from her in at least 5 days. When I woke up I gave her a warm bath, but she still didn't move much, not even her normal yawn. Temps were 80, 71 last night. I keep her around 60 humidity and 90 heat during the day. I feed her green leaf, and last week I have her papaya with the Dandelion green from whole foods. We keep her on cococoil with fine orchard bark.

 

[wellington]

Temps are too low. No lower then 80 with a humidity of 80% and a basking spot of 95-100
Diet needs to be bigger, much more variety. You need to make changes ASAP. What your describing doesn't sound good. What kind of UVB bulb are you using? If it's a coil type replace it with a Mercury vapor bulb. Give warm water soaks daily and add baby food puréed carrots and piedialyte to it.

 

[Pearly]

Do you see any discharge from her nose? If she was mine, I'd bump up the enclosure temp to at least 80F and keep at 80-85, with normal basking temps. 20-30 min soaks at least daily, add jar of gerber baby food carrot to each bath. Locate a herp vet in your area. If she doesn't perk back up very soon, call the vet to book a sick visit. She may need antibiotic

 

[Court562]

Why dose her shell look like this?

 

[Court562]

Hello all. My 8 month Lepord tortoise is having some issues that I'm worried about. For one, she's not eating and is sleeping all day. Normally she runs when I feed her and she just stays put. Also I noticed she's not opening her eyes, could something bad be happening? I haven't seen a poop from her in at least 5 days. When I woke up I gave her a warm bath, but she still didn't move much, not even her normal yawn. Temps were 80, 71 last night. I keep her around 60 humidity and 90 heat during theday. I feed her green leaf, and last week I have her papaya with the Dandelion green from whole foods. We keep her on cococoil with fine orchard bark.
This is her shell now....


This was her a few months ago. The green stuff on the very bottom of her shell was from a recent poop. But her shell color looked great.

 

[dmmj]

are you keeping the humidity up at night but letting the temperatures drop?

 

[JoesMum]

Hi there

These problems are almost always caused by temperatures not being what they should be.

To be sure of your temperatures, you need a temperature gun type thermometer (inexpensive from Amazon and hardware stores)

It should be 95-100F directly under the basking lamp. Your tort cannot be active or digest food without being able to bask at this temperature.

Please post photos of your enclosure and lighting so we can see if we can recommend improvements.

You must soak your tort daily in warm water for at least 30 minutes to ensure that it stays hydrated.

 

[JoesMum]

Why dose her shell look like this?

The pale lines are new growth. It will darken as your tort gets older

 

[Court562]

Yes, I'm having a really hard time keeping humidity. I spray water but it's due to not being able to have heat and humidity at the same time. The heat lowers the humidity. I currently spray water throughout the day, I've soaked the substrate, added and soaked moss from pets mart. I even soaked orchard bark to help but now that seemed to irritate her eyes. What do you recommend? I've also added a plant for shade that's not in the picture.

 

[Court562]

Is this okay to use on my desert tortoise? She's a Lepord tortoise found in the desert, this seems like it's for a tropical reptile.

 

[JoesMum]

Is the enclosure open? Is there a cover on it? You'll never sort out humidity without one.

The lid should not obstruct the lights though. A gap where those are is necessary

 

[Pearly]

Is this okay to use on my desert tortoise? She's a Lepord tortoise found in the desert, this seems like it's for a tropical reptile.

I have one and absolutely LOVE IT!!! Have been using it for a year now

 

[Pearly]

Is the enclosure open? Is there a cover on it? You'll never sort out humidity without one.

The lid should not obstruct the lights though. A gap where those are is necessary

Mum is correct, I had an open top for the first couple of weeks and no spraying was ever enough to get the humidity up. I'd end up with wet substrate before raising humidity. Plus the temperature loss was another issue unless the room where you keep your tort enclosure is at least 80F and 80% humid, you really should cover the top of your enclosure. Until i did it with mine my temps/humidity were never right. I had one healthy baby who would probably end up growing with bumpy shell and get shell rot in the process but my other baby was much weaker, he would have not have made it. The heat and humidity for those youngsters is EVERYTHING. They won't eat if it's not warm enough and will develop respiratory illness if kept humid without adequate heat.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Have you read http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/the-end-of-pyramiding.15137/
and http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/closed-chambers.32333/ ?
If not they're useful stuff.

 

[Yvonne G]

Spraying just doesn't do it. You have to pour water over the substrate and mix it in with your hands. Depending upon the size of the habitat and the amount of substrate, you may need a whole pitcher full.

 

[Court562]

She's not moving anymore. Yesterday she seemed to have been getting better. She opened her eyes, walked around, and even pooped mucus stuff. Today I looked at her and she looks dead. I placed her in pedialight light/ water and she never moved what so ever. Is she dead?!

 

[JoesMum]

Oh dear.

Please do not give up hope just yet. Your tort is clearly very sick, but may not actually be dead.

@Yvonne G have you any advice?

 

[Gillian M]

I agree with @JoesMum : please keep up hope and, hopefully things will get better.

And keep us updated.

 

[Court562]

Should I keep her extra warm? Her body temp is 92 currently. I gave her a quick pedialight dip but I didn't want to drown her.

 

[Court562]

It's just very odd that she was improving yesterday and now this... I dunno what to think but I'm not giving up on her.