Horsefield not eating just sleeping.

[vickeevam]

Hi
Can anyone help me as fairly new tortoise mummy! My horsefield baby girls is about 2 now, I've had her since feb this year.
I would say she hasn't pooped for the last 2 weeks now and not eaten for the the last week either. She is just buried away sleeping all the time.

I have bathed her, offered her food and woke her and put her under heat lamp. This doesn't last long she is soon back in bed.

She usually eats and potters about her tank. Is it just time of year??? I am worried :-(

Thanks

 

[pdrobber]

what are the temps in the enclosure?

 

[tyler0912]

Sounds like she is preparing to hibernate....is that your plan...? what are your temps?

 

[Jacqui]

Do you have her with a light on? If so, how many hours a day? That along with the heat, asked above would be my first "need to know" questions.

As Tyler asked are you wanting to hibernate her, even tho we normally say not to do so the first year you have an animal.

 

[tyler0912]

Also....hibernation is not needed....atall...in captivity...so it is not something you have to force yourself to do...
They do it in the weild to 'dodge' the cold weather...

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But in captivity that isnt a problem if he has a lamp!

 

[vickeevam]

Tequila has a heat lamp and a uv lamp on for 12 hours a day the warmest end has a temp of 30 and the coldest end has a temp of 20 during day and obviously drops on a night. She is in a table rather than viv.

I put her under lamp this morning and she has eaten for first time in a week albeit only a tiny tomatoe she isn't interested in her greens.

I wasn't planning to hibernate her as the pet shop said she is prob only around 2 ish and shouldnt hibernate them till bit older or at all. My intention was not at all.

Thanks guys, all advice gratefully received.

 

[Pepiiii T xx]

Mayb it's getting ready to hibernate i mean it's November

 

[tyler0912]

Bump your temps up to about 38-40C as the basking should be 100F So it is abit cold 30C
You can do this by a higher watt bulb or lawering your heat lamp lower to the enclosure...that should help.

 

[vickeevam]

Thanks I'll try a hotter bulb.
Is there anything else I can feed her about from greens. This morning she has had 1 little tomatoe and half a grape! That's most she has had in 1 week!

Do u think she is lonely and needs a friend? 😄

 

[vickeevam]

Does it make any difference if it's a red lamp as that's what she has now?

 

[Jacqui]

Do u think she is lonely and needs a friend? 😄

Most tortoises in the wild are solitary, coming together just for breeding. However, captivity changes the way tortoises act and how we "make" them react and behave. Some times they do better, especially hatchlings, with competition. However, the flip side is they can start to bully each other and dominance/sexual maturity/breeding thoughts can come into play. Which means, whenever you have more then one tortoise, you always have to be ready to separate them. Three or more tend to do better then two.

In this case, it is a bad idea. You have an animal that is not doing well. Not the time to introduce a new enclosure mate. Also a new tortoise, would have to be close to identical in size, which may be hard to find. Then the biggest reason not to add a new tortoise at this point is: a new tortoise would have to be in quarantine for several months, so it would not help the current issue.

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Does it make any difference if it's a red lamp as that's what she has now?

All that matters is the heat it puts out. It can be red, black, a CHE (ceramic heat element which puts out no light output at all), or a UV light which puts out light, too. Of course the UV one could not be used at night.

 

[stells2]

Way too high for a Horsfields... it will just aestivate instead at those temps... 32-34 max under the spot... cold side is fine... what temps is it getting down too at night when the lights are off... this can be pretty normal behaviour for Horsfields... they will often dig in for a while... also have you had a poop test for parasites... protozoa and worms?

Bump your temps up to about 38-40C as the basking should be 100F So it is abit cold 30C
You can do this by a higher watt bulb or lawering your heat lamp lower to the enclosure...that should help.

 

[Jacqui]

... also have you had a poop test for parasites... protozoa and worms?

So your thinking this keeper has worms???? Sorry Kelly, I just had to do a tease on that one.

 

[stells2]

Well you never know... pmsl...

The tortoise may be off its food if the keeper has worms

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Here's a very relevant thread, based on my similar experiences with my Russian tortoises:

"They're forcing my hand..."

 

[vickeevam]

Hi All

Thanks for the advice.

Tequila ate a little bit at the weekend and hasn't eaten again since. I can't have her poop tested as she hasn't pooped in a coupl eof weeks now. No need taken, no water and no wee wee either. She seems healthy though. Occasionally I turf her our of her bed and pop her under the heat lamp but after 5 mins or less she is straight back to bed burrowed down.

Should I leave her now an just check once in a while?

 

[vickeevam]

So guys, do you think I should leave my Russian aged 2 yr max to hibernate as this is what she is choosing or should I keep offering her food, bathing her and popping her under heat lamp.

Should I put the heat lamp and UV light on for longer than 12 hours a day, would that help?

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

So guys, do you think I should leave my Russian aged 2 yr max to hibernate as this is what she is choosing or should I keep offering her food, bathing her and popping her under heat lamp.

Should I put the heat lamp and UV light on for longer than 12 hours a day, would that help?

Sounds like she really wants to hibernate. At room temperature, if she doesn't eat or drink anything all winter long, she could lose a lot of weight. At brumation temps (~40*F), she could be inactive for up to 5 months, and not lose much weight at all.

I posted a relevant thread on the previous page. My Russian tortoises behaved much the same way during September and October. In their native Central Asia, this species aestivates to escape the heat from July to October (4 months) and brumates to survive the cold from November to March (5 months), for a total of 9 months of inactivity per year. This is why Russian are very hungry from April to June (3 months); like squirrels or bears, they must store up for the winter.

Given my Russian tortoises' behavior, the good folks here at TFO advised me to go ahead and let them brumate, so that is what I am doing. After at least 2 weeks of fasting (and probably more), and having been bathed to help them void until last week, they are now in a mini-fridge for the winter. If your tortoise ate well over the summer and is healthy now, then she would be better off hibernating as well.

If she is underweight, however, then she should not be allowed to brumate, as it could be dangerous for her. Here is the Donohue equation for determining the minimum weight of a tortoise for hibernation:

SCL^3 x 0.191 = WT

Where:
SCL = Straight carapace (top shell) length in cm
WT = Weight in grams
Remember: the "carrot" symbol (^) means "to the power of," in this case 3.

https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/nutrition/the-donohue-formula

What this formula tells you is, for a given length, if your tortoise weighs at least as much as the output weight, then it is heavy enough to brumate. Weight is determined mostly by water content, as well as fat reserves, and bone density. If you tortoise is too light, then it is probably dehydrated, lacking in fat reserves or bone density, or a combination of these. The Donohue equation provides a good indicator of a tortoise's conditions, although it works better for some species than others, depending on their shell shape.

Of course, there is more to health than just weight. If you tortoise has loose stools, it could be suffering from an infestation of parasitic helminths (flatworms and/or roundworms), or from a bloom of the wrong kind of gut bacteria. If your tortoise has a runny nose, then it probably has an upper respiratory tract infection. If the eyes never open fully, then the tortoise could have an eye infection. An animal with these or other conditions should not be allowed to brumate, but should be warm and hydrated, and seen by a vet.

 

[vickeevam]

Thanks for that.

Up until yesterday we had been taking her out and putting her under the heat lamp for as long as she stayed there which wasn't long!
Didn't do it today and she hasn't been out of her hide at all. Think she def happy asleep.

I will weigh and measure her but not sure about putting her out in shed to hibernate would rather not as she too young but I can't make her eat or drink all I can do is bathe her and keep putting her under lamp.

I am so stressed about this it's unreal.