avamagnanti
New Member
hey all. super new here, this is my first post ever and i literally just joined tortoise forum so please bear with me. i've had my tort, franklin, for four years now. i got him from another family who had him for a long time. we've never changed any of the ways to take care of him, just doing exactly what his previous family told us to do. i sort of just trusted what they said, which was to feed him only the crunchy part of romaine lettuce and the occasional strawberry and not to give him water or baths because he just "makes a mess" and i havent strayed from that for fear of distressing him with sudden change but i dont think that was a good way for my franklin to live...he has been totally fine the entire time ive had him though, taking huge bites of food and being friendly to people and digging/basking/climbing all around his enclosure. until recently when he stopped eating? he hasnt eaten anything in weeks, he wont come out from under his little log hut in his enclosure, and he hasnt even opened his eyes. he is alive for sure!! my friend picked him up last week and he was moving around while she held him and today i decided to stray from his regular routine and bathe him. i soaked him for probably about 20 minutes in warm water. his eyes finally opened again and he walked around in his bath !! i dried him off thoroughly with paper towels like i read online to do and then gave him fresh lettuce and a water dish. he is back in his enclosure but has gone back to just laying down with his eyes shut and refusing to eat. what do i do?