Donna Shaw
Member
I have received some great advice on this forum in the past so hoping you can help again. My Hermann tortoise, Stella, hasn't been herself for the last 4-6 weeks and despite my best efforts I can't get her back to her normal self. She was a keen eater, basked all day, woke up in the morning and took herself off to bed at night. Over the last 4-6 weeks she has been eating less and less, been very lethargic, yawning a lot and not waking up in the morning. Over the last 2 weeks she has been burrowing down in her cold area and scratching the bottom of her tortoise table, to the point where she is wearing her toenails down quite noticeably which suggests to me she is stressed. Her eyes are also sunken and she keeps rubbing her eyes. Ive also noticed some minor skin shedding on her face and top of her head. There is no sign of an infection, her eyes don't look watery, no sneezing etc. Her mouth is pink and healthy inside. I have managed to get her to eat a little every day or 2 days, usually a small piece of cucumber, radish or strawberry. She's stopped eating her favourite foods such as plantain. Her temperatures are at 35 under her basking lamp, 24-25 at cooler side of table and 20-21 in her hide area. She has coco coir in her hide area that is kept moist, and orchid bark in her main enclosure which is sprayed twice daily. She weighs 205g and was hatched in 2019. Her tortoise table is inside a grow tent to keep her humidity up, it's usually between 70 to 90 in daytime and goes up to 99% at night. Nighttime temperature is 27 under the heat emitter and 19-20 in her hide. The only things that have changed is that I have got her a bigger cave to sleep in as she outgrew her old one. She is not getting up in the morning, not basking or very active. I was soaking her 3-4 times a week for 30 mins, I've upped this to twice daily over the last week and been using repto boost in the water over the last couple of days. The repto boost seems to have made a bit of a difference but not enough to stop me worrying. Any suggestions? Is it time to see the vet or should I try critical care? Thanks in advance