Change of behavior because it is colder outside?

[Isa]

Since a week, Hermy is not very hungry. He will only eat mazuri and cactus pear (but very slowly, without apetite). He takes a couple of bites of greens per day, lets say 3 or 4 bites max. He stays in his hide in the morning (I have to put him under the light), he stays like 2 minutes under the light and goes back into his hide.
It is colder outside but he is inside and the temps are always the same. Every year, when it gets colder outside, he eats less and spend more time in his hide but never like this. Oh and His nostrills are clear.
This morning, when I showed him a piece of cactus pear, he did not even move, he just looked at the piece, usually, he runs like crazy to eat it. I want to bring a poo sample to the vet but the last one he did (3 or 4 days ago) he did it in his bath, so I did not bring it.
Do you guys see the same behavior with your tortoises when it gets colder?
The thing is, if I had a super good herp vet, I would go but The reptiles vets we have here does not know a lot on tortoises, the last time I went, the vet was making a story because I use Aspen as susbrate and she told me it could be very dangerous if he eats a piece so she wanted me to put paper tower!! And they are very stron on antibiotics (even if they have no proof it is necessary)
Any opinions?
Thanks

 

[moswen]

i'm not big on deworming unless there is just an infestation of the things, but there's some speculation that a few worms actually help the torts digest their food... after all, every tortoise in the wild has them, they must serve some purpose. on the thread when terra lost tempi, if i remember correctly, tempi was parasite free according to her fecals, and the vet told her sometimes their intestines don't work correctly so they can't digest food or grow. my little ayana has no parasites and she's not growing either, and i think there could be some connection, personally.

but tula always slows down and usually stays within the peramiters of her rug when it starts to get cold out. (she lives under my pool table and has free range of the house) usually she hangs out under her heat lamps but mostly she's just happy in her hide. she usually sticks her little head out and rests it on the lip of her hide box just hanging out and watching from the comfort of her warm home... sometimes i'll lay down with her and she'll come sprinting out of her hide like i've got the most delicious thing on the planet. i think hermy's behavior is normal. i've not noticed my babies getting any less active this winter, and they are in temperature controlled enclosures in the spare room. but something i have noticed, the sullies will go crazy when it rains, even when i have the windows closed. they'll run around like chickens, they're just trying to figure out what's going on i guess...

so my point with that is, i think all torts have the ability to sense pressure changes and temperature changes, even if they're inside. just one of those primal abilities we probably lost. maybe the pressure or temperature difference just makes him want to sleep more.

 

[Greg T]

I do see a change in my torts when the temps drop. They do not move as much, tend to stay in the hides more often and eat less. If I can bring the enclosure temps up, or bring them into the house where it s warmer then they will become more active, so I do believe it is the temperature driving the changes.[/align]

 

[pugsandkids]

Oscar is inside now, but he is not as active in his box as he was this summer in his box. Did that make sense?!

 

[Len B]

Not only is it getting colder, the days are getting shorter also, we are loosing at least a minute of sunlight a day. I think this may effect their activities as much as temperature change.

 

[Isa]

Thanks guys!
It must be the presusre or something I will keep an eye on him (well I always keep my 2 eyes on him even if he is doing good lol).
Sarah, it absolutly make sense

 

[alfiethetortoise]

Alfie has slowed down a lot in the last three weeks, and she is inside all the time. I increaced her temperatures and she is about back to normal again

 

[Tracy Gould]

I am glad someone posted about this as i was going to, Shelby lives inside all the time with small trips out side when its hot. I have kept the temps and light the same as the summer but she as started eating less too she is active and spend most of the day walking around the table or climbing the hill in the middle but she is not eating as much as before. It maybe because she as a larger table now and the cooler end drops to 75 on cold days and 70 at night, they are not daft are they they know it getting to the time when they should hybernate there is no fooling them lol

 

[Isa]

Thanks for the comments
Even if the temps are the same, he is still super lazy, he only ate 2 pieces of mazuri this morning, he did not touch his greens. I had to woke him up this morning and put him in his bath, he went back to sleep, I put him under his light, he went back to sleep, I gave him 2 pieces of mazuri, he went back to sleep, I put him in front of his greens and now he is back in his hide. He pooped this morning but in this water again, so I will not bring it to the vet.

 

[Tracy Gould]

Thanks for the comments
Even if the temps are the same, he is still super lazy, he only ate 2 pieces of mazuri this morning, he did not touch his greens. I had to woke him up this morning and put him in his bath, he went back to sleep, I put him under his light, he went back to sleep, I gave him 2 pieces of mazuri, he went back to sleep, I put him in front of his greens and now he is back in his hide. He pooped this morning but in this water again, so I will not bring it to the vet.

What are you temps like in your table?

 

[Isa]

Under the spot 95
Hot side 84
Cold side 75

 

[pugsandkids]

Thanks for the comments
Even if the temps are the same, he is still super lazy, he only ate 2 pieces of mazuri this morning, he did not touch his greens. I had to woke him up this morning and put him in his bath, he went back to sleep, I put him under his light, he went back to sleep, I gave him 2 pieces of mazuri, he went back to sleep, I put him in front of his greens and now he is back in his hide. He pooped this morning but in this water again, so I will not bring it to the vet.

That is a super sleepy tort. Poop means he's eating, hmmm interesting...

 

[Isa]

That is why it is bothering me, Hermy is always super active, so it is kind of weird to see him like that.

 

[Candy]

Isa I didn't even see this thread before now. I'm sorry to hear that Hermy is not himself lately. Do they hibernate or not? I have heard of peoples tortoises slowing down in the winter even if they don't hibernate. Let us know how he does in the next few days. What about Popcorn, how is he doing?

 

[Isa]

I do not let him hibernate, he always slows down when it gets colder but this year, it is different. He does not want to eat his greens. Yesterday, I gave him pumpkin, and he ate it but without apetite. But at least he eats, today he ate about 10 bites of greens, I am glad because the last couple of days, he would not go near it and he also ate 2 pieces of mazuri. If he is still like that at the begining of next week, I will take an appointment at the vet for a xray. I hate going there since I know they do not know what they are talking about but they must know how to read a xray.
Popcorn is doing very good, he is growing like a piece of dandelion When I first got him, his weight was 17g and now he is in the 50s He loves to eat and to bask under his spot light. Yesterday, he tasted a piece of cactus pear for the first time, lol he went nuts .
Thanks for asking

 

[tortoisenerd]

Same thing is going on at my house...despite lowering the bulb and adding a CHE to keep the temps the same as summer, Trevor is barely active. They do still feel the seasons change, even indoors when overwintered, even the torts who have never hibernated. Best we can do is keep the temps stable and wake them daily to bask and eat. If you are waking your tort and they don't want to eat a bite several days in a row, then is more when you'd worry. Trevor is in the worst funk I've ever seen him in...bad combo of 4 rounds of dewormer (vet decided to do double the usual 2 rounds since this is his second pinworm infestation), weather changing, new water dish, and I think he's ready for a bigger enclosure too.

I think the fecal test ever 6 or 12 months is very important as a tort can have moderate parasites with no symptoms except maybe a slowdown (low levels of parasites are normal). What would the x-ray look for? A blockage or something? If he's eating at least a little every couple days, I wouldn't suspect that. I think the torts are plotting against us owners again...didn't we have this same thing last year when all our torts were in a change of season funk? They can go quite awhile without eating and not lose any significant weight...us owners tend to worry too much.

-get the fecal check done (they should not give meds unless there is a specific parasite diagnosis ie. tell you its ringworms or coccidia or whatever, not just "parasites", and the numbers are high, and the meds should be specific to the parasite type and tort's weight...I like to double check meds and doses online and/or on here first, even with a vet who has won my trust)
-watch for temp drops (even with your house thermostat set)
-keep an eye out for not eating a thing for days in a row
-continue waking the tort daily to warm up, hydrate, and encouragement to eat
-look for any symptoms of health problems like nose/eye/mouth discharge, open mouth breathing, swelling, etc.
-don't listen to vet's advice on substrate...I think all vets think animals should be kept on paper towels or newspaper...in the wild they do fine on dirt lol...but thing is just to keep the food away from the substrate (similar to the wild where they eat a leaf attached to the stalk, we place food on a dish off the substrate)...substrates like aspen are safe for the tort to ingest even a few pieces and have them pass through...they need something natural to live on and dig and such

I hope both Hermy and Trevor decide to stop scaring us soon and be active again. Trevor does much better on weekends when we're home. He loves that we peek in on him all the time as we walk from the living room to the kitchen, as he'll always poke up his head to say hello.

 

[Isa]

Our tortoises sure know how to worry us lol. I have added a heater in the tortoises room. during the winter, the temp in the room is always 74F. Hermy is doing kind of better now, since yesterday, he wakes up by himself in the morning and he ate a couple of bites . Yes, the reason why I wanted to bring him to the vet if he stays like that longer was because I was worried about a blockage, but you are right, if he eats, it should be ok. I really want the vet to do a fecal check but he always poo in his water dish but as soon as I can bring a sample, I will bring it. I bring one every 6 months or so, the last one was made 4 months ago but I just want to make sure everything is allright.

How do you administrate Trevor his antibiotics? Does the antibiotics affects him a lot?

Thanks for the advices and I am sending plenty of positives vibes to Trevor and Hermy to eat like champions

 

[Candy]

Well I hope that Trevor and Hermy feel better soon. I didn't know that Trevor wasn't acting right either. Isa I'm glad to hear that Hermy is feeling a little better today that's a good sign. I guess they know instinctively what they are supposed to do even if we don't let them do it huh? I just bought Fernando a pig blanket and I have a heat emitter in his enclosure and he seems to be doing fine right now. I guess we'll have to see when it gets colder here.

 

[tortoisenerd]

The three times Trevor has needed meds, it is just a pea sized amount of liquid (the vet is great to pre-fill syringes of doses based on Trevor's weight). The vet suggested to try and pry open his mouth to squirt it in, but the little bugger won't allow that! We will just make a burrito with lettuce and the medicine and hand feed it (burrito to make sure the medicine doesn't get all over his beak but not in his tummy). He usually does just fine with it that way. Sometimes with the meds he'll be in a funk so we'll wake him up when we get home from work and need to give him meds, but he won't want to eat the lettuce. We just have to keep trying, and worst case scenario I've got him to eat half the dose (I use a couple leaves of spring mix total so he won't get a giant bite of medicine).

There are some meds that aren't supposed to be given with food (I think the stuff he had for coccidia?), but if thats the only way you can get it done, and its a small amount of food, I didn't see too much harm in that (supposedly the medicine is stronger with the food somehow). He will slow down a bit after finishing a course of dewormer or whatever...probably because it upsets their tummy. A dewormer won't kill worms, but makes the intestines hostile such that they can't cling on. The first treatment will get rid of the adults, and the second treatment 10 days later or whatever will get rid of the worms that have hatched from the eggs between the treatments.

He won't move around as much and may refuse food for a day at a time, or eat a bit less. That is one of the reasons I disagree with periodic deworming without a fecal test (unless of course you have dozens of tortoises and have reason to believe they need to be dewormed, but even then, doing 1 or 2 representative samples from the group to see if you should give meds to the whole group is a way to get around the cost). Thats great you get the test done every 6 months, Isa. I have been doing the same.

Trevor was a little piggy yesterday. Hes always way more active when we're home on weekends. We're watching him wake up right now. He has his head out of his burrow but keeps nodding off still!

 

[ChiKat]

What CHE do you recommend? Nelson's enclosure is in my basement and I'm having trouble keeping him temps up- I think I'll need to get a CHE for the winter.

eta: I keep Nelson's light on for 14 hours during the winter.