Dennis isn’t eating

[Dennisshell4]

I’ve recently bought a baby Hermann Tortoise. I’ve had him for 5 days now and he hasn’t eaten or drank anything as far as I know. I’ve tried feeding him iceberg lettuce, tomato and cucumber along side his vitamin and calcium pellets. All he does is sleep! Any suggestions on what might the issue or solutions to help. Is this anything for me to be considered about?

 

[KarenSoCal]

Any time a baby doesn't eat, it is cause for concern. But good for you that you asked for help quickly. Sometimes people wait and come to us with "my baby hasn't eaten for a month..."

I've never kept a Hermann's, so the first place to start is with some links for you to read. Make sure to read carefully and compare how you are keeping your baby compared to the care sheets. Pay special attention to temp requirements. Being too cold is one of the top reasons for a tort to not eat. If not warm enough, they cannot digest their food, so they just don't eat. By correcting any problems in his environment, you may fix it on your own.

After you read all of this material, come back with questions and we'll be glad to help you further.

There is one trick you can try in the meantime. I hope you are soaking him daily. This is putting him in a high-sided plastic dish or bin. Put in warm water, 95-100 degF, to where the water comes up to just above where his carapace and plastron meet. He should be kept in there for 30-45 min at least daily. Don't let the water cool off...add more warm to keep it 95-100F. If he struggles to get out, leave him in. It's good for him. If he has eaten anything, this helps poop move on through.

Now, that's a regular soak. What I want you to do is get a bottle of unflavored Pedialyte, like babies take. While in the baby aisle, pick up a couple jars of baby food, specifically pureed carrots.

When you make your soak water, use water and Pedialyte 50/50. Then put a spoon or 2 of the pureed carrots in, and stir it all up. Add the tortoise and soak.

Most torts drink when first put in the soak, so if he does, he's getting Pedialyte and carrots. This mixture has saved the lives of babies.

Please post some pix of his enclosure, lights, substrate, furnishings, etc. That will help us spot and trouble areas. We need to know about the 4 temps in your enclosure...basking, hot end, cool end, and overnight. If you by chance are using a CFL type bulb for UVB, turn it off immediately. It's any that are curly.

We will go over all of this with you, but it helps us and you if you have a basic understanding of the care sheets. You also need to feed different foods. Lettuce, cucumber, and tomato are not good for torts in general. I do understand you may be trying to entice him to eat by giving goodies. In any case, I included a huge list of foods for you to try once we get the little guy up and running!

OK, the links:

.https://tortoiseforum.org/forums/hermanns-tortoises.80/

Beginner Mistakes

To comment on Tom's article, go here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-split-Beginner-Mistakes#axzz1tG8s05M5 Over the years many of us, myself included, have made many of these mistakes, and we have certainly seen them made many times by others. With springtime upon us and many new...

www.tortoiseforum.org

You may need to rely on grocery store foods for now. Good foods for tortoises are "chicories," types of lettuce that are likely to be on the far side of the more common floppy green heads of lettuce most people buy. Anything labeled as simply "chicory" is good, as are radiccio, frisee, escarole, and endive; you might even find something labeled as dandelions. You may find a bag of "Spring" or "Spicy" mix that is good, just check the label to be sure it has some of the chicories I just mentioned. The leaves (just the leaves) of turnips and radishes are also good, as are carrot tops. Collards, mustard greens, bok choy, and other dark, leafy greens are okay as well. If you have any kind of Mexican/hispanic market near you, they will sell cactus, labeled "nopales." Cactus is a great food to rotate in the diet, as it is high in calcium.

You don't need to feed all of these at one time, just make sure your tortoise is getting access to different types of food. As you get more experienced, you can find the better types of food listed on the care sheets.

Here are a whole bunch of non-grocery store suggestions.

Mulberry leaves
Grape vine leaves
Hibiscus leaves
African hibiscus leaves
Blue hibiscus leaves
Rose of Sharon leaves
Rose leaves
Geraniums
Gazanias
Nasturtium
Lavatera
Pansies
Petunias
Hostas
Honeysuckle
Cape honeysuckle
Leaves and blooms from any squash plant, like pumpkin, cucumber, summer squash, etc...
Young spineless opuntia cactus pads

Weeds:

There are soooooooo many...
Dandelion
Mallow
Filaree
Smooth Sow thistle
Prickly Sow thistle
Milk thistle
Goat head weed
Cats ear
Nettles
Trefoil
Wild onion
Wild mustard
Wild Garlic
Clovers
Broadleaf plantain
Narrow leaf plantain
Chick weed
Hawksbit
Hensbit
Hawksbeard

Other good stuff:

"Testudo Seed Mix" from http://www.tortoisesupply.com/SeedMixes

Pasture mixes or other seeds from http://www.groworganic.com/seeds.html

Homegrown alfalfa

Mazuri Tortoise Chow

ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food

Ones that you can buy in every store:
Arugula
Lambs lettuce
Chicory
Kale
Mustard greens
Organic kohlrabi leafs
Organic carrot leafs
Organic radish leafs
Dandelions
Radiccio

 

[Blackdog1714]

I would also ask the breeder what he had been feeding him

 

[Yvonne G]

Make sure he's warm enough. The most common cause for a baby to not eat is because he's not warm enough. You'll need a light that gives off UVB, and some sort of heat on all the time besides the light. The floor of his enclosure needs to be kept around 80-85F degrees day and night while he's a baby.