Eating Normal...Sleeping Alot

[Kymiie]

So I have a 4 year old hermann tortoise!
He is eating perfect...very big appitite!

But for the past 3 days he has been asleep all day apart from feed!
Im not hibernating him and nothing has changed in his enclosure.

Can anybody tell me why?

THANKS

 

[Meg90]

They sleep more when they are cool. Have you been doing anything that would fluctuate his temps lately?

 

[Kymiie]

No, his enclosure has been the same for the past year and he is infront of the radiator so he has always been warm, but these past 3 days he has been sleeping alot!.. here is an attatched photo of his enclosure tell me what u think

THANKS xx

Excuse the mess he is being cleaned out tomorrow...and there are no cabeks in the enclosure they are tacked around it xx

 

[Yvonne G]

You didn't ask ME, but here's what I think :

You need to raise the habitat up off the floor. Heat rises and its usually pretty cold on the floor.

YOU didn't change anything, but Mother Nature has changed, and with the cooler weather, he's too cold on the floor.

Just my not-so-humble opinion!!


Yvonne

 

[Kymiie]

Yeah I understand what your saying..
But my room is very small and gets very hot!
Havnt really got the room to put him up anywhere as my room is only 3m x 2m if that!

But here is what I dont undeerstand....why now??
Last winter he was super fine... maybe a heat mat??

xx

---

HEHE got a bit of my washing in there!!

It is clean, just my kitty cat was playing with my ''pants''

NAUGHTY..

 

[GBtortoises]

Change in temperature and/or daylight duration can cause a Hermann's tortoise (and others) to begin to go into hibernation mode. Usually a drop in temperature along with shorter daylight hours will initiate this change. Sometimes either of the conditions alone may do it. In some instances change in humidity level along with the prior listed events may also contribute. It varies by situation and animal. You don't mention the actual day and night temperatures that you tortoise is exposed to or the number of hours that it't light is on. Does any natural light through a window fall on the tortoises enclosure? Listing some of this information may be a great help in getting some answers here.
Heat mats usually are not a good solution for Hermann's since they do need some difference and day to night temperatures. But it also depends alot upon the ambient air temperature within the room at night and during the daytime.

 

[tortoisenerd]

You need to buy an accurate thermometer, such as a laser one, and report back the temperature gradient. Your thermostat or personal opinion frankly doesn't say much about the enclosure temperature. From personal experience the temperature will vary approximately 5 degrees from the floor to table height. Also, the ambient temperature likely has dropped in the room as it gets colder, despite you not changing the enclosure heat setup. This is the most likely cause of a tort slowing down, and without a analytical response of it is X-X deg in the enclosure, it is tough for us to rule this out. Side note: heat mats are not ideal. If you did need more heat after moving it up and checking bulb heights (you need to move them down as room temps drop and up as they rise), you would add a ceramic heat emitter or black light bulb. Best wishes.

 

[Meg90]

Also, I was backtracking through posts and you let him "free roam" quite often because his enclosure is too small. I think you need to scrap that tiny enclosure all together and build him a new one. You could even build it on legs to deal with the aspect of keeping him off the floor.

But I would say nix the free roam. Who knows...He may have ingested something this week, and now he feels under the weather. And while you may think that he enjoys free roaming, if it is stressing him, the behavior you are seeing now could be a result.

But I also think that it's your temps wreaking havoc on him.

 

[GBtortoises]

Letting tortoises roam the floor is never a good idea, at least not in the Northern U.S. where fall, winter and early spring temperatures are cool to downright cold. Even in the best built houses there are often cold air drafts at floor level from poorly sealed doors, windows and if you have it, hot air heat systems. Along with drafts the floor itself is often colder than the air temperatures at higher levels in a room.

 

[Kymiie]

improved his enclosure read this thread!

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-10507.html