Help with Horsefield's tortoise

[xleeannax]

Hello i'm a newbie with2 horsefield tortoises. I have a poorly tortoise who is about 2 years old. She sleeps an awful lot and takes so long to wake up. She is kept in a tortoise table with a mercury vapour bulb 80w. She has a varied diet and is bathed regularly... Where am going wrong Raph my baby tort who is kept exactly the same is fine.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Leeanna, and welcome to the Forum!

May we please see a picture of the tortoise you're concerned about, and its habitat? Also, are they kept in separate enclosures?

 

[HotdogKnight]

Welcome! Pictures would really help us help you! Is the table open or does it have a lid? Also like Yvonne asked, are the two torts kept together?

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. The pictures and everything you can think of to tell us about the enclosure, diet, temps, humidity, how often are they soaked, etc will also help.

 

[xleeannax]

I have attached a picture.of their enclosure as you can see they aren't kept together. She soaked 3-4 times a week and I can normally see her drinking quite well. It's hard to measure the tempreture because of the type of enclosure. The tempreture gauge was just measuring the heat of the room. I binned gauge but will get a new one today.

 

[smarch]

Is that substrate sand? If not my apologies for assuming, if it is sand isn't good, its too dry and if tortoises eat on it some gets ingested and it gets stuck in their gut.

 

[xleeannax]

No that isn't sand.. It's half wood.shavings and half soil

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Soil is fine. Wood shavings aren't good. It gets moldy if its kept damp enough.

 

[xleeannax]

Have never seen mould and they are cleaned out often!

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Wood shavings are not part of a good substrate. I'm glad yours isn't moldy, but it's still not the right stuff. Frequent changes may be why it's not moldy, or it may be too dry- but those changes are entirely unnecessary with the right substrate.

You'd be better off with coconut coir mixed into the soil.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Some times one animal just has better health and more vitality than the other. Sometimes the one that is not thriving is being bullied, even though we can't see any signs of it. He needs to be separated.

 

[crimson_lotus]

I'm assuming the wood chips are not molding because there is no humidity, but I could be wrong. Wood chips aren't great because of their inability to hold in moisture. Also, please note that pine and cedar bedding can be toxic. Maintaining some humidity is recommended in the care sheet in order to keep their shells smooth (pyramiding is due to lack of humidity) and to keep their skin from being dry. Some people just offer a moist hide and soak frequently, and some just have closed chambers where the humidity can be maintained.

I don't have a horsefield but wood chips aren't good for any type of tortoise. I would recommend just replacing it with top soil, or changing it completely to cypress mulch, orchid bark, coco coir - all cheap and easy to find options at your local hardware store.

Also I don't see a water dish but it could very well be under all that light. I would put in a water dish if you don't have one already.