How long can tortoises go without eating?

[ZEROPILOT]

This question gets asked a lot.
IF a tortoise IS drinking, how long can it go without food?
I think it comes down to size and weight of the animal when it stopped eating.(and why it stopped)
For example. When my Queen Bertha stopped eating, she was a very heavy, adult Redfoot. She then ate nothing for two months. Then only a tiny bit through a stomach tube for another 1.5 months. She was drinking during most of that time. Lost a lot of weight. But lived and is healthy today.
It stands to reason that a light weight and young tortoise can't go that long without food. Also, a tortoise that is not eating because of a serious illness will be weaker already.
How long is the longest period of time that your tortoise has/had not eaten?
There is no "One size fits all" answer.

 

[CarolM]

This question gets asked a lot.
IF a tortoise IS drinking, how long can it go without food?
I think it comes down to size and weight of the animal when it stopped eating.(and why it stopped)
For example. When my Queen Bertha stopped eating, she was a very heavy, adult Redfoot. She then ate nothing for two months. Then only a tiny bit through a stomach tube for another 1.5 months. She was drinking during most of that time. Lost a lot of weight. But lived and is healthy today.
It stands to reason that a light weight and young tortoise can't go that long without food. Also, a tortoise that is not eating because of a serious illness will be weaker already.
How long is the longest period of time that your tortoise has/had not eaten?
There is no "One size fits all" answer.

Can I ask a question. I am not having any problems just interested in the topic though. Okay the question is this. How do you know when the tortiose is not eating because there is something wrong or when they are not eating just because they are not interested? And when is the right time to start getting worried? Basically what are signs that you should look for that would tell you that something is not right?

 

[Nessa]

Can I ask a question. I am not having any problems just interested in the topic though. Okay the question is this. How do you know when the tortiose is not eating because there is something wrong or when they are not eating just because they are not interested? And when is the right time to start getting worried? Basically what are signs that you should look for that would tell you that something is not right?

I believe that also depends on the breed of tortoise. My sulcata will eat for days!!! She is just a lawnmower. She will stuff grass in her face, and as much as possibly before it starts to get cold and then she will head back to her home. However, she will also be eating all the grass all the way back to her home.   hehe love her so much little fatty

Then there is my russian, she eats sometimes and other times she is not that interested.

You can try to introduce new foods. What I usually do is when I think my tort stopped eating, I give her a smal piece of watermelon, pumpkin hibiscuc. When she doesn't eat the hibiscuc, then I tend to worry a bit more, however, I still would not take her to the vet right away unless she seems very lethargic and not herself. They can go quite a long time without eating but monitoring their food intake is always good.

The things I always check for on my torts are : healthy fecal matter and the frequency, healthy runny/hydrated urates, if they are eating and if they have runny noses.

 

[Big Charlie]

Charlie went at least 5 or 6 weeks a few years ago without eating - from Thanksgiving to Christmas. He stayed in his nightbox the entire time. I only had one heater in there at the time, and I think he wasn't warm enough to come out. He was around 16 years old, close to 100 pounds. Now that he has more heat, he will still go a few days without wanting to come out. He won't eat in his box.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Can I ask a question. I am not having any problems just interested in the topic though. Okay the question is this. How do you know when the tortiose is not eating because there is something wrong or when they are not eating just because they are not interested? And when is the right time to start getting worried? Basically what are signs that you should look for that would tell you that something is not right?

Bertha stopped eating like a hog and had gotten wobbly on her back legs before she stopped eating completely.
Soon, she didn't walk at all. Just spun around with her front legs. Then she stopped moving and for a 24 hour period, died...So I thought.
An Esophagostamy tube went in. More antibiotics. A couple of thousand bucks and every test my vet could dream up.
Then one day she started to eat.

I'd say any activity not normal for your animal. With no obvious reason.
Especially no desire to eat sweet fruit.
Mine live in a small group. And isolating a sick animal is needed. It also helps to keep track of how much, if any food has been eaten.

 

[Baoh]

Imports (that have size and heft to begin with) of any species that I have to adjust or readjust after they have failed elsewhere can take a while. Weeks. A low number of months in less common cases. If I can get them as early as possible, the anorexic period is (much) shorter if it exists at all.

I have an adult female phayrei that has spent three consecutive months in a burrow on two successive years. Burrows are ecologically active to some extent, so I cannot say she eats absolutely nothing at all when she does this, but it is nothing like when she is hanging out with the rest of the colony above ground (she then eats 6+ pounds of food a day). She picked up a quasi-estivation behavioral habit that lasted six weeks during a summer heat wave in 2014 and carried it through during dry winters in 2015 and 2016. She is fully awake during these periods, but simply does not choose to be topside along with her conspecifics even though she is the dominant being in the colony's hierarchical structure. It appears that the heat wave was the original trigger and the circuit for the behavioral modification was retained and is sensitive to dry periods (even with standing water and sprinklers).

Skipping a day or a few days is not a cause for alarm in healthy or hefty animals. Especially if there is an identifiable precipitating event or environmental factor. Moisture shifts. Temperature shifts. Photoperiod shifts. Barometric pressure shifts. Other things. These can all strengthen or dampen feeding (and other) behaviors.

My reproductive females go through very normal consumption volume cycles when in season because the increase in size and volume of mature eggs leaves little spare internal space for intake. A female with a large maturing clutch might take a bite a day that I could miss. Or nothing at all for a week when we are talking about a species that normally lays three eggs per clutch yet is going to deliver a clutch more than three times that volume.

It is said that tortoises will not starve themselves. That is partially true, but only partially. They do not intend to starve to death, but a downward path from preference seeking and non-preference avoidance, if long enough for the mass of the animal, will lead to weakness. Feeding and absorption of nutritional support is the source of sustained strength. When this vigor is reduced, it sets forth of a cascade of declining robustness. Tissues are deconstructed in catabolic processes to support overall life. The muscles, bones, and visceral organs decrease in mass. Peristalsis may reduce or cease. The intestinal microbiome becomes starved and the populations of various mutualistic symbiotic microflora types both decrease and shift. The loss of beneficial microbiome colonization allows conditional pathogens to shift things to an unhealthy balance. The microvilli can become damaged or distorted. Appetite loss due to the health decline becomes exacerbated. The choice stops being a choice. If they would not starve to death, baby food soaks would not be a practice. Tubing would not be a medical intervention. For every animal that comes around a week or a month later, there are plenty that do not snap out of it and simply fade in strength until they pass away. This is especially common in smaller-bodied imports and CB babies that are deprived of foods they will eat in an effort to force them to eat foods that are "better" on paper. There is much less margin for error when an animal of lower body mass is involved. If an animal is eating anything that can remotely considered food, blending with gradual shifts in proportions is the safest path to take. Generally, consumption of a non-ideal food is superior to an absolute lack of consumption.

 

[CarolM]

Imports (that have size and heft to begin with) of any species that I have to adjust or readjust after they have failed elsewhere can take a while. Weeks. A low number of months in less common cases. If I can get them as early as possible, the anorexic period is (much) shorter if it exists at all.

I have an adult female phayrei that has spent three consecutive months in a burrow on two successive years. Burrows are ecologically active to some extent, so I cannot say she eats absolutely nothing at all when she does this, but it is nothing like when she is hanging out with the rest of the colony above ground (she then eats 6+ pounds of food a day). She picked up a quasi-estivation behavioral habit that lasted six weeks during a summer heat wave in 2014 and carried it through during dry winters in 2015 and 2016. She is fully awake during these periods, but simply does not choose to be topside along with her conspecifics even though she is the dominant being in the colony's hierarchical structure. It appears that the heat wave was the original trigger and the circuit for the behavioral modification was retained and is sensitive to dry periods (even with standing water and sprinklers).

Skipping a day or a few days is not a cause for alarm in healthy or hefty animals. Especially if there is an identifiable precipitating event or environmental factor. Moisture shifts. Temperature shifts. Photoperiod shifts. Barometric pressure shifts. Other things. These can all strengthen or dampen feeding (and other) behaviors.

My reproductive females go through very normal consumption volume cycles when in season because the increase in size and volume of mature eggs leaves little spare internal space for intake. A female with a large maturing clutch might take a bite a day that I could miss. Or nothing at all for a week when we are talking about a species that normally lays three eggs per clutch yet is going to deliver a clutch more than three times that volume.

It is said that tortoises will not starve themselves. That is partially true, but only partially. They do not intend to starve to death, but a downward path from preference seeking and non-preference avoidance, if long enough for the mass of the animal, will lead to weakness. Feeding and absorption of nutritional support is the source of sustained strength. When this vigor is reduced, it sets forth of a cascade of declining robustness. Tissues are deconstructed in catabolic processes to support overall life. The muscles, bones, and visceral organs decrease in mass. Peristalsis may reduce or cease. The intestinal microbiome becomes starved and the populations of various mutualistic symbiotic microflora types both decrease and shift. The loss of beneficial microbiome colonization allows conditional pathogens to shift things to an unhealthy balance. The microvilli can become damaged or distorted. Appetite loss due to the health decline becomes exacerbated. The choice stops being a choice. If they would not starve to death, baby food soaks would not be a practice. Tubing would not be a medical intervention. For every animal that comes around a week or a month later, there are plenty that do not snap out of it and simply fade in strength until they pass away. This is especially common in smaller-bodied imports and CB babies that are deprived of foods they will eat in an effort to force them to eat foods that are "better" on paper. There is much less margin for error when an animal of lower body mass is involved. If an animal is eating anything that can remotely considered food, blending with gradual shifts in proportions is the safest path to take. Generally, consumption of a non-ideal food is superior to an absolute lack of consumption.

Wow . Quite interesting. Thank you.

 

[Reptilian Feline]

Even the least nutritional leaf is better than nothing. When Embers wasn't doing so well (Tank Girl had hogged all the heat, pushing him to the coldest spot in the hide), even a sliver of chicken heart or a piece of banana was cause to celebration.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Wow . Quite interesting. Thank you.

Yes.
Very.