Igore Update

[codyv34]

well this Saturday will be 4 weeks since i have had igore. He has only eaten a noticeable amount once. he has 100w Zoo med powersun bulb. 54 gallon storage tub home, with a hide and 24/7 access to water, also he is soaked multiple times each week. he is feed a spring mix base with another green that is alternated. his temps are warms side=85 basking spot=95 middle= upper 70s and cool side= is in the low 70's and at night it drops below 70. he has a cuddle bone, and i also have rep-cal that i sprinkle on is food occasionally. i continue to feel that on paper i am taking great care of him, but he rarely eats, he does drink though, and i think that if i dont take him out of his hide in the morning that he wouldnt come out at all. he is a little over 4ins long and weighs 256 grams

my only thought is that his body is telling him to hibernate. but my temps obviously wont allow it. i feel that he should be pass the adjusting period but i could be wrong, i also thought that maybe his enclosure still isnt big enough, and i am planing on building a 4'x'2 enclosure with in the next couple months, but im just stressed because i continue to take actions to improve his health to the best of my abilities, but i see little to no improvement in his activity levels

 

[lynnedit]

That is frustrating. Otherwise he seems healthy; nose and eyes clear, breathing normally? Have you seen him poo and pee?
Do you have a reliable way to measure the temps, so you know they are accurate? This is really important, to make sure the temps are what you think they are.
How long do you have your lights on, might need to be 14-15 hours per day.
Is the enclosure fairly bright during the day? Sometimes a second regular house light is needed to brighten things up.
Have you tried tempting him with the usual 'rare treats', like some carrot grated over the food, or some finely chopped apple mixed in? Have you tried some partially cooked squash?
For reassurance, you might need to take him to a good reptile vet and have a fecal test done (if not done already). Then at least you could make sure there are no other problems.
Also, check out this concurrent thread, scroll down especially to post #3 and 5:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-entertainment#axzz1l6aTFeHO

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Cody:

When a tortoise is going into brumation, he stops eating about 2 or 3 weeks beforehand in order to clean out his system so the food doesn't rot in there over the winter. So if you have see your tortoise take a bite or two of food, the issue isn't brumation. They don't eat or drink when they are going to brumate.

I have a rescued russian that won't eat either. I put him in front of the food every morning and then step out of his sight. Next time I go by, if the food is still there, I place him in front of it again and quickly step out of sight. But the end of the day, the food is gone.

 

[gopherhockey03]

My tortoise did the same thing it took her 45 days to eat!!! Now she won't stop!!! Don't stress yourself out too much!

 

[codyv34]

That is frustrating. Otherwise he seems healthy; nose and eyes clear, breathing normally? Have you seen him poo and pee?
Do you have a reliable way to measure the temps, so you know they are accurate? This is really important, to make sure the temps are what you think they are.
How long do you have your lights on, might need to be 14-15 hours per day.
Is the enclosure fairly bright during the day? Sometimes a second regular house light is needed to brighten things up.
Have you tried tempting him with the usual 'rare treats', like some carrot grated over the food, or some finely chopped apple mixed in? Have you tried some partially cooked squash?
For reassurance, you might need to take him to a good reptile vet and have a fecal test done (if not done already). Then at least you could make sure there are no other problems.
Also, check out this concurrent thread, scroll down especially to post #3 and 5:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-entertainment#axzz1l6aTFeHO

i do have a accurate way measure temps, and the lights are on 14 hours a day. i have a second 75 watt basking bulb in the tank which help keep the heat where it needs to be, which i added recently thinking that may be the case, but it also helps make it much brighter. I have seen him poop and pee a couple times now, which makes me think he most of eaten something, not sure how long it could be in his stomach for. I have also been researching local vets and have found a couple that have vets trained to deal with reptiles, so a vet visit in the future may be happening.

thank you all for your responses, i dont mean to sound angry, but its scary and stressful, when you keep doing thing so improve the torts lifestyle and you have nothing to show you that it is working. i will have to try some different treats to see if that will get him wanting to eat.

 

[lynnedit]

It is VERY stressful. You are doing a wonderful job setting your tort up. Try tempting him with some foods as mentioned. Put him in front of his food several times during the day as Yvonne does. He may be eating a bit, they are sneaky!
It may take a bit longer, but Spring then Summer are around the corner, and there will be more outside time then.
Last Spring, my torts were active, then all of a sudden started burrowing a lot, I had to get them up every couple of days. It made no sense, as it was April!
Summer came, and they were outside a lot, and they haven't looked back since.
So it can be a process. It sounds like your tort is basically healthy.

 

[codyv34]

yes spring is around the corner, not to much snow this year so if will definitively be an early one. today when i was looking at him i saw a small slightly lighter ring around the edge of his shell, which i saw in another thread people identified as new growth! very exciting