Not eating much

[Zmschaeffer924]

My desert tortoise is about 7 years old. He was soaking in water and then water came out of his nose and his mouth has some foamy slobber. It went away but then he didn’t really want to walk and would keep taking breaks. He is walking better today and no more clear fluids but still isn’t really wanting to eat. He eats dark leafy greens. Some flukers pellets and the occasional piece of fruit. He has an outdoor enclosure. He was out walking around one morning outside of his enclosure so there’s a chance he could have eaten dog poop.

 

[Gijoux]

Dog poop won't kill him. I know it sounds awful, but they eat scat in the wild. Try offering him his favorite food. Soak him every day for at least 30 minutes until he is eating without hesitation. It sounds like he had been eating something, went to take a drink, and you observed the back flow of water out his nose. Lots of soaking should help dislodge anything stuck.

 

[Yvonne G]

It's normal for water to come out the nose after a drink. The other end of the nostrils is in the roof of the mouth.

 

[Zmschaeffer924]

Ok thank you so much. I did offer him his favorite foods but he would only eat a slice of banana. But I suppose that’s better than nothing. He has pooped twice since. It’s kind of a dark green. Is that normal?

 

[Gijoux]

Ok thank you so much. I did offer him his favorite foods but he would only eat a slice of banana. But I suppose that’s better than nothing. He has pooped twice since. It’s kind of a dark green. Is that normal?

Depending on what he ate last it might be. Good that he's pooping.

 

[Tom]

My desert tortoise is about 7 years old. He was soaking in water and then water came out of his nose and his mouth has some foamy slobber. It went away but then he didn’t really want to walk and would keep taking breaks. He is walking better today and no more clear fluids but still isn’t really wanting to eat. He eats dark leafy greens. Some flukers pellets and the occasional piece of fruit. He has an outdoor enclosure. He was out walking around one morning outside of his enclosure so there’s a chance he could have eaten dog poop.

Its roasting hot in Vegas right now. Does he have a burrow to escape the heat? What is the temperature in his burrow?

DTs should never be fed fruit. Its not good for them. Please give this a read. It was written with DTs in mind, and there is diet info in there too:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Zmschaeffer924]

Its roasting hot in Vegas right now. Does he have a burrow to escape the heat? What is the temperature in his burrow?

DTs should never be fed fruit. Its not good for them. Please give this a read. It was written with DTs in mind, and there is diet info in there too:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Yes it’s unbelievably hot ? but he does have a burrow he goes in and shade if he doesn’t want to be in it. Also a shallow terra-cotta plate he will lay in sometimes. I don’t know what the temperature is in the burrow. I will put a temperature reader in it and check it in an hour or so.