Hello everyone. I haven't been active on this forum for quite a while, but I have returned because I am very worried about my baby golden greek tortoise. Lately he has not been eating, and he also will not move around at all. If anyone could give me some advice I would appreciate it so much!
Last week I don't think he left his burrow once. Every day when I came home from work his food looked like it hadn't been touched. After a few days of noticing this I decided to remove him from his burrow before leaving for work and placed him in front of his food dish. He didn't show any interest in the food right away so I cut up a small piece of apple to try and entice him and he took a couple bites of it from my hand so I left for work hoping he would start chowing... Well, when I got home from work I noticed he hadn't moved one bit from where I put him 8 hours earlier. All his food was still in the dish right in front of him untouched. I have been watching him very closely over the weekend and he is completely refusing to move. He can move his legs when I touch them, but he will not walk anywhere . Every time I come to check on him he just looks miserable. He will have his front legs sprawled out and his head just resting on the ground. It's really heartbreaking. I think he's really in trouble and I feel like it's all my fault (which it obviously must be).
I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, but I have an idea. I think he has not been getting adequate exposure to his UVB. He spends so much time down in his burrow that he only actually gets under his UVB tube a couple times a week. I also have been neglecting to take him outside as much as I should because I don't like pulling him out of his burrow where he is most of the time. I probably get him out in the sunshine once a week if not less .
He has a basking spot at 90-92 degrees, and the cool part of his enclosure depends on the room temperature but it's usually around 80 during the day. Substrate is about 6" of eco-earth mixed with organic potting soil. The enclosure is kept pretty dry, but I soak him and spray his carapace down several times a week. His diet is mostly collard, mustard, and turnip greens. Sometimes he gets spring mix too. I also mix in some finely chopped green beans, bell peppers, carrots and squash etc. a couple times a week.
I am going to get him a new enclosure that will hopefully give him better access to UVB. His current enclosure measures 30" x 30" and has the UVB in the back section only. I want to build a more rectangular enclosure (prob. 4' x 2')which can provide UVB to the entire thing. I also have started bringing him outside a lot more this past weekend and I will continue to do so, but so far I havn't seen any improvement. Is there anything else I can do to help him? I really don't want to lose him I've had him for almost a year now and he has really grown on me. I feel terrible for letting it get to this point. It really doesn't seem like he has a lot of time left.
Thanks in advance for your replies!
Last week I don't think he left his burrow once. Every day when I came home from work his food looked like it hadn't been touched. After a few days of noticing this I decided to remove him from his burrow before leaving for work and placed him in front of his food dish. He didn't show any interest in the food right away so I cut up a small piece of apple to try and entice him and he took a couple bites of it from my hand so I left for work hoping he would start chowing... Well, when I got home from work I noticed he hadn't moved one bit from where I put him 8 hours earlier. All his food was still in the dish right in front of him untouched. I have been watching him very closely over the weekend and he is completely refusing to move. He can move his legs when I touch them, but he will not walk anywhere . Every time I come to check on him he just looks miserable. He will have his front legs sprawled out and his head just resting on the ground. It's really heartbreaking. I think he's really in trouble and I feel like it's all my fault (which it obviously must be).
I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, but I have an idea. I think he has not been getting adequate exposure to his UVB. He spends so much time down in his burrow that he only actually gets under his UVB tube a couple times a week. I also have been neglecting to take him outside as much as I should because I don't like pulling him out of his burrow where he is most of the time. I probably get him out in the sunshine once a week if not less .
He has a basking spot at 90-92 degrees, and the cool part of his enclosure depends on the room temperature but it's usually around 80 during the day. Substrate is about 6" of eco-earth mixed with organic potting soil. The enclosure is kept pretty dry, but I soak him and spray his carapace down several times a week. His diet is mostly collard, mustard, and turnip greens. Sometimes he gets spring mix too. I also mix in some finely chopped green beans, bell peppers, carrots and squash etc. a couple times a week.
I am going to get him a new enclosure that will hopefully give him better access to UVB. His current enclosure measures 30" x 30" and has the UVB in the back section only. I want to build a more rectangular enclosure (prob. 4' x 2')which can provide UVB to the entire thing. I also have started bringing him outside a lot more this past weekend and I will continue to do so, but so far I havn't seen any improvement. Is there anything else I can do to help him? I really don't want to lose him I've had him for almost a year now and he has really grown on me. I feel terrible for letting it get to this point. It really doesn't seem like he has a lot of time left.
Thanks in advance for your replies!