Tortoise Health

[Melina367]

Hi my baby tortoise has been sleeping all day today and all day yesterday. She hasn't been waking up or eating. I am worried that she is sick or something. I know she is not dead because i touch her shell and she moves. I am new to taking care of baby tortoises so I don't really know anything about them. That's exactly why i joined this website. Do tortoises hibernate or something?? PLEASE HELP I AM WORRIED SHE'LL DIE!!
Here is a picture of her:[/font][/quote]

 

[ascott]

Welcome to the Forum I am sorry to hear you are concerned about your little one...that is no fun.

What type of tortoise do you have? It is a bit hard to be certain in the pic that you posted, sorry

Please share what type of enclosure you have your little one housed in? Heating, lighting, uv source, substrate, etc...this will help us to kinda figure out what may be lacking or needing to be tweaked a bit

What is your little ones diet? What do you feed him? Does he get supervised time out in the natural sun?

K, we will wait for your info to get you our info

 

[drgnfly2265]

I just wanted to say hello and I hope that your little one starts feeling better soon. Hopefully we can help you find out what is going on.

 

[Melina367]

Welcome to the Forum I am sorry to hear you are concerned about your little one...that is no fun.

What type of tortoise do you have? It is a bit hard to be certain in the pic that you posted, sorry

Please share what type of enclosure you have your little one housed in? Heating, lighting, uv source, substrate, etc...this will help us to kinda figure out what may be lacking or needing to be tweaked a bit

What is your little ones diet? What do you feed him? Does he get supervised time out in the natural sun?

K, we will wait for your info to get you our info

Well it's an African Sulcata Desert Tortoise. But she's all right now i just needed to bathe her. She's eating she's acting normally now, but thanks for trying to help!!! Oh and that picture was old sorry about that haha.

 

[Laura]

thats good to hear. but go read the sulcata setion and see if you can find new things or something you need to do differently..
sulcatas DO NOT hibernate. They need a warm home at all times. they will eat year round.
They need heat and light. outdoors in the sun is the best..
tell us more about where you ahve the tort living, diet etc.

 

[Melina367]

Welcome to the Forum I am sorry to hear you are concerned about your little one...that is no fun.

What type of tortoise do you have? It is a bit hard to be certain in the pic that you posted, sorry

Please share what type of enclosure you have your little one housed in? Heating, lighting, uv source, substrate, etc...this will help us to kinda figure out what may be lacking or needing to be tweaked a bit

What is your little ones diet? What do you feed him? Does he get supervised time out in the natural sun?

K, we will wait for your info to get you our info

Well it's an African Sulcata Desert Tortoise. But she's all right now i just needed to bathe her. She's eating she's acting normally now, but thanks for trying to help!!! Oh and that picture was old sorry about that haha.

I had her inside at the beginning but since i knew it was a desert tortoise i would take it outside every now and then.But,i stopped doing that because she once died out in the sun but my brother revived her because he helps me take care of it and he took her out once and forgot about her! So now i keep her inside,but i am planning to get a lamp that stretches and i am planning that when it is cold inside i'll point the lamp at it or i'll do what i used to and take her outside and try not to forget her. What should i do? Also her diet is lettuce i know that is really bad i try feeding her other things but she will only eat the lettuce!
1 sulcata tortoise
2 red ear sliders
6 other water turtles (unknown species)
6 cats
3 dogs
2 canaries
1 pigeon

 

[ascott]

oh my...died and revived, lucky someone came upon her

A brother huh, lucky you....I bet if you spoke with your parents and asked them to get you one of those hard plastic blue kiddie pools along with a piece of plywood cut to cover half of the top of the kiddie pool,

you and that handy brother of yours could collect some clean dirt to put inside the pool like about 2 inches or more, but not too much because you don't want your sullie to be able to climb out over the edge and get lost

wet down the dirt a bit, put a little water dish in there and then your tortoise (better in the early morning sun or the late afternoon sun...not in the hottest part of the day)

your little one will get sun and have access to water...

also, put the covered side of the pool part way under some shade so no overheating.....

but make sure to still keep an eye on your little one to make sure no dogs/cats/other critters come by and eat her up....that would be way bad

try to get your parents to buy "spring mix" at the food store, this will be better for your tortoise than lettuce. Start with this and tell us how that goes....okay

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Melina367 you need to start taking better care of that baby or it will die. Get a light with a 100 watt light bulb and put that on her. Start feeding her Spring Mix and cut some grass and weeds for her. There is so much that is necessary to keep them alive and if you love that baby you need to do that stuff. Here's a link to a care sheet. I want you to read the care sheet and start doing what it says for your baby, or like I already told you it's going to die and your mother won't be able to revive it this time. It will be dead for ever.
Now read this care sheet...

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/sulcatacare.htm

it's very easy to read and it tells you exactly how to care for your little one. So I want you to read it then tell me after you do...ok?