Trying to eat but only opening mouth a tiny bit

[erinlyndon]

Hi, its been a while.

Pebble for a few weeks hasn't been eating as much as she usually does. I thought it was due to her trying to hibernate but she seems to want to eat but is only opening her mouth a tiny bit, hesitating and kind of just closing her mouth on the food without actually biting anything off. Occasionally she does bite off some food but she used to really be quite 'aggressive' (not quite the right word)

Does anyone know whats up with her? Any replies will be appreciated

 

[Bee62]

Hi, its been a while.

Pebble for a few weeks hasn't been eating as much as she usually does. I thought it was due to her trying to hibernate but she seems to want to eat but is only opening her mouth a tiny bit, hesitating and kind of just closing her mouth on the food without actually biting anything off. Occasionally she does bite off some food but she used to really be quite 'aggressive' (not quite the right word)

Does anyone know whats up with her? Any replies will be appreciated

Maybe something stuck in her mouth and hurts her ? Can you show us some pics of her face and mouth ? What substrate do you use in the enclosure ? Could it be that she swallowed a piece of anything ?
How are your temps ? Day and night ?
Torts with a RI are often not able to eat.

 

[erinlyndon]

I had a good look at her mouth but ill send a picture tomorrow, because she is sleeping now. I use top soil for my substrate and i dont think she could have swallowed anything. My temps are 30ish under the lamp and 20ish in the whole enclosure. At night it never drops below 18 (Celsius) ill send i pic of my enclosure

 

[Bee62]

She is a Russian tortoise ? Do you soak her ? Try to feed her after a long warm soak ( 30 minutes ). The water must stay warm during the soak.
Try to increase the temps in her enclosure. Maybe she wants to hibernate. They stop eating before they hibernate.

 

[erinlyndon]

Yeah i soak her every morning in warm water for 15 minutes. Ive been trying to hand feed her but again she tries to bite it and only eats small amounts. Ill move the light down in the morning although she is still awake most of the day.

 

[erinlyndon]

Here are some close up pictures of her face. View attachment 224661View attachment 224662

 

[erinlyndon]

Oh no they have lost their quality... I hope u can see her ok

 

[erinlyndon]

I have a video of her trying to eat, do u have any idea of how i can share it?

 

[Loohan]

I have a video of her trying to eat, do u have any idea of how i can share it?

Upload it to Youtube and link to it.

 

[erinlyndon]

Oh ok thanks... Ive got two videos for a comparison

Before:

Now:

 

[Bee62]

Here are some close up pictures of her face. View attachment 224661View attachment 224662View attachment 224663

The close eye worried me. Does she keep her eyes often close ? The eye looks sunken too.

 

[erinlyndon]

Oh that was just her blinking, that was the best photo i could get on that angle, she was quite wriggly[emoji23]

 

[Bee62]

Oh that was just her blinking, that was the best photo i could get on that angle, she was quite wriggly[emoji23]

She looks sick in the second video and I see what you mean, she wants to eat but it seems that she cannot eat.
I would try to increase all temps in her enclosure. Night temps too. Run a ceramic heat emitter for night heat. Your enclosure is open so all the warmth is getting out. That is a problem.
When she will not be better after some days with higher temps I would visit a VET with her. Where do you come from ?

 

[erinlyndon]

I live in England

 

[Bambam1989]

Could this be an issue with lacking some kind of mineral or calcium?

 

[TammyJ]

She does look sick now. I would take her to a good reptile vet.

 

[erinlyndon]

Could this be an issue with lacking some kind of mineral or calcium?

I'm really not sure... I feed her a variety of different foods so she should be getting all of her minerals, its winter here now though so i have just been giving her mixed lettuce from the shop

 

[erinlyndon]

She does look sick now. I would take her to a good reptile vet.

Yeah i think im going to go asap

 

[TammyJ]

All the best! Please keep us up to date.

 

[erinlyndon]

All the best! Please keep us up to date.

Yeah will do