# My Gopherus isn’t eating but he seems active



## CharSparda (Sep 7, 2021)

Hello,

I adopted my Gopherus Berlandieri a couple weeks ago and he’s living in a very small aquarium (without water ofc). However, whenever he wants to take a walk I let him walk in my room. He was usually eating a lot when he arrived and until late Sunday. Ever since this week started, he is not interested in eating, in fact he just gets his face close to his food and pushes it with the head and keeps walking.

what could be the reason? Hibernation? Could he be like sick or depressed? The Vet told me he looks alright

as for his enclosure, I’m waiting for his full enclosure (a much bigger one) to be ready this Thursday, but I’m worried about what might happen in the mean time.


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## KarenSoCal (Sep 8, 2021)

It's very possible that he is pouting because he's in a new space. Torts really hate change of any kind, and it can take a couple weeks, and sometimes longer, for them to decide the new digs are pretty nice.

I realize it's summer time, but are you sure that he is getting warm enough? Frequently, refusing to eat is caused by being too cold. They need to be able to warm up in the morning by laying under their basking light. The temp at his shell height should be 90-95°F under the light. The ambient temp in the rest of the enclosure should be around 80°F all the time, even at night. What temp are you running at tort height in his tank?

Also, letting him run around on the floor is not a good thing to do. He'll eat anything he finds on the floor...buttons, safety pins, screws, washers, nut, plants on the floor, dust bunnies, leaves from unsafe plants, rocks, pebbles...you get the idea. Also, you have taught him that the floor is a fun and interesting place. Sometimes torts decide they want to be on the floor all the time, and will constantly try to climb out of his enclosure, driving you nuts in the process. Just be aware that you could be creating a little monster that has the perseverence to scratch and claw the walls all. night. long.

I hope he starts to eat for you soon, but when you change his enclosure on Thurs, any bad behavior may return as a response to that change.


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## CharSparda (Oct 12, 2021)

KarenSoCal said:


> It's very possible that he is pouting because he's in a new space. Torts really hate change of any kind, and it can take a couple weeks, and sometimes longer, for them to decide the new digs are pretty nice.
> 
> I realize it's summer time, but are you sure that he is getting warm enough? Frequently, refusing to eat is caused by being too cold. They need to be able to warm up in the morning by laying under their basking light. The temp at his shell height should be 90-95°F under the light. The ambient temp in the rest of the enclosure should be around 80°F all the time, even at night. What temp are you running at tort height in his tank?
> 
> ...


Thank you for your response! I read it right after you posted it and now that time has passed I’m glad to say that my tort is eating a lot. Perhaps it was the bananas he ate one day before, he started to poop very liquidy.


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## ZEROPILOT (Oct 20, 2021)

CharSparda said:


> Thank you for your response! I read it right after you posted it and now that time has passed I’m glad to say that my tort is eating a lot. Perhaps it was the bananas he ate one day before, he started to poop very liquidy.


Your Gopherus should never be allowed to eat bananas. Or any other fruit.
Feeding sugar rich foods to a tortoise that can not process sugar will result in a very sick tortoise.
Do you have access to a suitable foods list?


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