# Hermann lethargic and not eating



## abbi815 (Apr 15, 2013)

Hi everyone. My female Hermann Tammy about 9 years old has become very lethargic and not eating the last couple of days, she's usually an incredibly active tortoise and this is very out of character. I have an appointment to see a tortoise specialist tomorrow morning but I'm very concerned as her sister died of respiratory infection about 6 years ago and I'm worried Tammy will go the same way! Is there anything I can do in the mean time for her?


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## kathyth (Apr 15, 2013)

Why don't you give us a picture of her entire enclosure and talk about the temps that she is living in.
I know that if mine feels cold, she gets quiet. I keep the temps up to keep her warm.

How does she look? Eyes, nose, breathing?


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## abbi815 (Apr 15, 2013)

Sorry about the poor quality of the photo. Thus is her enclosure. The ambient temp is 24, it's 32 under the basking light (combined uva, uvb) and at night when I turn the ceramic heater on its usually about 26 under the heat. 
Her nose is fine, no bubbles etc, her mouth is nice and pink and clear. She doesn't appear to be struggling to breath I.e. she is not breathing through her mouth or moving a lot to get air in. Her eyes aren't looking great, she isn't opening them fully though they don't look swollen to me. I've been hand feeding her the last 2 days but today she didn't eat anything at all and yesterday only managed a small amount. She usually eats everything in sight. 
I feed her on weeds like dandelions, plantains, clover etc, though have been advised to give her carrot peel to increase her vitamin a. I do sometimes give her greens from the supermarket when the garden is sparse. She won't eat food with calcium supplements on but does nibble on cuttlefish bone. 
Her substrate is a 50/50 mix of top soil and sand. 
She goes out in the garden when it's nice but so far it's been too rainy and cold other than odd days here and there. 
She doesn't hibernate as I can't get her to sleep. 
It's only the past few days or so that she's been like this. 
Anything else that I haven't said that's important?


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## WillTort2 (Apr 15, 2013)

Giving her a nice long soak would be one idea. If she has consumed substrate over the years or months she could be impacted due to the sand.


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## abbi815 (Apr 15, 2013)

Yeah I've been soaking her daily where I would normally do it a couple of times a week but to be honest I haven't seen her poo for a while so maybe she needs a bit of help. Thanks for the advice, I guess I'll have to see what the vet says in the morning.


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## WillTort2 (Apr 15, 2013)

More space would also be advised to allow better exercise to help digestion, muscle tone, and give them a better quality of life.

Are they being housed together?


Try the search on this forum for no poo or variations of that.


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## abbi815 (Apr 15, 2013)

They are all housed separately because I have different breeds. I'm just hoping she will be alright, I have wondered about her ingesting the substrate but I have been told to use that over other things. Is there anything better I should be using?


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## tortoise_man1 (Apr 15, 2013)

could you give us a close up of her shell.


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## abbi815 (Apr 15, 2013)

Here you go...


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## abbi815 (Apr 16, 2013)

Tammy has been to the tortoise specialist this morning and it turns out she has renal failure. They said the fact that her daily baths hadn't improved the situation meant that her kidneys were probably past the point of repair and it is kinder to euthanase her. They offered an intense treatment process of fluids and blood tests but suspected she wouldn't make it. So it's goodbye to my baby


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## ScottishFish (Apr 16, 2013)

Very sorry to hear that 


1 Eastern Hermanns Tortoise 2.5yo


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## abbi815 (Apr 16, 2013)

Very upset, she was such a character and will be greatly missed. Thanks to everyone who gave advice. I'm now going to cheer myself up by treating my Russians to a new home.


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