# Desert Tortoise Eyes--Sick?



## ninjatortoise1956 (Feb 17, 2016)

Hello all!

I am a first time desert tortoise owner and this is my first year of having one as a friend and pet, living in CA. We recently brought him out of hibernation about 5 days ago after about 11 weeks of hibernating. We fed him an apple the first day to give him energy and he eats a little bit of food every other day. However, he seems pretty lethargic overall and spends most of his time in his little hut we made for him. We give hims some bath soaks most days as well. Haven't seen him poo at all though...

I was wondering if his sluggishness is normal after coming out of hibernation or whether this might be a sign to bring him to a vet. His eyes look a little more red than I remember them to be before he went into hibernation. I have included some pictures of what they look like now and what they looked like over the summer. Any advice would be appreciated!

P.S. Please ignore the cabbage in the first picture. We don't feed him that anymore!


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## Gabriel Luna (Feb 17, 2016)

For me is normal, he mayben ina few days, can be active as in the summer. In my city, in the day is really hot, but at nights we can fell the cold, so maybe the tortoises needs more sleep


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## Tom (Feb 17, 2016)

They should not be fed apple, and certainly not as the first thing after not eating for months... but that is not your issue.

Where and how was he hibernating and how did you bring him out of hibernation?


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## Yvonne G (Feb 17, 2016)

It usually takes them 3 or 4 weeks and maybe even longer, to warm up enough to start eating. They have to get their core temperature up into the 80'sF in order to digest food. I don't offer my desert tortoises food after hibernation at all. They graze on whatever is growing in their yard. And I never see them grazing when they first wake up.


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## Yvonne G (Feb 17, 2016)

The red eye might have something to do with breeding condition, although I've never seen that in desert tortoises. But I don't think it's anything to worry about.


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## ninjatortoise1956 (Feb 18, 2016)

Thank you all for the advice! He was hibernating in a cardboard box in our garage with newspaper and timothy hay. We saw some movement when the temperature was about in the mid to high 80s outside, so we put his box in our bathroom and put a heater in there at 86 degrees for a couple hours and then after put his box in the direct sunlight outside when temp was in the mid 80s. The next few days were pretty hot but the last couple days have been cool so we brought him back inside.


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## BeeBee*BeeLeaves (Feb 26, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> It usually takes them 3 or 4 weeks and maybe even longer, to warm up enough to start eating. They have to get their core temperature up into the 80'sF in order to digest food. I don't offer my desert tortoises food after hibernation at all. They graze on whatever is growing in their yard. And I never see them grazing when they first wake up.


Yvonne, what if they do indeed immediately start eating voraciously? Like grazing grass at first but then walking right on over to a patch of greens in the food garden, climbing over the blocks of the raised bed and chomping, right away, at kale, arugula and chicory. Is that bad for them coming out of brumation? Yep, that happened. A few days ago. Total determination. Lucky I was there to see it.


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## ascott (Feb 27, 2016)

ninjatortoise1956 said:


> Hello all!
> 
> I am a first time desert tortoise owner and this is my first year of having one as a friend and pet, living in CA. We recently brought him out of hibernation about 5 days ago after about 11 weeks of hibernating. We fed him an apple the first day to give him energy and he eats a little bit of food every other day. However, he seems pretty lethargic overall and spends most of his time in his little hut we made for him. We give hims some bath soaks most days as well. Haven't seen him poo at all though...
> 
> ...



How much time passed from when you first acquired the tort until brumation? Where did you acquire the tortoise from? Did the tortoise brumate prior to moving into his new yard where he lives now? How large is the tortoise?

It is not unusual for the tort to come out not showing too much interest in food, while other times they make like a maniac and eat up any and everything...so there is no "exact" description for every brumating / rising tortoise food desires... I would however, if it were me, offer some good long warm water soaks (like no less than half hour to an hour, primarily in the shade but a part of the soaking container in the sun as well....) and even if you do not see the tortoise drop their head in and drink, their body is absorbing some hydration, sometimes if you drizzle some of the warm water over the shell while the tort is soaking this will trigger a desire in the tortoise to drink....you can also offer some of the traditionally yummy wet lettuces to entice the tort to also take in some hydration (romaine, red leaf, green leaf and yes, the dreaded iceberg ----again, the iceberg is primarily water and not much nutritional value but great to get the juices flowing so to speak for a tort waking up). 

Now, if you truly want to learn what the tort prefers, don't do much....offer water---in a place where the tort has associated with a reliable water source.....offer a place for grazing and/or offer a small feeding location that the tort has associated as reliable....then let the tort do what it chooses. This way you will learn what the torts practice and ways are....however, I do not know how long you had the tort prior to brumation....so if there was not enough time for the tort to completely settle then this is going to be a bit tougher....

Beautiful tort by the way....the eyes don't look out of sorts to me...but they do seem to be a set of eyes waking up.....


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## ascott (Feb 27, 2016)

ninjatortoise1956 said:


> Hello all!
> 
> I am a first time desert tortoise owner and this is my first year of having one as a friend and pet, living in CA. We recently brought him out of hibernation about 5 days ago after about 11 weeks of hibernating. We fed him an apple the first day to give him energy and he eats a little bit of food every other day. However, he seems pretty lethargic overall and spends most of his time in his little hut we made for him. We give hims some bath soaks most days as well. Haven't seen him poo at all though...
> 
> ...




One more thing....hydration out of brumation, to me is soo sooo important, food is more secondary in my opinion....hydration and access to long lazy sunning events are uber important...


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