Aldabra stops basking, eats less than usual, and sleeps all day

wellington

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Have you had this problem w/ your tors in the past?

Now that I think about it. The problem tor like to dig a lot when I let him go out side during the summer. I often found lot of dirt around his mouth. I was wondering if he actually ate some soils but I was told not to worry because baby aldabra do eat bugs and earth worm. I will give it anther week or so to test out temp theory. If he doesn't get better, I'll take some stool sample to a vet.
They do not eat bugs or worms so do not feed them bugs or worms. They as all tortoises may eat some by accident while grazing, except for the few species that need them as part of their diet, but Aldabras do not have them as part as their diet.
 

wellington

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May be it is that time of year but it seems to affect one tor more than the other. Although last year this didn't happen. As promised, here's the picture of my enclosure (see attachment). The shade area is on the left and the feeding area is on the right. Far end is the basking area (hot side) and the camera positions on the cool side in front of the hide box.

BTW, I've been increasing the heat in the enclosure by 3-5C as well as the bath temperature (30C ish). I also hand-feed the little guy and he seemed to eat a little more. He continued to eat a bit more on his own then headed for the heating lamp.
Is this enclosure outside or inside your house?
 

$wagDaddy69

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Do you think it's a worm issue? What happened to your tors exactly?
It was a pretty similar situation where all of a sudden one of my young aldabras became pretty lethargic, he would rarely leave his hide or eat much which was a big change, he was alert though and didn't have any other concerning symptoms like nasal discharge so after making sure there were no other issues with the enclosure like temperature, I brought in a stool sample and in turns out both had worms so I got them on some medicines to clear it out and and then tested again to be sure it was cleared out and they've been great since!
 

Suranai

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They do not eat bugs or worms so do not feed them bugs or worms. They as all tortoises may eat some by accident while grazing, except for the few species that need them as part of their diet, but Aldabras do not have them as part as their diet.
I have heard that due to harsh environment, hatchlings will eat whatever source of proteins they can find, including bugs, earth worm, and dead animals, etc. And no, I do not feed them anything like that but it's possible that when I left them outdoor during the summer, it is possible that they may ate something. Especially that the problem tor who like to dig.
 

Suranai

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It was a pretty similar situation where all of a sudden one of my young aldabras became pretty lethargic, he would rarely leave his hide or eat much which was a big change, he was alert though and didn't have any other concerning symptoms like nasal discharge so after making sure there were no other issues with the enclosure like temperature, I brought in a stool sample and in turns out both had worms so I got them on some medicines to clear it out and and then tested again to be sure it was cleared out and they've been great since!
Sounds exactly same as my case. What and where do you get your medicine? Of course I'll let a vet check stools first. Can any vet do this or do I need to search for exotic pet vet?
 

Cherryshell

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Sounds exactly same as my case. What and where do you get your medicine? Of course I'll let a vet check stools first. Can any vet do this or do I need to search for exotic pet vet?
Best bet would be to find an exotic one that has experience with torts
 

wellington

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That particular enclosure is inside the house. It's too cold to be outdoor.
That's what I figured but it looks huge like an outside one would be.
They have room. Are you sure the whole enclosure is correct temps at their level? A point and shoot temp gun would work great for checking temps of every inch, if you don't already have one.
If you have a regular vet, you could just take a stool sample in. I would be very cautious bringing a tort in to a vet. So many of them have no clue what they are doing. Start with just a stil sample if possible and go from there.
 

$wagDaddy69

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Sounds exactly same as my case. What and where do you get your medicine? Of course I'll let a vet check stools first. Can any vet do this or do I need to search for exotic pet vet?
Any vet should be able to look for worms generically, I didn't have an exotic vet so a farm vet did the fecal flotation exam and she was able to see worms. For medicine, I had to use benfendazole and praziquantel (both are needed to clear out anything if you are unsure of what type of parasite, a lot of people get by with only benfendazole but there are some things praziquantel is good for that benfendazole doesn't cover). The delivery method probably varies with the size of your torts but mine were fairly small and I bought a benfendazole suspension (safe-guard brand) from my local farm store and the praziquantel (Droncit brand) from amazon. The praziquantel was trickier though as I could only get pill form so I had to grind it up and make a homemade suspension with the right concentration to deliver to the torts.
 

lynnefay

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They've been together for over a year now. No issue, why now? I have been checking the video recordings and everything looks normal as before - beside one tortoise not eating and basking.

The cool area is about 77F (night) to 82F (day), while the warm area is about 80F (night) to 100F (day). Humanity is hard to control but generally 80-85% during night and 65-75% during day. As for diet, every other day I feed Mazrui LS and in between I give vegies (mulberry leaves, hibiscus leaves, collard green, dandelion, grass, spring mix, pumpkins, etc... whatever available and sometime I mix things together). Each tortoise has its own bowl and they dont bother each other, so I'm able to weight their food before and after they finish.

I'm at work atm, once I get home, I can take some pictures of the enclosure and the problem tortoise.
Humanity has always been hard to control, but I'll still keep my fingers crossed for your tort.
 

Suranai

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Best bet would be to find an exotic one that has experience with torts
I took some stool sample to an exotic vet this morning and there's no sign of parasite. I made an appointment to bring the problem tort in next week.
 

Suranai

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Any vet should be able to look for worms generically, I didn't have an exotic vet so a farm vet did the fecal flotation exam and she was able to see worms. For medicine, I had to use benfendazole and praziquantel (both are needed to clear out anything if you are unsure of what type of parasite, a lot of people get by with only benfendazole but there are some things praziquantel is good for that benfendazole doesn't cover). The delivery method probably varies with the size of your torts but mine were fairly small and I bought a benfendazole suspension (safe-guard brand) from my local farm store and the praziquantel (Droncit brand) from amazon. The praziquantel was trickier though as I could only get pill form so I had to grind it up and make a homemade suspension with the right concentration to deliver to the torts.

Thank you for the advice on med. I'll make note of them for future reference.

A vet near my house refused to look at reptile stool. They insisted I go to an exotic vet, which I did this morning. Result came back in 30min and there's no sign of parasite. I made an appointment to bring the problem tort in next week.
 

Suranai

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Humanity has always been hard to control, but I'll still keep my fingers crossed for your tort.
Thank you. I had a vet check out some stool sample but there's no sign of parasite. I made an appointment next week to bring the tort in. She mentioned something about sedating, which scared me a bit.
 

Maggie3fan

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Any vet should be able to look for worms generically, I didn't have an exotic vet so a farm vet did the fecal flotation exam and she was able to see worms. For medicine, I had to use benfendazole and praziquantel (both are needed to clear out anything if you are unsure of what type of parasite, a lot of people get by with only benfendazole but there are some things praziquantel is good for that benfendazole doesn't cover). The delivery method probably varies with the size of your torts but mine were fairly small and I bought a benfendazole suspension (safe-guard brand) from my local farm store and the praziquantel (Droncit brand) from amazon. The praziquantel was trickier though as I could only get pill form so I had to grind it up and make a homemade suspension with the right concentration to deliver to the torts.
My Vet in treating parasites injects the medicine in the cloaca...easy enuf
 

Suranai

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Aldabras is one tortoise that doesnt bully as much as others will, but they still can. They may have always bullied as it can be as little as sitting on the food, following, hogging the hide, not letting the other get to the water, etc. Also can be obvious as ramming.
What size is the enclosure? Maybe it's too small for them now and bullying started, it's hard to say.
It could be something else too.
Do you feed enough food that they have food all day long to graze on? They need to be able to graze all day if they want.
The cool side of 77 you say it's about. Make sure it doesnt go lower, 80 is even better.
I wouldn't feed pumpkin as a staple but every once in a while. Also do not feed the small pumpkins that are for pie making, they are sweeter then the Jackolateern kind.

I took your advice and increased the temp by few degrees. The tort appeared more active over the past weekend. The current temp setting in the enclosure (cool-warm) are: 79-82F (night) and 86-102F (day). I also increased the bathe temp to 35F and pre-stream the bathroom to 100% humanity before soaking them.

From observation, the increased temperatures didn't seem to affect other tors as much. They acted as normal but the change has positive effect on the problem tort. May be it's too early to tell. I'll continue with the new temp setting and keep my eyes on them.

Thank everyone for providing inputs. :)
 

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