7yo Leopard Tort not Eating

[lyingcat8]

Hi all -

We have a 7-8 year old Leo named Pepperoni. Believe it to be a boy.

About a week ago, I noticed him not eating. Diet is typically dandelion greens, romaine, bok choy, and Timothy hay.

The humidity in the enclosure was low, and we had not soaked in a negligible amount of time. No excuses, we have had a family emergency that pulled focus, but should have been better.

We have since wacked up the humidity — basking spot gets to 90-95, hide stays around 75-80. We’ve been soaking twice a day, and he has been producing urates, but no stool.

They were eating very well before this, so it seems sudden.

For a few days they’d just stay under the basking light, now they’re in the hide most of the day.

Any suggestions?

We are concerned: dehydrated, urates, not eating… husband is concerned his jaw may not be able to be opened, as we have not seen them open it. Only doing some clicking..

Exotic vets in Indiana are hard to come by. I’ll answer any questions that may help.

 

[wellington]

Temp should never go below 80.
Basking should be 95-100.
Switch Timothy hay to orchard grass hay, Timothy is very woody.
Also add more to the diet. I'm in Chicago so you should be able to grow what I can. Mulberry leaf, their are fruitless trees. Hibiscus leaf and flower, grass, dandelion, some clover, grape leaf. Grocery greens, arugula, escarole, endive, riddichio, spring mix minus spinach, cactus, mazuri tortoise food.
Do not cut up his food and hopefully he gets outside daily in summer for grazing which will help his best
Bump up the temps, better his diet and see how it goes.
Also, what size his his enclosure inside and out?

 

[Ink]

I'm getting confused by the 2 posts. @wellington does the humidity need to be that high for a 7 year old tortoise? Romaine doesn't have much nutrition. Try endive or escarole, the dandelion greens are good too. I give bok choy sparingly.

 

[lyingcat8]

Temp should never go below 80.
Basking should be 95-100.
Switch Timothy hay to orchard grass hay, Timothy is very woody.
Also add more to the diet. I'm in Chicago so you should be able to grow what I can. Mulberry leaf, their are fruitless trees. Hibiscus leaf and flower, grass, dandelion, some clover, grape leaf. Grocery greens, arugula, escarole, endive, riddichio, spring mix minus spinach, cactus, mazuri tortoise food.
Do not cut up his food and hopefully he gets outside daily in summer for grazing which will help his best
Bump up the temps, better his diet and see how it goes.
Also, what size his his enclosure inside and out?

Indoor enclosure is 6ftx3ft wide, 4ft tall. He roams our backyard when we take them outside, and we have the hide in the shade of our house, along with accessible water.

Thank you for the diet recommendations. I’ll look into those asap.

We are currently using a 65w flood light for the basking bulb. I will look into some alternatives. Do you have any suggestions?

In the meantime, raise the temps slightly and continue to soak, and offer those foods. Do you have a good exotic vet in Chicago?

 

[wellington]

Indoor enclosure is 6ftx3ft wide, 4ft tall. He roams our backyard when we take them outside, and we have the hide in the shade of our house, along with accessible water.

Thank you for the diet recommendations. I’ll look into those asap.

We are currently using a 65w flood light for the basking bulb. I will look into some alternatives. Do you have any suggestions?

In the meantime, raise the temps slightly and continue to soak, and offer those foods. Do you have a good exotic vet in Chicago?

6x3 is way too small for a leopard of his size and isn't even the recommend size for a much smaller Russian. Get him set up in a proper size enclosure or if he is big enough, 10 inches, which he should be, get him set up outside in a heated shed for 24/7 living. Mine live in a heated shed for winter.
I only visited a vet twice with the same egg bound tortoise. The first vet was waste of time and money. Second vet was okay. But other then those times, I don't use a vet. I've never had a reason for one other then the egg bound. Which they were supposedly both reptile/exotic animal vets.

 

[wellington]

Oh and the basking bulb, the flood is the bulb to use. You either have to lower it or up the watt. However, for larger tortoise a heat panel above a pig blanket is better.