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.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

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.

I think with species like leopards and red foot’s, whilst they can certainly tolerate lower humidity as adults, they do thrive when humidity is maintained in the 80+ region, you can just tell by the effect it has on their skin alone

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

You might possibly find this thread useful if you’re needing some inspiration for an indoor set up, though do bare in mind I technically made this thread with younger leopards/sulcatas in mind, one your size is definitely ready to live outdoors 24/7 if you’re in a climate that allows you to do so.
However I understand that’s not always possible year round for everyone, and not everyone knows how to build a sufficient heated shed(though again that would be best if you’re able, hopefully other could help you there)

With all that in mind, when reading this, consider applying the information to as large a set up you can go! Bigger than the 8x4 I mention, because again this is technically a ‘starter’ suggestion. For that you could maybe look into some sort of pollytunnel option. And for heating, as yours is older, it might be better going with a radiant heat panel for ambient heat instead of ceramic bulbs. Perhaps an indoor upgrade could be a temporary solution until you can figure out a good outdoor set up

Leopard/sulcata starter

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information below on how I’d personally tackle an indoor starter set up for this guy until they’re bigger. Hopefully it helps give you some ideas! I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope it helps!

 

[wellington]

I think with species like leopards and red foot’s, whilst they can certainly tolerate lower humidity as adults, they do thrive when humidity is maintained in the 80+ region, you can just tell by the effect it has on their skin alone

No, adult leopards don't need 80% but they should have humidity. RF adults should have a higher humidity, that's why FL and any high humidity area is great for RF. High humidity will not hurt an adult leopard but is not needed to be 80%
Romaine can be fed as part of a good varied diet and is good for added hydration.
During hot summer days, I feed it to mine. They also get mulberry leaves and whatever they eat when grazing.

 

[wellington]

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.

They don't mention how low it was. It doesn't have to be 80% but it won't hurt either. No humidity or very low doesn't help.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

No, adult leopards don't need 80% but they should have humidity. RF adults should have a higher humidity, that's why FL and any high humidity area is great for RF. High humidity will not hurt an adult leopard but is not needed to be 80%
Romaine can be fed as part of a good varied diet and is good for added hydration.
During hot summer days, I feed it to mine. They also get mulberry leaves and whatever they eat when grazing.

Fair enough, I definitely agree that red foots thrive with it being in that range even as adults. I imagine leopards doing quite well with higher humidity too even fully grown, but I can definitely see them not needing it quite as high as red foots