Done with hibernation

Karlien

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Good day all. Im am from Pretoria South Africa. So summer is here. My tortoise started waking up about 3 weeks ago but she's still not eating, is that normal? I'm getting very worried, she seems fine and walks around when she's awake.
 

JoesMum

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Hi... and no.

What species of tort is this?

I would expect your tort to be eating by now. My tort, Joe, is often off food for up to a week, then he does a massive pee with a lot of urate and possibly a poop before he starts nibbling at food. The nibbling turns to eating pretty quickly, and appetite increases steadily.

You need to be soaking your tort twice a day every day for at least 30 minutes each time until it's eating normally.

You should be doing this in any case when a tort comes out of hibernation as it needs to rehydrate.

The most likely problem is temperature. Is this tort kept outside?

When Joe comes out of hibernation the weather is rarely sunny and warm enough for him to be able to bask properly, so I have a heat lamp in a dog kennel that I use to "jump start" him.

Your tort must be able to bask in order to raise its internal temperature enough to be active and to digest food.

You may find this helpful
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/outdoor-accommodation-in-a-colder-uk-climate.140866/
 

Karlien

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Thanks for you quick reply.
Yes she is outside (Saartjie)
And we skipped spring and went straight into summer this year. It's really hot.
I'm going to soak her right away!!!!
 

JoesMum

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Thanks for you quick reply.
Yes she is outside (Saartjie)
And we skipped spring and went straight into summer this year. It's really hot.
I'm going to soak her right away!!!!
What daytime temperature do you have? And what species is the tortoise?
 

JoesMum

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When soaking your tort, use a high sided bowl that your tort can't see through or over.

The water should be warm , but not hot... think baby bath... and come just up over the join between its shell and its plastron (undershell)
 

Karlien

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She is a homopus parrot beak and it was 32'C yesterday so its about between 30 and 35
 

Karlien

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This is all I have on my phone.
I'll go take another one of her quick
 

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JoesMum

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She is a homopus parrot beak and it was 32'C yesterday so its about between 30 and 35
Also, if things get too hot then your tort will also be less active. A tort will aestivate (a summer hibernation) if it gets too hot.

Joe would be in the shade doing little when it's over 30C, but he's a Greek. Your tort is a native according to my Googling, so may be tolerant of slightly higher temperatures than Joe!

It's important that your tort has access to food in the cooler parts of the day and has access to heavily shaded areas, or a burrow, so it doesn't overheat.

It also needs free access to water to drink in its enclosure. A terracotta plant saucer makes a good water bowl as its easy to drink from.
 

JoesMum

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Very cute :)

I don't know anything about this species other than the pictures that I have just looked at online. Is that beak a little overgrown? This could inhibit eating too.

I can see that this species really does have a parrot beak that in most species would be considered completely abnormal and in need of urgent treatment. It's just that this one looks longer.

If you have a good herp vet local to you, it might be worth getting them to give a professional opinion on the beak. Don't go to a vet that specialises in non exotic pets (cats & dogs, etc) as their advice is likely to be worse than useless.

Hopefully the soaks will sort things out. Rehydration after hibernation is essential.

In the UK, I use Reptoboost in the soaking water to help with rehydration. I don't know if you can get this... it doesn't seem to be available in north America, but I don't know about Africa.
 

Karlien

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She just peed and pooped something white???
But I feel better already.

No the beak is normal. She ate fine before the winter. So I'm not concerned about that at all. But thanks for pointing it out. I will soak her again tonight when I'm back from work.
 

Karlien

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Thanks I will Google and see where I can get all of those and I will move her food.
 

JoesMum

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She just peed and pooped something white???
But I feel better already.
And so you should. :)

That white stuff is urate. It's how your tort rids itself of excess proteins and is completely normal. :)

If the white stuff is gritty then it's a sign of dehydration.

No the beak is normal. She ate fine before the winter. So I'm not concerned about that at all. But thanks for pointing it out. I will soak her again tonight when I'm back from work.
A few more soaks and I would expect appetite to return. That first urate pee seems to be the trigger for Joe :)

Once appetite has returned, you can drop the soaks to once a day. As the weather is so hot, you may need to keep doing them a couple of times a week.

@Tidgy's Dad has an outdoor tort in Morocco and he'd be able to give you a better idea of soaking in very hot weather (We don't get it often in the UK :D)
 

Karlien

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Haha yeah I hear you about the weather.

Okey thanks sooo much for all your help. I will keep you in the loop!! Watch this space!

Thanks again!
 

SarahChelonoidis

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Very few of us have any experience with this species - I think Kelly is one of the few exceptions. Hopefully one of the rare Homopus keepers here can chime in to help (I would not have even recognized that as a parrot-beaked tortoise).
 

Karlien

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I think I'm learning so much now that even can start giving advice in a little while.

Is Kelly on this forum too?
 
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