DT yearling: Pre brumating or problems ?

[marbalboy]

Hello everyone,



I am trying to determine if petunia, a Mojave desert tort who likely just turned one in the past few weeks is ill or if she is trying Brumate a bit early. Living in Vegas, and this past week, there was a cold spell: high nineties and triple digits replaced with averages in the seventies and max temps in the 80’s.

As far as petunia goes…

Petunia did not roommate last year I did not let her. The reason for my concern currently is that this last week, it is very difficult to get her to eat anything (she’ll only eat bites if I hand feed her and only very few) and wants to sleep in her dark moist hide allll day long. I have not seen poop for a long time (there could be another explanation for this, either pooping in her hide or in her outdoor enclosure but I really haven’t seen any. Plus this last week, I could only give her a couple hours on 2 days). Everything else looks okay and she is petty responsive. If I call out to her and let light into her back hide, she’ll walk out eventually and greet the day but not for very long and probably only because she knows a bath is coming lol. Lately She often feels cold to the touch me I have bumped up her temps very slightly.

Petunia has a warm soak every single day, sometime twice. She primarily lives in an indoor enclosure with reasonably damp coir and bark. It has the microclimates and temperature gradients

Heat kicks on at 89, off at 96. Night heat on at 71 l, off at 76. Until recently, it probably never got lower than 74.

Outdoor enclosure is very green and pretty damp, has hides and deep shade. she gets supervised time usually scrolled times a week for several hours.

Se has a fairly varied diet , but I still need to improve. Out of all the food lately, she seems most willing to eat some pellets which is a bit unlike her.

Since it has been a year, it’s probably time to register her maybe and take her to her first visit. I’m inquiring from y’all whether I need to be doing an urgent vet appointment or next available. Let me know what other info would help and I will do my best. Thank you.

 

[Yvonne G]

We've had that kind of weather here too. My yearling CDT are outside and I haven't seen hide nor hair of them in a few days now. Weather really does determine their activity. Our weather calls for low 90s next week, so I'm hoping to see more activity in the tortoise yard.

I wouldn't worry about your little guy just yet.

 

[EppsDynasty]

We've noticed the same thing here, it won't be long and they'll be safe and cozy in the Refrigerators.

 

[marbalboy]

We've had that kind of weather here too. My yearling CDT are outside and I haven't seen hide nor hair of them in a few days now. Weather really does determine their activity. Our weather calls for low 90s next week, so I'm hoping to see more activity in the tortoise yard.

I wouldn't worry about your little guy just yet.

Thank you. Also so sorry that my message is fright with typos I swear I edited it.

Should I stop trying to wake her up every day with a bath? Also, she spends most of her time indoors. Can she still tell the temperature change in the house?
Also she really is only eating the tortoise pelletts. They are the bigger ones (I think that’s not mizuna). I give her 1 or 2 of those but that is three days in a row now. She wouldn’t even et a petunia yesterday, only the pellets !

Regarding refrigerato…. I’ve read all of the threads on it but I’m still having trouble with the problem that every time I look up refrigerators, I am assured they are airtight. And that’s why they have a latch on the inside.

 

[marbalboy]

SíHello everyone,



I am trying to determine if petunia, a Mojave desert tort who likely just turned one in the past few weeks is ill or if she is trying Brumate a bit early. Living in Vegas, and this past week, there was a cold spell: high nineties and triple digits replaced with averages in the seventies and max temps in the 80’s.

As far as petunia goes…

Petunia did not roommate last year I did not let her. The reason for my concern currently is that this last week, it is very difficult to get her to eat anything (she’ll only eat bites if I hand feed her and only very few) and wants to sleep in her dark moist hide allll day long. I have not seen poop for a long time (there could be another explanation for this, either pooping in her hide or in her outdoor enclosure but I really haven’t seen any. Plus this last week, I could only give her a couple hours on 2 days). Everything else looks okay and she is petty responsive. If I call out to her and let light into her back hide, she’ll walk out eventually and greet the day but not for very long and probably only because she knows a bath is coming lol. Lately She often feels cold to the touch me I have bumped up her temps very slightly.

Petunia has a warm soak every single day, sometime twice. She primarily lives in an indoor enclosure with reasonably damp coir and bark. It has the microclimates and temperature gradients

Heat kicks on at 89, off at 96. Night heat on at 71 l, off at 76. Until recently, it probably never got lower than 74.

Outdoor enclosure is very green and pretty damp, has hides and deep shade. she gets supervised time usually scrolled times a week for several hours.

Se has a fairly varied diet , but I still need to improve. Out of all the food lately, she seems most willing to eat some pellets which is a bit unlike her.

Since it has been a year, it’s probably time to register her maybe and take her to her first visit. I’m inquiring from y’all whether I need to be doing an urgent vet appointment or next available. Let me know what other info would help and I will do my best. Thank you.

Hello everyone,



I am trying to determine if petunia, a Mojave desert tort who likely just turned one in the past few weeks is ill or if she is trying Brumate a bit early. Living in Vegas, and this past week, there was a cold spell: high nineties and triple digits replaced with averages in the seventies and max temps in the 80’s.

As far as petunia goes…

Petunia did not roommate last year I did not let her. The reason for my concern currently is that this last week, it is very difficult to get her to eat anything (she’ll only eat bites if I hand feed her and only very few) and wants to sleep in her dark moist hide allll day long. I have not seen poop for a long time (there could be another explanation for this, either pooping in her hide or in her outdoor enclosure but I really haven’t seen any. Plus this last week, I could only give her a couple hours on 2 days). Everything else looks okay and she is petty responsive. If I call out to her and let light into her back hide, she’ll walk out eventually and greet the day but not for very long and probably only because she knows a bath is coming lol. Lately She often feels cold to the touch me I have bumped up her temps very slightly.

Petunia has a warm soak every single day, sometime twice. She primarily lives in an indoor enclosure with reasonably damp coir and bark. It has the microclimates and temperature gradients

Heat kicks on at 89, off at 96. Night heat on at 71 l, off at 76. Until recently, it probably never got lower than 74.

Outdoor enclosure is very green and pretty damp, has hides and deep shade. she gets supervised time usually scrolled times a week for several hours.

Se has a fairly varied diet , but I still need to improve. Out of all the food lately, she seems most willing to eat some pellets which is a bit unlike her.

Since it has been a year, it’s probably time to register her maybe and take her to her first visit. I’m inquiring from y’all whether I need to be doing an urgent vet appointment or next available. Let me know what other info would help and I will do my best. Thank you.

Hello, thanks you two for y’all’s quick response and reassuring reply. There are a couple more details that I just wanted to add on since I could see them maybe being important. Unfortunately they inhabit opposite “sides” for reasons regarding her recent behavior.



Addition 1: A couple weeks ago, her body was alarmingly puffy. Eyes and everything else behavior related. It was as normal and standard as ever. I’ll attach some photos.
Ii

Addition 2: in the past several weeks, there was pacing behavior that didn’t exist before and really reached a heartbreaking crux. I put the window covers back up and increased oh so I could ide time (but she started pacing in there too! Not as bad though).

She also started “frantically” digging out her bedroom in what could be construed as winter prep. She has also been very hissy, should this digging be disturbed for any reason besides squash.

 

[Tom]

Heat kicks on at 89, off at 96. Night heat on at 71 l, off at 76. Until recently, it probably never got lower than 74.

In an indoor enclosure, if it's set up and lit correctly, there should be minimal effect from what is happening outside. I quoted the above sentence from your post because this indicates that something is not right.

Here is a breakdown of the four heating and lighting essentials:

1. Basking bulb. I use 65 watt incandescent floods from the hardware store. Some people will need bigger, or smaller wattage bulbs. Let your thermometer be your guide. I run them on a timer for about 12 hours and adjust the height to get the correct basking temp under them. I also like to use a flat rock of some sort directly under the bulb. You need to check the temp with a thermometer directly under the bulb and get it to around 95-100F (36-37C).
2. Ambient heat maintenance. I use ceramic heating elements or radiant heat panels set on thermostats to maintain ambient above 80 degrees day and night for tropical species. In most cases you'd only need day heat for a temperate species like Testudo or DT, as long as your house stays above 60F (15-16C) at night. Some people in colder climates or with larger enclosures will need multiple CHEs or RHPs to spread out enough heat.
3. Ambient light. I use LEDs for this purpose. Something in the 5000-6500K color range will look the best. Most bulbs at the store are in the 2500K range and they look yellowish. Strip or screw-in LED bulb types are both fine.
4. UV. If you can get your tortoise outside for an hour 2 or 3 times a week, you won't need indoor UV. In colder climates, get one of the newer HO type fluorescent tubes. Which type will depend on mounting height. 5.0 bulbs make almost no UV. I like the 12% HO bulbs from Arcadia. You need a meter to check this: https://www.solarmeter.com/model65.htmlA good UV bulb only needs to run for 2-3 hours mid day. You need the basking bulb and the ambient lighting to be on at least 12 hours a day.

It is far too early to begin brumation prep. Bump up the temperature, light intensity, and light duration to prevent it. Definitely keep soaking and waking the tortoise.

Regarding refrigerato…. I’ve read all of the threads on it but I’m still having trouble with the problem that every time I look up refrigerators, I am assured they are airtight. And that’s why they have a latch on the inside.

Refrigerator doors have not latched closed since the 50s. This is not a concern. They are also not air tight and your tortoise will not suffocate. You can run a piece of aquarium airline hose, the tube body of a pen, or a straw in the door seal if you are worried.