Eastern hermans torroise help

[louis1210]

Hi, the past 3 days I've noticed my Eastern hermans tortoise has stopped eating. She still wakes up in the morning and bathes under the uvb bulb, walks around her tortoise table and climbs around the obstacles. So to me she appears fine but the only concern is she's not eating. Is this normal for this time of the year ? I've never seen this before so I'm not to sure. Any help would be greatly apprecited.

 

[Lyn W]

They do tend to slow down at this time of year but check your temps to make sure she is warm enough.
This will help you make sure she has everything she needs

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Do you use a CHE to give her night time heat ?
If you post a picture of her enclosure members can also see if there's anything other than temps etc affecting her behaviour.

 

[louis1210]

I hope this picture can help. I use pro rep 50/50 substrate.

 

[louis1210]

This is a pic of her. Hopefully she is just being stubborn.









 

[louis1210]

I'm not sure if its related but recently we purchased a new uvb bulb...I didn't realise my wife brought a 100w arcadia uvb bulb instead of the 160w we usually buy. So the temp was around 25c / 77f.

I've put the old bulb in which is now reading 33c / 90f.

Maybe due to the colder weather and the lower output of temp from the heat lamp it may of caused this...fingers crossed she starts eating soon.


Any advice will still be appreciated

 

[Tom]

I'm not sure if its related but recently we purchased a new uvb bulb...I didn't realise my wife brought a 100w arcadia uvb bulb instead of the 160w we usually buy. So the temp was around 25c / 77f.

I've put the old bulb in which is now reading 33c / 90f.

Maybe due to the colder weather and the lower output of temp from the heat lamp it may of caused this...fingers crossed she starts eating soon.


Any advice will still be appreciated

Hello and welcome.

The substrate you are using is dangerous and needs to be removed ASAP.

The light you are using is unreliable and will also cause pyramiding.

An open topped table like that is not a good way to house a young growing tortoise.

It appears that you have received all the usual wrong pet shop info and products. You are not alone. This happens to almost everyone. Please read the care sheet that Lyn linked for you, as that will answer most of your questions.

Here is an additional lighting breakdown:
There are four elements to heating and lighting:

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.html A 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.

Now to address your primary question: What you are seeing is normal. Your species of tortoise would be brumating this time of year, or at least preparing to do so in the warmer more southern regions of the wild range. You have to make a decision: Do you want your tortoise to brumate, or do you want to keep him up all winter? Once you decide, you will need to take the correct steps to support your decision. Here is a more thorough explanation of what is going on:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome! Please challenge any of the above and I'm happy to explain how these conclusions were reached. We are here to talk tortoises.