Help! Darwin isnt eating

[DrKylePile]

Its been 3 days now and hes still not eating. He nibbled two little bits of banana (i know, but im trying anything now) and took one bite of a dandelion green. Thats it. If i put him in front of food he just cocks his head back and forth for a while and ignores it.
Humidity and heat are high, im really really worries. Any ideas?? Please???

 

[Jacqui]

Relax... just a tad. Going without food for three days is not the end of the world and not all that unheard of. So please relax.

Okay your saying the heat is high, how high is that? What is the lower cooler temps? Is he active or still in the hiding stage too? How about lighting? Is it high or sorta moderate to low level lighting?

Are you trying him on food right after a nice warm soak? That seems to stimulate appetite. Might want to add a little baby food to the water, might help and won't hurt.

 

[DrKylePile]

Relax... just a tad. Going without food for three days is not the end of the world and not all that unheard of. So please relax.

Okay your saying the heat is high, how high is that? What is the lower cooler temps? Is he active or still in the hiding stage too? How about lighting? Is it high or sorta moderate to low level lighting?

Are you trying him on food right after a nice warm soak? That seems to stimulate appetite. Might want to add a little baby food to the water, might help and won't hurt.

Sorry, just nervous. Heat is in the upper 80s in his hide and about the same in the feeding area. The far end gets down to 65 and all temps in between. Lighting is moderate. Hes not very active, although one time i pulled him out of his hide he did do a bit of exploring.
Ill try the warm soak with baby food. What kind of baby food and how long a soak?
Thank you so much for the help!

 

[Jacqui]

I generally use something like carrots or squash. Just the normal 15 mins or so. Just be sure his water does not get too cold.

Then for foods I would be trying to get him going on.... I would go with bright colored ones like cooked sweet potato, papaya, strawberry. I might even try a little romaine for the greens as it tend to be the best most widely liked green (just don't end up making it a large percent of your future normal diet item ), as it lacks a lot in the food value way.

What did the place you got him from feed him? It's usually easier to copy that diet if you can, until they get established a bit in your home.

 

[dmarcus]

I have a hatchling box turtle that refused to eat for almost three weeks when we got her, so we started doing carrot baby food soaks and we blended some redwigglers and pellet food and mixed it all together and we would soak her we would see her occassionaly taking a drink. She never lost any weight and one day she just started eating. They were all 7 grams when I got them now the smallest has slowly grown to 14 grams compared to the biggest that had no eating problems who is 40 grams...

 

[ascott]

I am new at hands on care for my two RFs....but the little one I have came to me not eating..had vision issues..so when she did start eating on her own I noticed that she really face planted and ate near every bit if I sprinkled her food with the freeze dried cricket/shrimp/mealwoms that I always have for my RESs....you know at the bottom of the freeze dried containers is that layer of bug dust....I will also dust her food with that and I have experimented....if I do not dust with the bug dust she does not eat as much...so I usually lightly dust her food with that --seems kinda like we like seasoning on our food...lol

 

[jackrat]

My redfoots do fine without a temperature gradient. Their enclosure stays 84-85 degrees throughout. 65 degrees is too low,which makes for wasted space in your enclosure. Don't be alarmed,they can go for a pretty good while without effects. Make sure to keep him hydrated and mist him daily. Be sure he knows where his water dish is.

 

[Madkins007]

Red-footeds really do quite nicely in the mid-80's like Jackrat said. I still like variety within my habitat, but it is not really necessary to offer that much of a range.

What is the humidity like? Red-footeds often eat nicely after a real or simulated warm rain.

Lighting- 'moderate' for you and me is probably different than what it is for a little tortoise. Don't worry about backing it off, but do make sure there are lots of shady hides available.

All that aside- almost a week without food for a tortoise is about the same as missing supper for us. Don't sweat a couple days.

 

[terryo]

My redfoots do fine without a temperature gradient. Their enclosure stays 84-85 degrees throughout. 65 degrees is too low,which makes for wasted space in your enclosure. Don't be alarmed,they can go for a pretty good while without effects. Make sure to keep him hydrated and mist him daily. Be sure he knows where his water dish is.

I agree. 65 is way too low, even if you have a cool side.

 

[DrKylePile]

As an update ive tried all the suggestions with little luck. I got him to eat a raspberry but thats it. Seems to love his sweets but i cant keep that up obv. On the good news front this morning when i woke up he was wandering around his habitat (in the cooler end so maybe was just curious). Thats definitely the only time hes left his hide without me prompting that ive noticed, so maybe hes feeling more comfy .

 

[Mgridgaway]

Have you tried feeding the boy Mazuri? I've heard of torts getting really picky and specifically waiting for stuff like Mazuri. Both of my redfoots love it. You can get it from multiple resellers, but in my experience coastal silk worms is the cheapest.

On a side note, seems like Darwin is a popular tort name... I named my redfoot Darwin, and I know of at least 2 other Darwin's -- one a Sulcata, the other a redfoot.

 

[lynnedit]

Keep soaking him daily in baby food: carrot or sweet potato, and you can add a few drops of bird vitamins.
I think smaller RF's are quite shy, but it is a good sign that he was doing a bit of exploring. It can take awhile.
Make sure his enclosure is moist; sprinkle water on the substrate twice a day if needed.
You might shift your light /heat sources around a bit to get a consistent 80-85 throughout the enclosure. you might need to add a heat source (no light).
Add some plants too.

 

[DrKylePile]

I found out one of the possible reasons he hasn't been eating much. He's been munching on one of the plants in the habitat. Common houseplant (don't know what it's called) so hopefully it's safe. I just noticed the lower leaves had round bite marks through half the leaf.

I also found organic babyfood carrot puree is something he loves so I finely chop a bit of collard green and sprinkle calcium mixed in with it.

Very hopeful this is all good for him..

 

[Pond_Lilly]

I found out one of the possible reasons he hasn't been eating much. He's been munching on one of the plants in the habitat. Common houseplant (don't know what it's called) so hopefully it's safe. I just noticed the lower leaves had round bite marks through half the leaf.

I also found organic babyfood carrot puree is something he loves so I finely chop a bit of collard green and sprinkle calcium mixed in with it.

Very hopeful this is all good for him..

One of my torts (Dude) also had eating issue some 11 months ago or so. Stopped eating completely. I soaked him for two weeks in baby food plus calcium powder, pumped up the temperature and took him to a vet who gave him antibiotic injection (Piperacillin). This drug can only be injected, so I had some "fun" injecting Dude with it. But in the end it all worked out. He started eating and today, 11 months later does very well. Although all my three torts slowed down their eating a bit now as it got colder outside.