Help my tortois is not eating He is only 3 years old
- Thread starter sammy_487
- Start date
Hello and welcome from Kent, UK
What type of tortoise do you have?
I would like reassure you that not eating for a day or two is no cause for concern. They can go days without food as long as they're properly hydrated.
Your tortoise needs to be soaked daily while it isn't eating. Do it as follows:
- Use a large flat-bottomed bowl with high sides that your tort can't see over or through. A washing up bowl is ideal.
- The water needs to be warm, not hot, and deep enough to just come up over the join between the shell and the plastron (undershell)
- Soak for at least 20 minutes
- Don't worry if your tort poops or pees in the water; that is normal. If it's truly disgusting or goes cold then change the water.
- I find soaking to be most successful if done first thing in the day before the tort warms up properly.
I'll move on to likely causes in a separate post
What type of tortoise do you have?
I would like reassure you that not eating for a day or two is no cause for concern. They can go days without food as long as they're properly hydrated.
Your tortoise needs to be soaked daily while it isn't eating. Do it as follows:
- Use a large flat-bottomed bowl with high sides that your tort can't see over or through. A washing up bowl is ideal.
- The water needs to be warm, not hot, and deep enough to just come up over the join between the shell and the plastron (undershell)
- Soak for at least 20 minutes
- Don't worry if your tort poops or pees in the water; that is normal. If it's truly disgusting or goes cold then change the water.
- I find soaking to be most successful if done first thing in the day before the tort warms up properly.
I'll move on to likely causes in a separate post
The usual cause of lack of appetite and/or activity is a problem with temperatures or the enclosure... or change. Some torts react very badly to changes to their enclosure or their food and go on hunger strike as a result.
You must know the 4 important temperatures in the enclosure - directly under the basking lamp (if you have a species that uses one), warm side, cool side and overnight minimum. A temperature gun type thermometer like this is most accurate.
Photos of your enclosure, lighting and tortoise will help us to spot any possible environmental causes.
You must know the 4 important temperatures in the enclosure - directly under the basking lamp (if you have a species that uses one), warm side, cool side and overnight minimum. A temperature gun type thermometer like this is most accurate.
Photos of your enclosure, lighting and tortoise will help us to spot any possible environmental causes.
TiffytheTort
Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2017
- Messages
- 83
Same but I put food on anyway and it started eating. mine is also 3
Similar threads
