Help! Unhealthy little tortoises

[Antonela Matulović]

Hi, I am new to this site and I would really appreciate if some of you who are more experienced in this topic could give me some advice. So, I have around 20 little testudo hermanni dalmatian tortoises (few days old - 3 years old), the all live outside in garden with all kind of herbs (lavander, rosemary, thyme, aloe vera). In the last 3-4 weeks some od them have become very weak, they rearly eat, and their lower jaws are weird looking, dry, white and protruding. They look very tired and exhausted which is not their normal behaviour, they are usually very energetic. In order to make them eat something, I bought them some vitamins, mixed them with calcium powder and water and put all that on salad and other vegetables. Some of them really liked that and ate a lot but most od them did not eat anything and even with me trying to feed them by hand, putting food to their mouth, they still did not manage to open their mouth, like something is stopping them. I am really worried that it may be some disease that could transfer to all tortoises, they are really weak and the winter is coming so i don't even know if i will leave them outside like every year or put them indoors. If you had a problem like this please leave some advice , I am really scared that many tortoises will not make it through winter. Ps. On this photo is a tortoise that is exhausted and not eating but she doesn't have a jaw problem like some others do ( they are hiding and sleeping so I did not manage to take a picture)

 

[Yvonne G]

This one looks like he would benefit from a good, long warm soak. I think you need to bring in all the very young ones and set them up in a warm environment. The days are getting shorter now and the night time temperatures may be too cool for very young babies.

 

[Antonela Matulović]

This one looks like he would benefit from a good, long warm soak. I think you need to bring in all the very young ones and set them up in a warm environment. The days are getting shorter now and the night time temperatures may be too cool for very young babies.thank you

Thank you, I hope it works!!

 

[wellington]

I agree with Yvonne. The little ones really shouldn't be housed with the larger ones.

 

[Lyn W]

This is an up to date caresheet that will help you with their diet and temperature 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