Hingeback loosing weight

[16rash]

Hello Everyone !

my home's hinge back tortoise it not eating properly and have been loosing weight .
initial few weeks he had not eaten anything and i had very hard time making him to eats at least something.

he eats earthworms/proteins maybe once in a week. sometime he take few bites of kale/watermelon/ strawberry/pumpkin/zucchini . never finish his food. sometime he wont eat anything for 2 days

he is quite active and roam/climb around the corners of the enclosure. soaks everyday on his own,i just keep warm water in the soaking dish every morning.

Any suggestion on how to make him eat more. The way his weight is deceasing is very concerning .

June 15 - 883 gms
July 15 - 859 gms
Aug 15 - 841 gms

Thanks!
Rashmi

 

[wellington]

A bigger variety of food is needed and less fruit. @Jacqui may be able to help further.
Also give more info on enclosure. Temps cool side and basking spot, lighting being used.

 

[Millerlite]

How long have you had him? Guessing wild caught or imported most are. Is it possible he has parasites of some sort? Jacqui has quite the group and could help you get this guy back on track. Keep us updated

Kyle

 

[juli11]

I had this with all of my Kinixys kinds. From time to time they have an inactive phase. This phase could be from 1 week to 3 months. So wait and don't become worry for the first. But please share some pics and information about the enclosure. Maybe this would be the problem maker.

 

[Gillian M]

Hello Everyone !

my home's hinge back tortoise it not eating properly and have been loosing weight .
initial few weeks he had not eaten anything and i had very hard time making him to eats at least something.

he eats earthworms/proteins maybe once in a week. sometime he take few bites of kale/watermelon/ strawberry/pumpkin/zucchini . never finish his food. sometime he wont eat anything for 2 days

he is quite active and roam/climb around the corners of the enclosure. soaks everyday on his own,i just keep warm water in the soaking dish every morning.

Any suggestion on how to make him eat more. The way his weight is deceasing is very concerning .

June 15 - 883 gms
July 15 - 859 gms
Aug 15 - 841 gms

Thanks!
Rashmi

How long have you had him? Is he used to the enclosure, environment, climate etc?

Hope you'll get help from @Jacqui . And hope your tort recovers soon. Meanwhile please keep us updated.

 

[Jacqui]

Gonna try this again today...

First off, I too would not be overly concerned at this point. He is active, which is a good sign.

Just keep feeding him the things he likes. Might feed worms and bugs more often, if he really likes them. Feeding more fruit, if that is all he wants to eat right now, is ok too. Might try more fruit variety. Ever try him on Mazuri?

How hot are current temps?

 

[Anyfoot]

Hello Everyone !

my home's hinge back tortoise it not eating properly and have been loosing weight .
initial few weeks he had not eaten anything and i had very hard time making him to eats at least something.

he eats earthworms/proteins maybe once in a week. sometime he take few bites of kale/watermelon/ strawberry/pumpkin/zucchini . never finish his food. sometime he wont eat anything for 2 days

he is quite active and roam/climb around the corners of the enclosure. soaks everyday on his own,i just keep warm water in the soaking dish every morning.

Any suggestion on how to make him eat more. The way his weight is deceasing is very concerning .

June 15 - 883 gms
July 15 - 859 gms
Aug 15 - 841 gms

Thanks!
Rashmi

Is he feeding yet?

 

[16rash]

Hello Everyone!

My apologies for not responding to the post soon. first I would really like to thank everyone here for your valuable feedbacks and responses.

Zura has been eating properly from last week. I had to change the enclosure to maintain the temperature and humidity (Thanks Anyfoot for sharing the pics of your enclosure. it was very helpful).

Feeding him earthworms every other day,he eats almost 8-10 nightcrawler earthworms. Dip earthworms in calcium/vitamin powder. I hope i am not overfeeding him.am I? Please advise.

Remaining days i give him mix of fruits/veggies.So far his favorite is Papaya/cucumber/strawberry/pumpkin. occasionally he has eaten Kale but most of time greens are untouched. seen him nibbling on cuttlebone fish sometime. Still working on adding more varieties to his diet.

Sometimes he make noises but i am unclear what he wants . may be he needs a company.

I am really thankful to everyone here in tortoise forum for your constant support and help.

Rashmi

 

[JoesMum]

He doesn't need company. Torts are loaners that don't want, need or particularly like friends. Another tort is just competition for space and food.

I'm glad he's eating. Temperature problems are usually the issue with appetite and it sounds like you have sorted those out

 

[Anyfoot]

Hello Everyone!

My apologies for not responding to the post soon. first I would really like to thank everyone here for your valuable feedbacks and responses.

Zura has been eating properly from last week. I had to change the enclosure to maintain the temperature and humidity (Thanks Anyfoot for sharing the pics of your enclosure. it was very helpful).

Feeding him earthworms every other day,he eats almost 8-10 nightcrawler earthworms. Dip earthworms in calcium/vitamin powder. I hope i am not overfeeding him.am I? Please advise.

Remaining days i give him mix of fruits/veggies.So far his favorite is Papaya/cucumber/strawberry/pumpkin. occasionally he has eaten Kale but most of time greens are untouched. seen him nibbling on cuttlebone fish sometime. Still working on adding more varieties to his diet.

Sometimes he make noises but i am unclear what he wants . may be he needs a company.

I am really thankful to everyone here in tortoise forum for your constant support and help.

Rashmi

Good news at last. I wouldn't worry about over feeding him, just keep persisting with a veriety, although he's not eating many greens (just like mine) I would still offer greens mixed in. 9 times out of 10 mine eat around the greens, but that 1 time gives me satisfaction. Try rocket too. Also I wouldn't bother with calcium powder on worms, worms themselves have calcium in them.
Worm castings are full of calcium that the worms don't need to absorb(it's excess calcium). This proves worms have calcium in the body and other vitamins just like any other living creature, when it's eaten the vitamins and nutrients are absorbed by the predator.
This is the same reason I feed my redfoots, worms,slugs,snail,mice and chicks and anything my cats bring to the doorstep. It fulfills some of the nutrients and vitamins requirements.

Now for something grose, get some big snails and crush them, he should eat the shell and all, sometimes the shells are to hard to crush with their beaks. Have you ever smelled the inside of a snail(yeah I'm sad) it's vile, they like it. Try it with 1 snail first when you get the chance.

 

[Anyfoot]

I should have mentioned, I don't mix anything in with the protein foods. If the choice is worms then it's only worms.

 

[16rash]

Good news at last. I wouldn't worry about over feeding him, just keep persisting with a veriety, although he's not eating many greens (just like mine) I would still offer greens mixed in. 9 times out of 10 mine eat around the greens, but that 1 time gives me satisfaction. Try rocket too. Also I wouldn't bother with calcium powder on worms, worms themselves have calcium in them.
Worm castings are full of calcium that the worms don't need to absorb(it's excess calcium). This proves worms have calcium in the body and other vitamins just like any other living creature, when it's eaten the vitamins and nutrients are absorbed by the predator.
This is the same reason I feed my redfoots, worms,slugs,snail,mice and chicks and anything my cats bring to the doorstep. It fulfills some of the nutrients and vitamins requirements.

Now for something grose, get some big snails and crush them, he should eat the shell and all, sometimes the shells are to hard to crush with their beaks. Have you ever smelled the inside of a snail(yeah I'm sad) it's vile, they like it. Try it with 1 snail first when you get the chance.

Thanks for the advise! should i add vitamin on the food ?

I could not found snails so right now only feeding him earthworms. I noticed few slugs in his indoor enclosure, don't know where did they come from.

For the snails, if i order 2 live snails online , would i be able to do snail farming ?has anyone tried that before? any suggestions please.

 

[Anyfoot]

Thanks for the advise! should i add vitamin on the food ?

I could not found snails so right now only feeding him earthworms. I noticed few slugs in his indoor enclosure, don't know where did they come from.

For the snails, if i order 2 live snails online , would i be able to do snail farming ?has anyone tried that before? any suggestions please.

I don't use vitamin powder, with a good mix of fruits and live proteins your vitamins will be covered. It won't do any harm if you sprinkle it on the food, however I wouldn't, especially seen as you've only just got him feeding. They don't like the taste of Vitamin and calcium powder.
As for snails, mine eat small ones no problem, and big ones they just eat the actual snail unless I smash the shell.
You could easily buy a or go somewhere and collect snails to breed them. Hope someone else can advise you on this, in the uk there just is no lack of garden snails.

 

[Anyfoot]

@16rash
I found this chart a while back, have a look at it. From what I've read we should be looking at a ratio of 2:1(calcium to phosphorous) so 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorous is the balance for Tortoises. If anyone knows better please speak up, because it's a mine field trying to desiphon the info on the net.
Anyway, have a look at the the earthworms and nightcrawlers ratio. It's 1.91:1 and 1.58:1. So the calcium is higher than the phosphorus. Not saying for one minute you should, but if you only fed earthworms your ratio would be just about spot on. There would probably be other health issues if worms were only fed.
Now look at waxworks and mealworms. They are only 0.17:1 and 0.14:1. If you only fed them you would have to top up with calcium powder to bring the balance right. Again nobody would only feed them and in a varied diet they would be sound. I'm just trying to get the principal across by selecting a theoretical 1 food source.
That's how I'm seeing it anyway
Hope it helps.

 

[16rash]

@16rash
I found this chart a while back, have a look at it. From what I've read we should be looking at a ratio of 2:1(calcium to phosphorous) so 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorous is the balance for Tortoises. If anyone knows better please speak up, because it's a mine field trying to desiphon the info on the net.
Anyway, have a look at the the earthworms and nightcrawlers ratio. It's 1.91:1 and 1.58:1. So the calcium is higher than the phosphorus. Not saying for one minute you should, but if you only fed earthworms your ratio would be just about spot on. There would probably be other health issues if worms were only fed.
Now look at waxworks and mealworms. They are only 0.17:1 and 0.14:1. If you only fed them you would have to top up with calcium powder to bring the balance right. Again nobody would only feed them and in a varied diet they would be sound. I'm just trying to get the principal across by selecting a theoretical 1 food source.
That's how I'm seeing it anyway
Hope it helps.
View attachment 186704

Thanks Anyfoot. this is very informational. Looks like nightcrawler are the best looking at the ratio.
I want to add snails/slugs to the diet but its hard to find it, so i have to raise them.

 

[Anyfoot]

Thanks Anyfoot. this is very informational. Looks like nightcrawler are the best looking at the ratio.
I want to add snails/slugs to the diet but its hard to find it, so i have to raise them.

We used to have giant Africa snails, they were kept in a plastic fishtank type enclosure, 5" of wet soil, very humid, fed them old greens, fruit and cuttlebone. We ended up with 100's. I suppose it's the same for garden snails.