I think my adult Sulcata tortoise maybe sick but not sure

[Mtowery1967]

My Sulcata has been outside for the past 6 to 8 months. Then after a few days of hard rain I found him outside of his burrow, wet, cold and of course caked with mud. I quickly brought him inside and placed him in his huge tub and placed a heat lamp on the side. He hasn't been eating at all for the past few days which is unusual for him since he always eats what I put down for him almost immediately. Is he not eating because he's in this large tub or do you think he's sick because he was exposed to 40+ temps ?

 

[Maro2Bear]

I’d venture to say that cold rain, coupled with 40 degree temps for a hot weather, humid loving tort is what has caused this issue. Your Sully needs a nice boost in temps.

There’s lots of really good information on the proper housing and heating requirements for a Sully here on the Forum. Give a shout if you can’t find the stickies.

 

[Tom]

This is tropical species. They cannot live in most of North America in a burrow in winter. There are a few places like Phoenix where a large percentage of them survive the cold winters down in their burrows, but its not good for them. Where they come from it is hot all year long. Daily high is usually near 100 and a "cold" winter day would still reach the high 80s or low 90s. Like wise, even the night temps stay warm down in their burrows.

Sounds to me like you have two issues. 1 being the cold, and 2 being that lack of a large heated space to move around in. Like horses, tortoises need to move around to keep things in their GI tract moving. In a small tub he can't get this done.

Heat lamps don't work well for larger tortoises. It only heat the surface of the shell while the core and bottom stay too cold. In fact it usually over-heats the surface and causes the outermost tissue to die in what I call a "slow burn".

 

[Big Charlie]

Did you say how big your sulcata is? When Charlie gets stuck out in the rain or cold, I put him in his heated night box, and sometimes it takes him several days before he will venture out again. Even when he stayed in a burrow most of the time, I had a heated box on the patio for him that he would come to when the weather was really bad. The last two years he has used his night box rather than a burrow. He doesn't have room to move around in the night box but it warms him enough that he can then venture out to graze even when the temperatures don't get above 50F during the day. His night box keeps him a toasty 80F.

 

[Mtowery1967]

He's around 42 lbs and he's 12 years old. He still hasn't eaten anything since I brought him inside 3 or 4 days ago.

 

[Big Charlie]

He's around 42 lbs and he's 12 years old. He still hasn't eaten anything since I brought him inside 3 or 4 days ago.

Do you know how warm he is? The heat lamp might not be enough. See Tom's post above. Charlie's heated box has a Kane heat mat on the floor and radiant heat panel on the top. Some people use small radiators. He needs to be at 80F minimum in order to digest food.

Has he moved around? Is there room for him to move in the tub? My tortoise won't eat anything when he is in his nightbox. At times, he has gone many days in a row without eating.

Is his breathing okay? Do you hear any squeaking?

 

[Mtowery1967]

Do you know how warm he is? The heat lamp might not be enough. See Tom's post above. Charlie's heated box has a Kane heat mat on the floor and radiant heat panel on the top. Some people use small radiators. He needs to be at 80F minimum in order to digest food.

Has he moved around? Is there room for him to move in the tub? My tortoise won't eat anything when he is in his nightbox. At times, he has gone many days in a row without eating.

Is his breathing okay? Do you hear any squeaking?

He's breathing okay. I have a heat lamp hanging over the tub. It's a huge tub that is used to livestock so he is able to move around a little bit and turn around easily. I keep it around 72 degrees in my house plus he has his heat lamp. I had him in the house last year with no problems under the same conditions. But this year he's back in the tub because temps get down into the teens where I live. The only thing I'm noticing this time around is that he hasn't eaten in about a week. Normally he would eat whatever I offer him right away

 

[jeffb]