Lethargic Tortoise - Need Advice

[HenryBear]

Hi there!

I have a horsefield tortoise who is about 15 years old, recently she has been sleeping all day every day, but it is not cold enough yet for her to hibernate.

She is eating and drinking, she also responds in a warm bath and when I get her out for a wander, I just keep having to wake her up to do so, as she spends all day in her hide.

Should I be concerned for her health? Or is this normal behaviour?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum!

It is possible that she thinks that it is time to brumate (reptile hibernation). But there are steps you can take to keep her up longer:

"1. Add bright LED lighting in the 5000-6500K color range. Lots of it. Make it look like daytime outside looks.
2. Set light timers to be on for 13-14 hours.
3. Bump all ambient temperatures up a bit.
4. Keep night temps warmer. Shoot for no lower than the 70s over night.
5. Pull the tortoise out of hiding and soak it often. Don't let it stay hidden in a cool hide box all day.
6. I usually run HO UV tubes for 2-3 hours mid day. To keep a tortoise up, I might bump them up to 6-8 hours a day."

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

Basically you have to trick her to thinking that there is still some summer yet, and it is too early to slow down.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello! Top notch advice above! I see you’re from the uk like me, our weather is starting to turn, what kind of set up do you have? An open one is very difficult to boost ambient temps in, our climate starts getting too cold before they can go into brumation.

Hopefully you might find these useful to go over

I made this thread based on the forums care information and added visual aids, it covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc, double check your bulb types, you’d be surprised how many folks come here using the wrong ones), correct levels(again double check these and make sure you’re using digital monitoring) appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and a really handy diet link to check out! Adjust light timings to those suggested above. I see you mentioned about getting her out to roam, make sure that isn’t just the floor of your home, it’s far too cool and many different factors that make it stressful, an appropriate sized set up is always the goal.

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes lots of inspiration for an adult set up both indoors and out! The indoor bit has some good ideas to tackle indoor space whilst still providing the needed roaming room! Check comments too, I’m always adding to it. I know the recommended adult size is intimidating to some, especially if you’ve been lead into thinking he’ll be fine in a smaller set up(very common) but tortoises long term health really does rely on lots of roaming room, it definitely interferes with activity levels too

Enclosure inspiration

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is well! As you all know, I’m a big fan of making threads that cater more towards visual learners like myself, I’ve really been wanting to create a thread full of adult enclosure inspiration for a while now, I’ve managed to find some great references over time! I do...

tortoiseforum.org

This has a bunch of cover options that can help retain your heat, there different ones that can work for a variety of set ups

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, this one here is good to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Really hope they help! Please feel free to ask any further questions, we can help step by step if there’s any tweaks needed, and break things down too, welcome to the forum

 

[HenryBear]

Hello! Top notch advice above! I see you’re from the uk like me, our weather is starting to turn, what kind of set up do you have? An open one is very difficult to boost ambient temps in, our climate starts getting too cold before they can go into brumation.

Hopefully you might find these useful to go over

I made this thread based on the forums care information and added visual aids, it covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc, double check your bulb types, you’d be surprised how many folks come here using the wrong ones), correct levels(again double check these and make sure you’re using digital monitoring) appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and a really handy diet link to check out! Adjust light timings to those suggested above. I see you mentioned about getting her out to roam, make sure that isn’t just the floor of your home, it’s far too cool and many different factors that make it stressful, an appropriate sized set up is always the goal.

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes lots of inspiration for an adult set up both indoors and out! The indoor bit has some good ideas to tackle indoor space whilst still providing the needed roaming room! Check comments too, I’m always adding to it. I know the recommended adult size is intimidating to some, especially if you’ve been lead into thinking he’ll be fine in a smaller set up(very common) but tortoises long term health really does rely on lots of roaming room, it definitely interferes with activity levels too

Enclosure inspiration

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is well! As you all know, I’m a big fan of making threads that cater more towards visual learners like myself, I’ve really been wanting to create a thread full of adult enclosure inspiration for a while now, I’ve managed to find some great references over time! I do...

tortoiseforum.org

This has a bunch of cover options that can help retain your heat, there different ones that can work for a variety of set ups

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, this one here is good to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Really hope they help! Please feel free to ask any further questions, we can help step by step if there’s any tweaks needed, and break things down too, welcome to the forum

Thanks so much for the advice! This was wonderful. Henry has quite a basic setup as she has a habit of chewing on things she shouldn't so she has a small enclosure with lots of outside time as we have stay at home family members. I think she was hibernating early because of the resulting poor temperature control (we live in an old house).

She has woke up from a nice brumation today and seems back to her usual self, up and walking around