Lethargic?

yillt

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Hello. I'm back after leaving tortoise forum about two months ago. So merry Christmas and happy new year to everyone. But not such a merry Christmas for Billy as he is hibernating in the cold fridge. But I've been thinking about when I was going to take him out (I put him in in November.) And i was reading stories of all your active tortoise and Billy seems so lazy (lethargic.) he used to run up when I cam over but now he lies in the corner and only eats when I hand feed him. I never see him moving (only lifting his head from time to time) but I know that he m ust move because he is ever is the same spot. What could babe wrong with him? I so excited to take him out of hibernation and see if he is any more active than last year. (I also love giving him a new set up)
 

dmmj

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my first question / thought is was he healthy when he went into hibernation?Secondly what are your temperatures?
 

Yvonne G

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I'm awfully confused. If he only eats when you hand feed him, he's not hibernating. A tortoise that is hibernating goes to sleep, and doesn't move or eat for months at a time. If your tortoise is moving and sometimes eating, there's something very wrong. If you don't correct it soon, he may die.
 

yillt

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I'm awfully confused. If he only eats when you hand feed him, he's not hibernating. A tortoise that is hibernating goes to sleep, and doesn't move or eat for months at a time. If your tortoise is moving and sometimes eating, there's something very wrong. If you don't correct it soon, he may die.
Sprry for npt explaining well. He is in hibernation but this was before hibernation. Right now he is tucked up in a well protected box and I have no idea what he's up to (hopefully sleeping.)
 

yillt

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my first question / thought is was he healthy when he went into hibernation?Secondly what are your temperatures?
This has been going on for about a year. He doesn't have any other signs like runny nose and his eyes are black and healthy. It's just that he seems so in active. He does eat, but only when I feed him. I'm not sure why. I have a record of my temperatures which I'll just check because I changed them before he went in to start cooling down his body gradually.
 

Yvonne G

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That doesn't sound good, Bella. We've always been told to not allow a tortoise to hibernate if he's been ill. I'd consider 'not eating well' to be 'ill.' If this were my tortoise I would get him up now. Set up a nice indoor habitat and try to get this tortoise eating and acting more normal.
 

yillt

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That doesn't sound good, Bella. We've always been told to not allow a tortoise to hibernate if he's been ill. I'd consider 'not eating well' to be 'ill.' If this were my tortoise I would get him up now. Set up a nice indoor habitat and try to get this tortoise eating and acting more normal.
Should I take him out today? I need to set up his habitat/enclosure and buy some substrate as I threw out the old one. Will he be ok for another day or so? I'm very worried about him now and want him to be healthy and will do anything. I will try and get some substrate today if possible. Thankyou
 

Yvonne G

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No, let him sleep until you get a habitat all set up for him. Then get him up and soak him in room temperature water for about a half hour, then put him in the new habitat. In the meantime, re-read all about how to care for that species and make sure you have the new habitat all set up properly with the right temperatures, etc.
 

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