My Herman's has gone lethargic and off her food, is there a problem?

[camerart]

Hi,
My Herman's tortoise is acting differently since the heat wave, and I wonder if the heat made her sick.
She's off her food, although not completely, and stays in her 'cave' most of the day. She does sunbath for some of the time, but not as much as usual.
I saw some feces a couple of days afo, and it looks normal.
Should I be worried.
Camerart

 

[TammyJ]

Hey there. You will need to post information and pictures. That is information regarding all the conditions of her enclosure - temperature, humidity, substrate, and the tortoise age, how long you had her, diet etc.

 

[Tom]

Hi,
My Herman's tortoise is acting differently since the heat wave, and I wonder if the heat made her sick.
She's off her food, although not completely, and stays in her 'cave' most of the day. She does sunbath for some of the time, but not as much as usual.
I saw some feces a couple of days afo, and it looks normal.
Should I be worried.
Camerart

What were the daily highs during the heat wave? What percentage of the enclosure is in heavy shade throughout the day? What is your soaking/hydration routine?

Here in my part of the world from about late June through October we have daily highs around 37-43C with nightly lows around 15-18C. All of my Testudo and other temperate species wait out the heat of the day in the shade, but wander, bask and eat in the mornings and evenings. Its even hotter in summer here in Phoenix Arizona, and all the Testudo living outside there function too. They are around 43C every day and only cooling to 30C every night. I bring this up to demonstrate, that your uncomfortable heat wave is not all that hot by tortoise standards. Its unusually warm for you, but just getting comfortable for them.

 

[camerart]

Hi T and T,
I found her 3 years ago, merrily walking down the side of a main road about to cross a junction, with no chance!
There were no lost tortoises anywhere near.
I made 3x abodes for her 1/In the garden where she sleeps through the winter,and where she is in the photos. 2/Ontop of an air-raid shelter, where the sun shines longer in the year. 3/A tortoise flap in the green house for thos cold days.

I feed her on Dandelions, greens, cabbage, a small bit of pepper, and apple. She like the latter ones the best, but I don't give er much.
She's been 1.5-6 Kgm most of the time, at the moment she's 1.4 ish Kgm.

Today when I went to look, she was sun bathing, which she does normally When I turned her round for the photos, she went for yesterdays cabbage, so I topped up her food, and she had a little feed, as shown.
Then she went in her cave, probably for the rest of the day.

When I mentioned the hot snap, is before it there were lots of weeds and plants in the garden, but now there's not much for her to eat. I think it got high 30s, but she went in the greenhouse one day, which is the hottest place.

s, what do youthink?
C

 

[camerart]

Hi,
This site has a strange 15Min edit time, so while I was uploading photos, it ran out.
C

 

[camerart]

Hi,
Photos to match the previous post.

In one Tanya's tongue can be seen, if that's any guide to health.
C

 

[Tom]

s, what do youthink?
C

It is likely that your problem is a long term dietary issue. Cabbage is okay once in a while in small amounts, but not as a regular diet item. Apple should never be fed as it upsets the gut flora and fauna. Dandelions are great, as are a whole list of other weeds, which should be the primary diet.

Do you soak the tortoise? What is the water bowl situation there? I don't see one in the pics. Good hydration will often pick the appetite up.

 

[camerart]

Hi,
Photos to match the previous post.

In one Tanya's tongue can be seen, if that's any guide to health.
C

It is likely that your problem is a long term dietary issue. Cabbage is okay once in a while in small amounts, but not as a regular diet item. Apple should never be fed as it upsets the gut flora and fauna. Dandelions are great, as are a whole list of other weeds, which should be the primary diet.

Do you soak the tortoise? What is the water bowl situation there? I don't see one in the pics. Good hydration will often pick the appetite up.

Hi T,
I don't leave a soak bowl, as she doesn't appear to like it. She doesn't mind too much when she's waking up after hibernation.
Today she was sunbathing as usual, and I moved her into a shallow tray with warm water, but she got out, and walked back to her 'cave' and didn't appear again. As far as I know she only had a tiny bit of weed all day.
I've fed her on green/cabbage since I found her, but lately I've been slicing the base of the cabbage, that i would throw away, perhaps from what you say this is too 'strong'. I usually pick weeds for her, but not many.
She used to wander around the garden, grazing all sorts of plants, but as I said most of these were burnt out in the hot spell, which coincides with her lethargy.

What should I do now?
C