Need advice ASAP

[vidhi]

My tortoise has been with me for over 5 years now. We are a family of four and my tort recognizes everyone and love us too to the point he would just follow us until we take him and cuddle him. But 3 of us left for one month (we do so every year) and my father took care of him for this month. Generally we take him with us so he travels with me, my sister and my mum but we couldn't this time. When we returned his behavior changed. He stopped eating food, drinking a lot of water and passing out watery stools. What should we do?
About his enclosure, he doesn't have a proper one it's soft cloths, lighting and a tub for him to soak in warm water. We didn't give him soil as he used to eat that and we were worried of him eating parasites.

 

[Yvonne G]

What species?

 

[vidhi]

What species?

Indian star tortoise

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Your tortoise needs his own large enclosure with all the correct lights, temperatures and humidity levels for that species.
Can you please post some pictures?
Then we might be better able to help you.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum!

How are the temperatures like? I am asking, because it is important for their digestion. How is his diet?

 

[vidhi]

Welcome to the forum!

How are the temperatures like? I am asking, because it is important for their digestion. How is his diet?

It's 34 degrees here and very humid. Also it's been raining a lot since past week and the sun isn't visible. So we give him uv light every 5 hours for 20 to 30 mins (told by his vet). Generally he eats twice a day and his intake is moderate. But since 2 days he hasn't been eating a thing and only sleeps throughout the day.

 

[Maggie3fan]

His UVB light is his sun...he needs 8 to 12 hours of sun..here in the Pacific Northwest we don't have enuf sun...so our UVB lights are on for 12 hours a day...just a thought...also tortoises take a very long time to show sickness, his 5 years of incorrect keeping could just now starting to show effect

 

[vidhi]

His UVB light is his sun...he needs 8 to 12 hours of sun..here in the Pacific Northwest we don't have enuf sun...so our UVB lights are on for 12 hours a day...just a thought...also tortoises take a very long time to show sickness, his 5 years of incorrect keeping could just now starting to show effect

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll start it today itself. Thanks a lot... I mean it.

 

[Cathie G]

Hello and welcome to the forum. How old is your tortoise? How was his care growing up? Knowing some of his history will help the experts here answer your questions better. Best wishes. for a good outcome.

 

[COmtnLady]

Since you have only been giving him 20 minutes of UVB at a time, begin slowly. Have it on for an hour, then in a couple days two hours. Generally, only around four hours total are needed and then they get into some shady spot to nap, so make sure there is a hide available so that if he has had enough he can get out of direct light.

 

[vidhi]

Hello and welcome to the forum. How old is your tortoise? How was his care growing up? Knowing some of his history will help the experts here answer your questions better. Best wishes. for a good outcome.

He has been with me for 5 years now. This November he will complete 6 years. In the first year we prepared an enclosure for him with cocopeat, sand and dirt. For his hiding we kept a big coconut shell, he used to love it. Some time later we observed that he started to eat the sand and we were afraid he might get parasites from that so we switched to fake grass. But he didn't like it, so switched to soft cloth. He would rarely wake up on his own (only at around 4 pm everyday he would come out as that was the time my mother would come back from her job). We wake him up twice every day to give him his food and sunlight.


Also I don't know if it's important or not but we have a female star tortoise too, she is 2 years younger than him. And all he does when he wakes up is chase after her send her off to her hiding spot and then go back to his sleep. Then never fight.

 

[vidhi]

Since you have only been giving him 20 minutes of UVB at a time, begin slowly. Have it on for an hour, then in a couple days two hours. Generally, only around four hours total are needed and then they get into some shady spot to nap, so make sure there is a hide available so that if he has had enough he can get out of direct light.

I understand. I gave him his UVB for an hour and 20 mins today but he slept while taking his UVB. There isn't any hiding spot he just slept in his light. So I switched it off and sent him to a hiding spot.

Also, his shell grew up in this past month so he can't fit in his usual hiding spot... the one he has had for over 5 years now. Can that be a reason too?

 

[COmtnLady]

Please post pictures of him and his enclosure. It will be easier to help with pictures.

 

[vidhi]

I have attached Pic of his enclosure, him and the uvb bulb we use. The smaller one is him and the larger one is our female tortoise.

 

[Cathie G]

He has been with me for 5 years now. This November he will complete 6 years. In the first year we prepared an enclosure for him with cocopeat, sand and dirt. For his hiding we kept a big coconut shell, he used to love it. Some time later we observed that he started to eat the sand and we were afraid he might get parasites from that so we switched to fake grass. But he didn't like it, so switched to soft cloth. He would rarely wake up on his own (only at around 4 pm everyday he would come out as that was the time my mother would come back from her job). We wake him up twice every day to give him his food and sunlight.


Also I don't know if it's important or not but we have a female star tortoise too, she is 2 years younger than him. And all he does when he wakes up is chase after her send her off to her hiding spot and then go back to his sleep. Then never fight.

How old was he when you got him?

 

[vidhi]

How old was he when you got him?

He was just a few months old, as small as my thumb

 

[COmtnLady]

1. You keep them in separate enclosures, correct?
They are solitary animals and don't like to have one other tortoise near them. People don't understand that a lot of behavior in pairs of tortoises that we think of as friendly, is actually them being territorial.

Signs of bullying in young tortoises

'Following' is a form of "mad dogging". Cuddling and sleeping in the same area is a form of trying to crowd the other out of the territory. Does one or both sit on the food? That's another one. Outward, obvious hostility like biting, ramming, or flipping seldom happens with juveniles. The...

tortoiseforum.org

2. Were they both the same size when you got them? Did you get them at the same time?

3. How was he kept while you were away? Was he/were they kept in some sort of cage or container? Were they loose in the room/house? Did your dad say anything changed with how your tortoise was acting while you were gone?

4. Does he have a favourite food? Will he at least eat that? Have you tried chopping it very finely to see if that will interest him?

5. How often are you soaking him, for how long, and is it constantly warm (to your touch) water the entire time?

 

[vidhi]

1. You keep them in separate enclosures, correct?
They are solitary animals and don't like to have one other tortoise near them. People don't understand that a lot of behavior in pairs of tortoises that we think of as friendly, is actually them being territorial.

Signs of bullying in young tortoises

'Following' is a form of "mad dogging". Cuddling and sleeping in the same area is a form of trying to crowd the other out of the territory. Does one or both sit on the food? That's another one. Outward, obvious hostility like biting, ramming, or flipping seldom happens with juveniles. The...

tortoiseforum.org

2. Were they both the same size when you got them? Did you get them at the same time?

3. How was he kept while you were away? Was he/were they kept in some sort of cage or container? Were they loose in the room/house? Did your dad say anything changed with how your tortoise was acting while you were gone?

4. Does he have a favourite food? Will he at least eat that? Have you tried chopping it very finely to see if that will interest him?

5. How often are you soaking him, for how long, and is it constantly warm (to your touch) water the entire time?

No they are kept together. He follows her all along and they both dont eat food if one is not beside the other. Even if we keep them in separate enclosure, the female one still sleeps but the male one would move restlessly all over until he sees her again. This is the reason we didn't keep them separate.

No I got the male one (the smaller one) first and the female came 2 years later. When we brought her she was half the size of male one. So she was quite small when she arrived... about few months.

They were kept in house and could roam around freely. This is how they are usually kept. What changed was that for all these years we took them with us, but this year we didn't so they could see us (me, my sister and my mother) for a whole month. The fact is he is too attached to my mother and sister so we thought that after returning he might get normal again but he didn't. Also usually we wake him up and give him his food twice every day but during that month my father used to leave food for them and then when he returned home he would feed him again. My father did say that he seemed sad and lazy when we were away but that must be because he was missing us.

Yes yesterday night, my mother fed him his favorite food by hand and he finally did eat. I can't say he was full, but he did eat moderately. Enough for us to know he won't starve.

We soak him once every two days in warm to touch water for about 30 to 40 mins. During the time he soaks we change the water 4 to 5 times making sure it doesn't go cold.


Can this also be because of weather? Like it is raining really heavy, almost nonstop for past 2 weeks. It does rain this heavy here but the rains came half a month early this time.

 

[Maggie3fan]

You need to separate them right away. He will try to breed her until she simply can't take it anymore. He'll never leave her alone...They DO NOT like each other. The actions you see are bullying techniques. The bigger one eats all the food, the smaller one is smaller cuz he doesn't get enuf to eat, he's small cuz he's being bullied and his life is full of stress. You must stop allowing them to roam the floor...that is dangerous and can and does cause death.
They do not have to capacity to miss people. You are putting human emotions onto them. They are freakin miserable together and that's what I see after 20 years or so experience...
Also, to me, the UVB light is his sun...he needs 8 to 12 hours of uvb if he's not going outside...also, he roams around because he can smell her...he will breed her until she dies...or gets sick...separate them, it's very important

read this...I think that is a Star tortoise but I don't know Burmese or Indian...but read this on how they should be cared for..
Indian Star and Burmese Star tortoises

 

[vidhi]

Okay I'll separate them immediately, as for the light I kept it on for 4 hours today, but he only went in light for about 1hr 30 mins something....he later went to the shady area to sleep.

You need to separate them right away. He will try to breed her until she simply can't take it anymore. He'll never leave her alone...They DO NOT like each other. The actions you see are bullying techniques. The bigger one eats all the food, the smaller one is smaller cuz he doesn't get enuf to eat, he's small cuz he's being bullied and his life is full of stress. You must stop allowing them to roam the floor...that is dangerous and can and does cause death.
They do not have to capacity to miss people. You are putting human emotions onto them. They are freakin miserable together and that's what I see after 20 years or so experience...
Also, to me, the UVB light is his sun...he needs 8 to 12 hours of uvb if he's not going outside...also, he roams around because he can smell her...he will breed her until she dies...or gets sick...separate them, it's very important

read this...I think that is a Star tortoise but I don't know Burmese or Indian...but read this on how they should be cared for..
Indian Star and Burmese Star tortoises