Possibly Not Eating?

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Mojo's Mom

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I'm worried that my tortoise is not eating. Every day it seems like when I take out the old food to put in the new there is the same amount. It started about two or three weeks ago. I stopped giving him as much because every like five days it would be a little noticable, so I thought I was over feeding possibly. Then I thought maybe there wasn't enough variety, so I gave him a couple new choices along with a little of the older stuff. Still pulling out about the same amount!

I've also noticed that he doesn't really come out as often, this actually started a month ago or so. He stays in his hide and doesn't really do anything or burrows down in the substrate and lays there, staring at the wall of his enclosure. We're going to get his outside enclosure up soon, so maybe a little more sunlight than a few hours will help him?

Another thing I noticed is that he isn't soaking as much. It used to be every time I walked by he was in his water soaking. Now...I haven't seen him in it for a while, although there is a LITTLE poop in there, so he's been in it, it's just not the dark cloud of muck that I had to dump every day or so. He seemed to really enjoy soaking the other day when I was cleaning out his enclosure (I put him in his water dish with fresh water that is pretty warm but not scorching), it was like he hadn't done it in a while.

It's almost like he's a different tortoise! (Which he isn't, for sure, the real Mojo did not die and my family did not get scared and went and bought another one, nothing like that!)

Oh yeah, the fruit flies ( see the Fruit Flies thread) that I have been battling with are getting worse. Does that have something to do with it? It appears that they get in his food AFTER it has shriveled up and is ready to take out, which I do. But I'm in a losing battle, I cleaned out his cage yesterday because it was so bad and I went crazy with a fly swatter and my hands, killing most and getting the rest to flee for their short lifespans (of course Mojo was at a distance so I didn't hit him). I took out both his plants, one to share with my new gecko until I find something I like (I took it out last week actually) and the other I am seeing if the flies will go away (they were swarming closer to it, and there are little wholes in the wood thing the plant is situated on, I thought "hey, a nice place to lay eggs" and took it out, I would love to have live plants, but another discussion later) and today when I changed out his food (none eaten by the way) there was almost twice as many as the day before!

Is he sick or something? Should I contact a vet? I'm going to make sure we get the enclosure up soon, and I am going to watch to make sure he does walk around and enjoy it. What should I do? I'm starting to get really worried. Or am I just being freaked out by something completely normal? Please help!

Thank you in advance! :tort:
 

JoesMum

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If you have a tort that is potentially not eating, there is a problem, but not necessarily something that will send you to the vet. If you can supply the answers to a whole string of questions, we may be able to help :)

Are there any physical symptoms of inactivity, a runny nose, changes to the eyes, softness of the shell, etc? Photos will help us :)

Can you describe your enclosure please (pictures will help). Is it indoors or outdoors?

If indoors, what are the temps under the basking lamp, warm end, cool end and overnight minimum? Is there a UVB source?

If outdoors, what is the minimum temp overnight and the max by day? Does the enclosure get direct sun? Does it have plenty of shady, cool places if it's hot?

What are you feeding and how much? Do you use any supplements (vitamins, calcium, etc)?

If your tort is not eating, it is vital that it is hydrated. You must not rely on it to soak itself. A good 30 minute soak once a day could make all the difference. My soaking tips are here
 

wellington

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The answers to the above questions will helps us. The only thing I can say for now is that you should be soaking him every day or every other. It should not be left up to just the tort to do it themselves. People with large tortoises still soak them. You may also want to give him a baby food soak to see if that will help get him eating. Buy the baby food carrots, the puree kind and add to warm soaking water. Let him soak for at least 30 min, even longer, just keep him warm. Good luck, hope all goes well.
 

Mojo's Mom

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JoesMum said:
If you have a tort that is potentially not eating, there is a problem, but not necessarily something that will send you to the vet. If you can supply the answers to a whole string of questions, we may be able to help :)

Are there any physical symptoms of inactivity, a runny nose, changes to the eyes, softness of the shell, etc? Photos will help us :)

Can you describe your enclosure please (pictures will help). Is it indoors or outdoors?

If indoors, what are the temps under the basking lamp, warm end, cool end and overnight minimum? Is there a UVB source?

If outdoors, what is the minimum temp overnight and the max by day? Does the enclosure get direct sun? Does it have plenty of shady, cool places if it's hot?

What are you feeding and how much? Do you use any supplements (vitamins, calcium, etc)?

If your tort is not eating, it is vital that it is hydrated. You must not rely on it to soak itself. A good 30 minute soak once a day could make all the difference. My soaking tips are here

The symptoms of no physical activity? Could you maybe tell me what I'm looking for? No soft shell, no runny nose. He sleeps most of the time actually, and when I pick him up to check on him he has like a line of moistness around his eyes, but I'm probably a little blurry eyed after a nap too.:)


Lighting: 100 watt red heat lamp that stays on at all times, 26 watt day light that turns off at night
Substrate: ZooMed Repti Bark 100% fir, best for animals that love humidity (that's what it said on the bag)
Temp: 75-80 degrees in the spot farthest away from the heat lamp, need to pay more attention to the other ones (sorry I know I'm a bad at keeping track of those)
Humidity: Low 40's to high 50's, sometimes low 60's, been trying to get better percentage or whatever
Tank Size: I don't remember the gallons and already threw away the box, but the website had a similar one, the closest 36" L x 18" W x 24" H, it is glass with a screen lid

Going to get outside up soon and will watch if he enjoys it and is more active (did I already say this??? Kinda tired), also going to take him out tommorow.

(This is the basic things in a meal offering) I feed him some lettuce, a little carrot, celery every once in a while (very, very little), broccolli (sp?) and califlower every once ina while, some type of fresh fruit. It depends every night on what I put in there. Recently experimented with rose petals (no pesticides or anything, he didn't even look at them). It fills up about half a sandwhich bag to a fourth, depending on the size of some stuff. I recently started suppling calcuim and some vitamins once a week, because I found out that he needed them from this website. He hasn't had any though because of the NOT EATING problem. I was thinking about making some puree stuff myself for a soak and adding some calcuim to the puree.

I soaked him tonight in some room temp fresh bottled water (it was actually fairly warm, but not too warm) it was for about fifteen to twenty minutes, it was a fight to keep him in that long.Drank once or twice when I first put him in and at the very end pooped. Wasn't hungry after it even though I offered food immediately afterwords, and put it in the cage with him.

Here is my schedule tommorow for him:

Give him a shorter regular soak in the morning, offer some food and either take him outside or get his pen up and take him out. Then give him a puree soak in the early afternoon. Might toss in a very short regular soak before bedtime.

If someone would tell me step by step how to get a picture up would help me because I have tried and it either doesn't work or I do something wrong. He looks normal and just the same as he does in my avatar thingy.

Thank you for your help everyone.

Also, he was very active after the soak tonight and during it.
 

Mojo's Mom

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He ate some blueberries!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Okay, so after soaking him three times and offering some food after each, on the third time he tore into the blueberries, and I think he ate the lettuce. I caught him soaking, and he is way more active after going outside for a while.

Am so happy!

Thank you everybody! :D
 
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