tortoise barely eating !!

[issyjward]

i’ve had my 15 year old male in an indoor enclosure since he woke up from hibernation on march 2nd. it’s too cold for him to be outside right now in the UK, but during the summer he lives in the garden full time. lately i’ve noticed he's not eating much at all ! i’ve been offering him his favourite foods to encourage him but he might just have a few bites and then trample through it he has tortoise safe plants (campanula and violas) planted in his enclosure too for grazing but i haven’t seen him touch them, which he definitely would have if he was outside !! also, since he hasn’t eaten much, he’s only pooed twice since waking up. i took him to the vet to have a check up and mentioned all these things but she wasn’t too concerned, especially once i said that he gets long daily soaks and if frequently urinating and passing urates. still, i don’t think this is entirely normal ?? in summer he usually eats a whole tray of food, plus additional weeds and plants while grazing.

his enclosure is on the smaller side but is well equipped with the arcadia T5 uv tube kit, arcadia 100W floodlight bulb, plants like i mentioned, a hide where he sleeps, and temperatures maintained throughout (cool side: 18-20°, warm side: 29-32°).

what am i doing wrong ??

 

[issyjward]

BTW: please note that i usually do not just feed pellets alone ! just gave him that today to try and get him to eat as he usually devours them

 

[TammyJ]

@Littleredfootbigredheart
@Alex and the Redfoot

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hey friend! I do see some potential things you can try here, I think your overall ambient temperature could do with be higher during the day, ideally the cooler end sitting around 23c, to do this you could probably do with looking into a cover for your enclosure, this will greatly help maintaining your heat during colder months, make sure temp is reaching 35c directly under the basking bulb.

I would try adding some ambient lighting, with the uv timing, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv, which I’m guessing is how yours is currently set up for your day and night cycle. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity. Whilst not necessarily dangerous, it’s potentially annoying to the tortoise to have 12hours on uv in the enclosure.
The right uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle as well as the basking light on the same 12hrs, your ceramics(if needed) will run 24/7 on a thermostat, hope that all makes sense

This isn’t relevant to the specific issue, but I would consider switching out that substrate, repti soils like that tend to have sand mixed in, this poses both an impaction and irritant risk in captivity. Damp coco coir or orchid bark is best

I’m going to include some links below you’ll hopefully find useful to look through.

This thread covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc) correct levels, appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, and the tortoise table link

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! It would be great to figure out a way to offer more roaming in his indoor set up, this can definitely help with activity levels

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

Now that housing thread discusses an open top set up, which is fine for adult tortoises, but knowing how cold our uk winters get, they can really struggle keeping their temperates where needed, a cover can come in really handy for maintaining your heat, the most efficient closed set ups are melamine/pvc vivs. A place called Southdown aquatics actually does custom sized vivs in the uk If you’re ever considering an upgrade, but there’s lots of options in here

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

Hope this helps! Always feel free to ask more questions! And let me know if you ever need uk links to products