lne927
New Member
Hello all. I've had my guy Pistachio for about 8-9 months. And everything has been fine this whole time.
The last 4 days he ate nothing, just a very sudden stop. Normally he eats like a small horse.
Some notes:
This is a Male Tortoise I got from an online breeder.
The breeder said he was only 4 months old, I suspect he was much older .
He had some very slight pyramiding when I got him, and that hasnt increased or decreased at all.
He is now much heavier, I have no accurate way to weigh him, but he is noticeably heavier then he used to be when I got him. Overall very solid and heavy.
Tank Details:
Tank : is 4 1/2 feet long 3 feet wide With Heat Lamp, and UVB Light.
Substrate: 80% coconot Coir 20% play sand
Temps :
Bask spot - 96-99
Hot side 83-88
cool side 68-73
Behavior: Normally is up by time im up around 8am, padding around or sitting in bask spot. Generally stays fairly active, sleeps for a few hours at a time then will get up and go back for second or even third helpings of food before going to sleep for the night. Normally gives me Huge poops and a lot of pee!
Behavior as of the last few days : Spends all day sleeping on the cool side of the tank, most of the time he buries himself under his shelter and does not move at all. Though he seems fairly active when I take him out for his bath.
Diet: As of recently collard greens and Kale have been a staple. Very occasionally a chopped up , small slice of apple. I use TNT supplment from carolina pet supply 3 times a week found here .
http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/ca...id=752&zenid=8c7ff9844f45709244d18329f950d25d
Since his problem came up ive read that collard greens can be an " anti Nutrient" to them, so ive stopped and switched to Red leaf lettuce and Escarole as the store bought staple - and I throw in some Dandelion, Clover, Hossa I have in my yard as well.
But he just doesn't wanna eat, because he isnt eatting, he also isnt pooping or peeing.
How I care for him : Every morning around 10-11 I take him out to give him a 20 minute warm bath, I have done this every day since I got him with out fail. Every day he also pees and poops a lot. I cant keep his tank very humid. I try to cover the cage top with foil to keep the Humidity in as much as possible but my humidty guage never really goes above 50 %. So I make sure his food is wet when he eats it, I spray his substrate and give him a daily bath.
-------------------------------
Concerns and thoughts:
1. The new behavior, sleeping all day on the cool side is weird for him .
2. On day 2 I was worried, I hand fed him some apple which he very happily gobbled up. At the same time I tricked him by showing him apple and quickly put some greens in his mouth several times as a way to hopefully activate that eating instinct.
3. On Day 3 he pooped, I saw pieces of apple skin which I know they cant digest very well, but also a few pieces of greens. I am not sure if its because I fed it to him at the same time, that the apples and greens didnt get digested very well. Or Im not sure if he has an overall digestive problem.
4. Thought he might be impacted, but was able to force feed him just a little bit, he was being very stubborn, and he is pooping what he eats, albeit very small poops. But I think his colon is clear. Occasionally ill catch him take a bite at his substrate which is 80% co co coir, but does contain some sand which is an impaction risk.
(When the weather warms up more I was planning on dumping his whole substrate and go with a 60/40 mix of coir and top soil )
5. Now that I think of it he did kind of slow down his eating habbits before stopping. Their were a few days where he eat less than usual and than none at all. But once he went to nothing at all thats when I noticed his preference for the cool side of the tank. Is this hibernation behavior?
I keep his lights on 13 hours a day, all year long, and its approaching summer now it'd be a weird time to start hibernating.
---------------------------------------------
What do you guys think?
suggestions?
possible reasons why he made a very sudden stop to eating?
The last 4 days he ate nothing, just a very sudden stop. Normally he eats like a small horse.
Some notes:
This is a Male Tortoise I got from an online breeder.
The breeder said he was only 4 months old, I suspect he was much older .
He had some very slight pyramiding when I got him, and that hasnt increased or decreased at all.
He is now much heavier, I have no accurate way to weigh him, but he is noticeably heavier then he used to be when I got him. Overall very solid and heavy.
Tank Details:
Tank : is 4 1/2 feet long 3 feet wide With Heat Lamp, and UVB Light.
Substrate: 80% coconot Coir 20% play sand
Temps :
Bask spot - 96-99
Hot side 83-88
cool side 68-73
Behavior: Normally is up by time im up around 8am, padding around or sitting in bask spot. Generally stays fairly active, sleeps for a few hours at a time then will get up and go back for second or even third helpings of food before going to sleep for the night. Normally gives me Huge poops and a lot of pee!
Behavior as of the last few days : Spends all day sleeping on the cool side of the tank, most of the time he buries himself under his shelter and does not move at all. Though he seems fairly active when I take him out for his bath.
Diet: As of recently collard greens and Kale have been a staple. Very occasionally a chopped up , small slice of apple. I use TNT supplment from carolina pet supply 3 times a week found here .
http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/ca...id=752&zenid=8c7ff9844f45709244d18329f950d25d
Since his problem came up ive read that collard greens can be an " anti Nutrient" to them, so ive stopped and switched to Red leaf lettuce and Escarole as the store bought staple - and I throw in some Dandelion, Clover, Hossa I have in my yard as well.
But he just doesn't wanna eat, because he isnt eatting, he also isnt pooping or peeing.
How I care for him : Every morning around 10-11 I take him out to give him a 20 minute warm bath, I have done this every day since I got him with out fail. Every day he also pees and poops a lot. I cant keep his tank very humid. I try to cover the cage top with foil to keep the Humidity in as much as possible but my humidty guage never really goes above 50 %. So I make sure his food is wet when he eats it, I spray his substrate and give him a daily bath.
-------------------------------
Concerns and thoughts:
1. The new behavior, sleeping all day on the cool side is weird for him .
2. On day 2 I was worried, I hand fed him some apple which he very happily gobbled up. At the same time I tricked him by showing him apple and quickly put some greens in his mouth several times as a way to hopefully activate that eating instinct.
3. On Day 3 he pooped, I saw pieces of apple skin which I know they cant digest very well, but also a few pieces of greens. I am not sure if its because I fed it to him at the same time, that the apples and greens didnt get digested very well. Or Im not sure if he has an overall digestive problem.
4. Thought he might be impacted, but was able to force feed him just a little bit, he was being very stubborn, and he is pooping what he eats, albeit very small poops. But I think his colon is clear. Occasionally ill catch him take a bite at his substrate which is 80% co co coir, but does contain some sand which is an impaction risk.
(When the weather warms up more I was planning on dumping his whole substrate and go with a 60/40 mix of coir and top soil )
5. Now that I think of it he did kind of slow down his eating habbits before stopping. Their were a few days where he eat less than usual and than none at all. But once he went to nothing at all thats when I noticed his preference for the cool side of the tank. Is this hibernation behavior?
I keep his lights on 13 hours a day, all year long, and its approaching summer now it'd be a weird time to start hibernating.
---------------------------------------------
What do you guys think?
suggestions?
possible reasons why he made a very sudden stop to eating?
Last edited: