Horsefield always buried
 

My horsefield tortoise spends most of his time buried in his table and I wondered if that was normal. My brother, who's had tortoises for years said he could be too hot. The temp on his table is 25 at one end and between 28 and 30 at the other. He is eating as normal

Well Horsefields are a bit different from other tortoises in that they like to dig burrows in the wild so he's probably happy with the substrate and doing what he likes.As long as he's coming out to eat and walk around.Make sure you keep him hydrated though and spray the substrate regularly

In the wild Horsfields are only active something like 3 months out of a year. I wouldn't worry, as Shellonia has said, as long has he is eating and gaining a little weight.

This makes interesting reading :D

http://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/publipdf/2003/LGCE134.pdf

Ah, that's good then :) he's mostly up in the mornings so I feed him about half 7 so he doesn't miss it.

at the hot end, is that temp taken on the soil directly below the bulb? i.e. direct heat on the thermometer from the bulb, not just taken in the general area of the hot end

My horsefield is doing the same. She just digs down and sleeps. Her basking lamp comes on at 6am, i feed her at 7am and she is asleep. When i get home from work at 5pm she asleep, i have to wake her for a bath.

Most of her food is gone but its been weeks since she cleared her plate. I asked my wife to check on her one day at around 10.30am, and she said she was having a wonder around.

This behaviour has been going on for a couple of months now, she does it regardless of being in her table or outside.

Before she was quite active and used to trot around for hours.

I have been a bit worried myself. I even bought a new combi bulb.

I think the younger horsfields are much more shy. I have a 3 year old who buries herself often and sometime spends a whole day in bed, wheras my 20+ year old is up at 7am on the dot eating, then its a rampage around the garden and always looking for human interaction.

caledonia - that temp is in the area to the side of the bulb not directly under it.

Am glad I'm not the only one, makes me feel less worried. I'm not sure how old he is but my brother has a 2 year old and it's quite a bit bigger. He does wander around a bit and if he's up and I go over he looks at me and will walk over. I take him out in the garden sometimes for a wander round but don't have any safe way for him to stay out there and I'd worry about him being stolen or hurt

in that case it is most likely far too hot 8-)

the temperature always needs to be taken directly under the bulb on the substrate or the back of the tort - and the bulb should be pointing vertically down, not at an angle.

try getting the temps to 32c directly under the bulb by raising it higher. 30c in the area to the side of the bulb could mean 40-50c under it