Hi all (Help)
 

We are Paul and Kerry, We have Two 18 Month old Hermanns Tortoise's. Weve had them a week tomorrow but they are refusing to eat. Any Idea's what we can do.

We have given them Komodo Pellets with a variety of veggies including Lettuce Cabbage Carrot Spinach Beans Sprouts. We have also tried Grass and dried weeds from shelled warriors.

They are both lively and wonder around and have a warm bath every day, the temperature is correct too.

PLEASE HELP we are pulling our hair out and i havent got much left.

Thank you

Paul Kerry

Hi Paul & Kerry

Firstly welcome to Shelled Warriors.

It is not uncommon for tortoises not to eat during the settling in period, this could be upto 5-6 weeks (as advised by many others).

The fact they are both active is a good sign. :)

Can you advise what kind of set up you have, lighting and heating and what the temps are ?

Thanks

Sara

Hi Paul and Kerry, I've taken the liberty of moving your thread as I think it will get a better response here in the tortoise health section.

As Sara has said, they could still be settling in, some torts do this straight away, others can take weeks.

Do you know what sort of diet your torts were on before? You've only had them a week, were they kept in a viv or tort table before, and what are they in now?

Sorry for all the questions but it helps build a better picture

Hi Paul and Kerry,

Welcome to Shelled Warriors.

The previous posters are right, you need to keep them well hyhdrated especially when they are not eating, have you got them a basking lamp and UV light source?

All questions are good here to help us to assist you with your concerns.

Thank you for all your response's.

Here goes, We brought Charlie & Lola from our local petshop so we have no idea what their diet was before the shop had them, but the shop had shredded Lettuce, Cabbage and Carrot in the food dish, we also do not know if they have been wormed so we are taking them to the Vet tomorrow to have this done and a general health check.

Their setup is an open top plastic encloser (like what is used for a guineapig) with white plastic tray bottom, it is 3' x 2'. We have a 3' UVB Light and a basking lamp with a ceramic heat bulb. There is a heat pad under one of the hideouts, which is the other end to the basking lamp. We have a digital thermostat to set day and night temperature, day temp is 33 degrees under the basking lamp and 24 degrees on the cooler side. On a night it is 21 under the lamp and about 17 on the cooler side.

We have tried cabbage, carrot, lettuce, broccolli, tomato, beans, baby corn, chicory and also strawberries, apple and grapes. Also Komodo complete tortoise diet, cucumber and dandelion flavours. We use Reptivite ontop of their food.

We give them a warm bath outside of their enclosure and we have noticed that when we put them back in, Lola will then go into their cool bath and then walk across their food dishes, covering their food with the tortoise life substrate that we use on the floor, which is a sand. She will do this several times and then go to bed without eating. Charlie will go straight to bed after his bath.

The top half of their enclosure has clear plastic sides and they do try to climb up to look out. Could this cause distress?

They are very active, during the day they are constantly in and out of their hideouts and Lola has eaten abit of apple and grape this morning but we haven't seen Charlie eat anything yet.

Think this covers everything. Sorry for the essay.

Hiya Paul and Kerry,, i am no expert myself but try giving them a bit of grated butternut sqush,my friday loves it and im sure he can smell it to, i tend to rub the baby leaf salad on the butternut so it has the sweet taste on there, hope this might help,, even put a bit onthe end of a leaf and try hand feeding,

:D yes they do that when in a huff. Some of the items you are offering are not really what they eat (bean sprouts and grapes are not really good I think) but some of them take weeks to settle down and start eating.

Also if the temperature is too low they will be reluctant to eat (or too high probably too). Bagged salad that contains raddichio and other lettuce leaves but not stuff like beetroot or spinach is what most people use in winter and some folks use pellets twice a week. The salad should be sprinkled with your Reptivite though Nutrobal is more suitable for young torts really.

Romaine lettuce is another one that is okay. None of the salad stuff contains much nutrition which is why supplements need put on.

To get them started eating it's often worth trying a bit of strawberry or cucumber but only to get them started not as a daily food once they get going.

In the spring lots of weeds will be available for them to be fed.

Limestone flour should be given and cuttlefish bone.

BTW, soak any pellets you use first

I am not an expert at all..only had my tortoise for 8 weeks, but when I 1st got him he refused to eat for ages and kick started him by giving him flat lettuce, he now eats anything and everything in sight.

Your temperatures sound fine, I would use a normal household bulb instead of a ceramic heat emitter, it gives off more light. The heat mat is not really needed, Its perfectly normal and good for hermann tortoises temperature to drop overnight, down to 10C, Check out the foods others feed their tortoises, hermanns do well on garden weeds, I know at the moment its difficult to get these, so bagged salad such as florette crispy is not a bad alternative. Tortoises take time to get used to change, so if they are active and bright eyed then just give them time.