temperature over night

[Paige Lewis]

I was after some advice. I was at the vets last week for a final check up appointment after 8 months oor so of recurring lower respiratory infections. Jimmy shoows little signs of infection until the infection is quite established but as I have seen it so much I can tell when an infection is coming on and I am quite happy that he is not getting an infection. The vet checked a stool sample and he had a very low number of parasites and sais as it is in such a low number and Jimmy is active he is happy not to treat as he has seen this many times in healthy tortoises. I then dwcided to stop keeping he as warm over night as I read that it helps prevent paraites flourishing, thee temperature might drop to 19 but the vet has aid this is fine for hermanns tortoises but when I don't keep him at 21/22 over night with the heating he won't get up the nnext day until really late. I have booked another vet appointment as I was worried this isn't nornal, so I am asking whether you think this is nortmal or whether I should go to thw vets. He is active the next day when kept warm over night so I am so confused and I would like.him to have a larger drop in temperature but then he goes inactive which is so dtrange so I am not sure what to do. Sorry about the essay and merry christmas everyone!

[Ozric Jonathan]

Hi Paige - what kind of temperature are you planning to have at nights? I agree that a drop makes sense but I find that anything below 15C on a regular basis has a slowing down effect on mine.

I don't know about lower temperatures helping to prevent parasites flourishing, but even if this is right, you don't have a parasite problem at the moment.

I think that 19C should be plenty warm enough for Jimmy to feel ready to go in the mornings once your lights come on. But if you are seeing a bit of slowing down in the mornings, this might not suggest a visit to the vet, as a lot of tortoises are slower this time of year.

Hope this helps a bit!

[Paige Lewis]

That is really helpful! Thank you so much for your reply, I have stopped putting the heating on at night and therefore the temperature has been dropping to 19 at the lowest, when u let it drop though it seems to cause him to slow downeven though it has only dropped by a few degrees and this does nit make sense to me. I just want to di whatis best by him and I am not sure whether to keep th vetsappointment or not, I was only there last Thursday and he was reallypleased with his progress, but I am concerned by the fact that he doesn seem to be dealing well
with a slight drop in temperature at night.

[Shelled Lady]

Well, I would suggest you don't drop the temperature at night. Use a loww infra red or ceramic bulb and keep it on a stat at about 20c but try and keep it on all night. Most houses drop lower than that when the CH is off. If your tortoise has had recurrent bouts of respiratory problems, keeping his body working even in sleep is going to help him keep well with a good immune system. Then in the summer, hopefully, he will be able to cope with being outdoors and proper hibernation next year.

[Paige Lewis]

Thank you for the reply, respiratory infections are no longer a problem, they were secondary to a fungal infections that we're believe he was getting due to the mold problem where I used to live, I have moved house and since then he has stopped getting the infections. I just don't understand why a slight drop in themperature even if it doesn"t go below 20 is causing him to slow down, if he has been used to being kept warm and then I have stopped doing that could it just be the change is affecting him? I have however started using the hearing overnight again and he is. Acting normal again.

[Shelled Lady]

Well done with keeping the heating on, I hope he will stay active.

[amils]

I am in agreeing with the shelled Lady. Will do no harm for temp to be what he likes. If not much of a difference in temp and big differences in behaviour of the tortoise then I would keep the temps at higher level.