Hecate not eating much

[jumblebee]

In the last few days Hecate has hardly eaten anything and has been sleeping a lot.

The temperatures haven't changed - still 32 and 20 in the day, 17 overnight, and I've been offering a variety of foods but she's generally only eaten a few bites. She's not been totally inactive but hasn't been stomping around quite as much, and she's generally been digging down to go to sleep after a couple of hours. I've been digging her back up again a couple of times a day, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what might be wrong?

[emma_mcraf]

The daytime hours are changing and if Hecate is in her table more, is she getting plenty of light? They do tend to start slowing down a little at this time of year.
Are you planning on hibernating or overwintering her? If you're going to overwinter, you need to ensure that she has good light levels through the day as well as the managing the temperatures.

The other thing to consider is whether she may have worms. A simple worm test might be a good idea. Wormcount.com are very good.

[jumblebee]

I have a UV strip which is on the same length of time as the basking lamp and her table is adjacent to a window which gets light in in the afternoon, but it has been pretty miserable weather here recently so perhaps she's sensed a change in the amount of natural light?

I was planning on over wintering her this year, I know they can hibernate even when they're babies but as a new owner I thought it would be best to wait a year while I learn everything else before tackling hibernation! Do they tend to eat less and sleep more over winter even if they aren't hibernating?

Thank you for the suggestions, will also try a worm test. She conveniently decided to scoff down more than she had been recently not long after I posted this message yesterday! But has only had a few bites again today.

I am a bit of a worry wart, I just really want to make sure I'm doing the best for her!

[egyptiandan64]

17C might be to low for her at night to make her want to be active during the day. Might want to try to keep her at 20C overnight and see how that goes.

Danny

[sandy]

Originally Posted by jumblebee

In the last few days Hecate has hardly eaten anything and has been sleeping a lot.

The temperatures haven't changed - still 32 and 20 in the day, 17 overnight, and I've been offering a variety of foods but she's generally only eaten a few bites. She's not been totally inactive but hasn't been stomping around quite as much, and she's generally been digging down to go to sleep after a couple of hours. I've been digging her back up again a couple of times a day, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what might be wrong?

Try using a timer (if not already doing so) and set it to come on earlier in the morning, when the light is brighter, and then turn off at whatever time they go to bed.
My small tortoises that are inside, get the heat switched on at 7am, and it goes off around 4pm as that's when the light dips here in my part of Kent, and they are off to bed. And show no signs if slowing down.
My temps here in my house drop to around 10c-12c at night, and they get up no problem.

[alley cat]

Something I have been doing with my hatchling table is to move the lamp each day so as to create slightly varying temps, this is easy for me to do as it is a clamp one on a pole so I just move it up or down a little and it is surprising how much this can effect the temps.
I seem to have some babies that get up and stomp all day and others that I drag out each morning for a soak then they have a nibble and go back into hiding, so I guess they all vary and some are just more active than others, having said all that, because Hecate was ok and now isnt then maybe some twerking of the temps is required!