sleepy tortoise

[animalmad]

Hi,
my 5 year old male tortoise is always very sleepy. He has been wormed and checked via wormcount and is clear,
fed on weeds and occasional strawberry bits and cucumber
temps are 22 in cool end and 34 ish in warm end, he has a UV lamp,
he gets limestone flour on weeds 5days a week and nutrobal on the other 2 days,
he lives in a converted indoor rabbit cage/tort table which is in my greenhouse so has lots of natural light, so he knows day and night,
he has 2-3 baths a week and is weeing and pooing ok,,

any ideas why he is so lasy......even in his outdoor enclosure he is the same wonders around for about 3 minutes and then takes himself off to sleep in a shady hide?

i hear alot of people on here talk about torts wrecking their tables and stomping around but im worried as Tim doesnt seem to do this, I want some stomping!

the only time he seems more active are on very hot days

[JoesMum]

From what you've said, your temperatures are not as what you think.

Get yourself a temperature gun (around £20 from Amazon) as that will accurately record temperatures.

There are 4 important ones:
1. Under the basking lamp... id you don't have a basking lamp, get one... 35C directly underneath it.
2. warm end
3. Cool end
4. Overnight minimum

[animalmad]

Originally Posted by JoesMum

From what you've said, your temperatures are not as what you think.

Get yourself a temperature gun (around £20 from Amazon) as that will accurately record temperatures.

There are 4 important ones:
1. Under the basking lamp... id you don't have a basking lamp, get one... 35C directly underneath it.
2. warm end
3. Cool end
4. Overnight minimum

yes i have a basking light and it is 35 underneath it, measured by a digital thermometer, there is also an exo terra thermometor on the side of the table in about the middle and reads around 22degrees but obviously hotter in the day if the suns out but, obviously if its a nice day he is outside anyway, but it doesn't seem to make any difference to his sleeping habits

[JoesMum]

If he's only active on the hotter days, it still implies the temperatures are not what you think they are.

You need to double check with a different thermometer. The heat gun is the most accurate.

[animalmad]

ok great, thanks i'll try that then

[kkenny]

cant think of anything else to change except do you take him out much? he might be the type that is only happy outside in natural sunlight.

Or is your enclosure too small ? He could be bored.

I have assumed he lives alone? Noone is bullying him in there?

[animalmad]

Yes he lives alone, x

[yuna1971]

What is the wattage of your bulb?? And type - ie Is it a normal spot bulb or do you have a combined heat + UVB bulb (mercury vapour bulb)?
If you have a separate basking bulb and strip..how old is the strip?

Other than this I would tend to lean to what Joesmum has said. Although we have had some warm spells..there have been some really dull days. I presume he gets outdoors??
If the area where he's housed is darkened - be it poor light quality (say real rainy days, windy, cloudy) and if the positioning is in a darkened duller area of the greenhouse (say that a tree overhangs it?) then again the light quality might play a factor.
If his hide or the table itself is a little dark then he might not be stirred into activity..by poor light quality alone.
Put that together with a cooler bad weather type day...then it could be in those areas that need some looking at. I agree that an infrared thermometer will be better suited to double check the temps. xx