not eaten unaided for 2 years,help

[Nefertari]

Amelia if a spur thigh,, rescued from a life in a vivarium, she was put into hibernation over a very bad winter, I rescued her and she was very confused when I put her in the garden but I was not worried as I have 2 other rescue boys that were the same and over time they have grown to love the freedom and are very healthy but she wont eat unless I physically push it in her mouth. one vet just wanted to give her vitamin injections but she is weed fed with nutrabol ssupplements and has regular warm baths so I said no to that, took her to specilist vet who said it is almost definitely her liver, she now has a drop of milk thistle every day as well. I have been hand feeding her for 2 years now, I have to take her on holiday with me as well. she is in a tortoise table but does not move around much, she does if put her in the garden but that is just to hide, I have moved her to another garden away from the boys, no good, I have starved her for 2 weeks, no good, I am at my wits end, I adore her to bits but I want to go abroad this year but am so worried about leaving her, has anyone got any ideas, I am at the end of my tether.

[egyptiandan64]

Welcome to the forum

To get an idea of what's going on will have to ask a bunch of questions here goes
What are your temperatures in her table when inside, under basking lamp, warm end, cool end and over-night? How long are your lights on for? What kind of lights do you have? Are you physically opening her mouth and putting the food in or just holding it for her? What are you feeding her? Has she ever had an x-ray?

Danny

[Herpard]

Welcome to the forums.

i know this sounds odd, but have you tried feeding her without nutrobal on the food? some of my tortoises will refuse to eat with nutrobal on the food.

also have you tried just leaving the food for her to eat herself? it could be that she has become so used to being fed the way she has been for the past 2 years that its now the only way she knows how to eat.

a 10 year old hermann i inherited from my aunt and uncle had been that used to being hand fed that that was the only way she would eat, i finally got her out of it by rubbing cucumber juice all over the food, i was also hand feeding her close to the food and slowly released the food and she started eating the rest.

[burnt toast]

What are her eyes like? & where are you based ( wonder if someone could help you out whilst on holiday, I wouldnt mind)

[Gordon]

Originally Posted by burnt toast

What are her eyes like? & where are you based ( wonder if someone could help you out whilst on holiday, I wouldn't mind)

I was going to say are you sure she can see i have a very old male who is as blind as a bat who i have to hand feed every day he also doesn't move around much so might be an idea to have her eyes checked out

[Suze65]

Originally Posted by turnip

I was going to say are you sure she can see i have a very old male who is as blind as a bat who i have to hand feed every day he also doesn't move around much so might be an idea to have her eyes checked out

I also have a very old Herman , and he has very poor eye sight , and I have to help him a lot with his food, hand feeding and keep putting the food in front of him, because he loses it. Out on the garden he just wouldn't find it by himself.
It's possible this could be a reeson.

[zx4g]

Silly question, but can she move all 4 legs when she wants?, there are lots of members in many areas that might be willing to help you , what area are u in?

[Nefertari]

Ok, so many replies, thank you all so much, I will try to answer all the questions, firstly her eyes, the vet looked into them and could see no problem, she will walk around on the kitchen table when I am feeding her, in between bites which I have to push into her mouth, if I put an obstacle in front of her she will stop or turn away before she gets to it so I know she has some sight. I am based in Mildenhall in Suffolk.
She is weed fed with a spinkle of dried weeds when I cannot get any and its only supermarket salad stuff, but she is weed fed every day otherwise
She can move all 4 legs
I have tried without nutrabol and also left the food for her and she is not interested, have tried yellow foods such as sweetcorn with no luck. she has never had an xray. she has a basking lamp plus a uv lamp which I am just about to change bulbs, I dont know the temp, she sits under lamp and moves when to warm, she has a little house built in the table to go and cool of but she never uses it until bedtime, she will move to different parts of table to cool of.
The lamps go on around 10am and of at 4pm at the moment or when she goes into her house, hope I covered everything you asked if not ask again, i will do anything to help her, once again, thanks to you all

[pagan queen]

Try putting her back in her Viv.

[Suze65]

The only thing I can see from what you just said, is that if the lights go on at 10 am and go off at 4 pm, that's not long enough to convince her that its summer, and she will become less active and stop eating, the lights need to be on for 12 to 14 hrs a day. But other than that , I don't know, hopefully someone else will. Dan asked you what are the temps under the basking bulb and at the cooler end and at night , these will make a big difference to her behaviour .

One more idea, what is her beak like, does it need trimming? Could we see please?