Are they sleeping too much?

[diybellydancer]

Hello all,

Newbie here, and I have had a good look through the threads, so forgive me if this is already covered.

I have two hatchlings, born in July. We have owned them for about 6 weeks, but in all that time, they have seemed to sleep pretty much all day.

I wake them in the evening, and give them a lukewarm bath, and then they have a good feed, but as soon as they are finished eating, they head off and bury themselves again. All in all, they are probably only awake for about 30 minutes.

Is this normal / ok?

Cheers

DBD

[Bindi]

Could you tell us a little about their set-up?

What are the temperatures:
Under basking spot
At the cool end
Ambient and overnight temps

Also, how long do you have their lights on for?

[diybellydancer]

Hi Bindi,

Sorry, first post was a little vague.

They are in a tortoise table that I have made. No photo's at the mo, as I'm at work, but I'll get a couple for later on. Its about 120cm long by 60 wide, and kept in our living room, which is maintained at 19 deg c when we are out and 21 deg c when we are in.

I have a combined UV / heat lamp, which keeps the basking temperature at around 30 deg c, whith the temp dropping the further away from the lamp you get (obviously). There is also a seperate room for the torts to go and hide in should they wish to, however they very rarely use it. The lamp is on a timer, from 0800 in the morning to 2100 at night.

They seem to be eating well, and I am weighing and measuring them every week. They seem to be roughly correct for the jackson scale, however, its quite difficult to tell when they are so little, both at 39mm long at the mo.

Hope this helps.

DBD

[TillyTortoise]

Hmm.. Interesting.. Your ambient temps are fine but your basking temp could be a little higher around 32-35c. Even a few degrees make a big difference.
Other people may have some other suggestions

[diybellydancer]

Just got home and taken photo's of the setup, only to find i can't post attachments yet. I'm too new!!

I will try moving the lamp lower, to raise the temp. Hopefully this will work.

I just wasn't sure if it was because they were hatchlings, and that's what they do?

[michelle g]

As they are so young they will sleep quite abit, they are like babies....eat, sleep, poop, cause trouble, sleep, poop

They will tend to bask and sleep after a belly full of food so if you are only feeding them after getting in from work they will then go for a sleep and if this is in the evening they will just sleep through as the lights will go off.

You could try changing your routine abit - feeding and bathing them in the morning so they sleep it off while you work and may be more active by the time you get home, or if you are up and off to early (I used to have this problem when I worked fulltime)then leave them some food before you go and then bathe when you get home. You could split the food into 2 feedings...morning and evening so that you get to see them eat, which is to cute to miss!!!

It can be abit frustrating have baby torts and working fulltime as they do sleep abit more at that age...it wont last forever and you will find a routine that makes it work for you all!

[Bindi]

Your temps could be fractionally low, as Tillytortoise has said, a couple of degrees makes all the difference to activity levels.

I have a little hatchling also born in July and he does sleep alot but he also has a period of activity during the day, eats basks etc.

I'd try dropping your lamp a little to up the basking temp to about 32, and to be honest the room they're kept in could do with being about 21 degrees during the day. You may find if the ambient room temps are a little higher you won't have to drop the basking lamp

[diybellydancer]

Thanks all for the help.

I am going to raise the temperature and I'll report back to let you know if there's any change.

DBD

[em7070]

My little Lola hatched in September this year and she's always sleeping lol! She's an active thing when she's awake and does eat healthily, explore etc. I think maybe its the 'inner-baby' as she is ever so lazy in the mornings and evenings!

[diybellydancer]

Well, slightly delayed follow up, but..

Basking temperature was raised to 34-35 degrees. There was no change in activity for a couple of weeks, with me still having to wake the pair of them every day.

Then, I came home from work a week before christmas and they were both basking under the light. Since that day, they have both woken about half an hour after the light comes on in the morning, and stay out until about an hour before the light goes off at night. Fluffy has taken the digital thermometer as her home, and has made a nice hole underneath it, while Rockstar always sleeps in the purpose built hide I made for them both.

They now seem so contented and into a routine, its hard to see why I was worried about them previously. I presume it just takes them a while to settle into a new home.

Thanks again for the help!

DBD