Lethargic Tortoise

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oliver
Posts: 2
Joined: 13 Jul 2020, 11:21

Lethargic Tortoise

Post by oliver » 13 Jul 2020, 11:40

Hi

We have a tortoise that we inherited about 15 years ago. He is old as he was purchsed for my Dad when he was a child and we have continued looking after him in the same way that he has always been. He has a hutch in the garden and free reign of the garden and he even puts himself to bed at night! We bathe him occasionally and he eats the grass and we give him a fruit and vegetable diet. I know that this doesn't fit with how we look after tortoises now but we decided that radical changes to his care may be detrimental to him. He hibernates over winter and when he wakes we bathe him reguarly and use a vitamin supplement.
He has been fine this year and with the early hot weather has been around the garden as usual. The weather has dipped a bit recently and for the last couple of weeks he has slowed down and very rarely leaves the patio. He gets up, eats, rests and then goes back to bed, sometimes as early as 1pm. He was last weighed by the vets on 2017 and came in at 1.88 kilos. I have just weighed him and he is currently 1.98 kilos.
I wondered if anyone who had experience of older tortoises, imported into the country decades ago, could offer any advice?

Thank you


Oliver.

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Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Lethargic Tortoise

Post by Nina » 13 Jul 2020, 13:38

Hi Oliver and welcome to The Tortoise Table,

How wonderful to have an older tortoise -- especially when you think of all they have seen during their long lives! Do you know what species he is? Given his age he is probably a spur thigh, as they were one of the most common imported species back then, but if you don't know his species you can send us some photos (one looking down from above, one of his underside, and one side view of his head) we can get him ID'd for you.

Regarding his lethargy -- do you think he could just be reacting to the lower temperatures we've been having for the last couple of weeks (I'm assuming that you live in the UK)? How does he usually react if the temperature is lower? Tortoises are ectothermic (meaning their body heat is determined by the outside temperature), so when it is cooler they slow down and don't have a great appetite. If I remember corectly they need a temperature of 26C just to effectively digest their food, so the warmer the better. If this behaviour is out of character for him in cooler temperatures then we need to look further, but most tortoises slow down when the temperature drops. Does he have a source of heat that would enable him to warm up on a cool day?

Regarding his diet. As you say, if he is this age and has been eating fruit and vegetables all his life, they probably aren't doing him great harm -- it's just that many things -- especially fruit -- aren't really good for them. The reason fruit isn't good is because their digestive system doesn't cope well with the natural sugars in fruit (and tomatoes count as a fruit) and it can upset them. You could try just cutting down very, very gradually on the amount of fruit and veg (which ones do you feed most frequently?) and gradually add in small amounts of better food such as weeds and flowers like plantain, sowthistles, dandelions. campanula, evening primrose (not ordinary primroses), pansies, etc., which are better for him. You can always look up any plant on the database on our website to see if it is an appropriate feed, and you can use the filter tool to create lists of good plants to feed.

Finally -- the most important question -- what is his name? :D

Cheers,
Nina

oliver
Posts: 2
Joined: 13 Jul 2020, 11:21

Re: Lethargic Tortoise

Post by oliver » 29 Jul 2020, 13:49

Hi Nina

Thank you for your reply and advice. I think that it was an extreme reaction to the change in weather. He always does ita little but this time was very different - maybe it was a lock down low!

His name is Joey and he is back to normal now but we are bathing him more regularly as he seems to be enjoying it a bit more than in the past. We have cut a little of the fruit out of his diet but where do people get wild flowers from for their tortoises to eat? Presumably just pick them locally?

Regards


Oliver.
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lin
Posts: 1034
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:27

Re: Lethargic Tortoise

Post by lin » 29 Jul 2020, 14:43

Hi Oliver.
What a beauty Joey is, and we are so pleased he is now up and running again.
Regarding the wildflowers...Yes, there are plenty of dandelion flowers and sow thistle, Bristly ox tomgue and namy other wild flowers (some call them weeds) in flower right now. You do have to make sure that where they are sourced from has not been sprayed by anyone with anything. We would usually find them in our own gardens or a family member or neighbour just to be sure. Woods are also a good place to look.

Lin

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lin
Posts: 1034
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:27

Re: Lethargic Tortoise

Post by lin » 02 Sep 2020, 21:27

Hi Phi0
I am very sorry but I have deleted your post by mistake. Feel free to post again.

Lin

Phi0
Posts: 1
Joined: 02 Sep 2020, 16:12

Re: Lethargic Tortoise

Post by Phi0 » 10 Dec 2020, 16:12

lin wrote:
> Hi Phi0
> I am very sorry but I have deleted your post by mistake. Feel free to post
> again.
>
> Lin
thanks, couldn't understand what's going on.
wanted to ask guys what you can update since then? thanks

User avatar
Nina
Posts: 2003
Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Lethargic Tortoise

Post by Nina » 10 Dec 2020, 18:03

Hi Phi0
What sort of updates were you looking for? Really sorry your post got deleted in error. We had a lot of spam posted at one point, and were deleting those and your genuine post got caught in the middle and deleted accidentally. I don't think we've heard any more from Oliver since that last post in July.

Nina

Phi0 wrote:
> lin wrote:
> > Hi Phi0
> > I am very sorry but I have deleted your post by mistake. Feel free to post
> > again.
> >
> > Lin
> thanks, couldn't understand what's going on.
> wanted to ask guys what you can update since then? thanks

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