thanks for the vet clinic!
how long should i have the heat on for? currently its on for 12 hours a day, when its not on the temp in the viv reduces to around 20-25 going down as low as 18 on a cold night. i know this is rather low but i thought it was best to have some natural fluctuation in her temperatures.

is it worth worming her anyway? i work all day long so find it hard to go to the vets - obviously if its something i shouldnt do at home then i wont! she's just done a poo and it seemd firm but slightly moist haha cant believe i've just been analysing ivy's poo just after my tea! i think she was bred in this country, although the reptile place i bought her from still hasnt sent me the docs (is this normal after 4 months?! - it may be an honest mistake , otherwise im going to report them!)

she has a separate uv light which is on 12 hours a day also - although she has a tendency to hide under her log most of the time and sleep there so i remove the log when i get in from work so i know that she is getting at least 3 hours uv. maybe this is not enough?

Your temps are fine... there should be a drop at night, mine go as low as 10degs sometimes (tables in the conservatory). 12 hours is good for the lights to be on.

You could worm her yourself but if she's off it and not eating so well a vet check would be worthwhile.

__________________

hi i have a hermans who was hatched in 2006,
he lives in a table top which is open they also need a u.v light a heat lamp which should be on about 12 hours a ay then a night time a heat mat. take all hides during the day that is why they sleep if they have somewere to hide they sleep and dont eat. they need to be active if she is still sleeping when u have done this keep bathing her to wake her up they must be awake and eating during the day. my tortise herbie and he did that for about 4 months now i have been to my local reptile shop and they told me herbie is now up and well and is awake all day from 9 in the morning and then i put is house in at 9 andd he sleeps until i wake up try this if it dont work take her to ur vet because it aint normal.

Hi Ellie to the forum.

The thing I'd worry about with taking out the hides in the day is that your tort doesn't have a shadey, cool area to escape to if he gets too hot.

__________________

hi i would get your tortoise wormed as a matter of course, also your keeping the temperatures to hot and i think too dry. this tortoise sounds like it is trying to aestivate until conditions improve, either your heat lamp is to close or your table is too small, either way a good temperature gradient would be 30c down to 20c opposite end to the basking light directly under the light can go as high as 35c but no more i have found that hermans are not the best tortoise for drinking in their bath although i would continue with them daily until things improve. make sure it has fresh water available in a dish or bowl it can climb in and out if itself mine are only fed weeds but as these dry out fairly quickly in a table top i soak mine before i put them on its slate for feeding. mine have lumps of fresh cuttlefish around the table that they chew on from time to time.

terry

thanks for that - i will try and see what she is like without the hide. do you think the reason she is hiding is because she is too hot and shading herself? or because she is too cold and keeping warm?

im tempted to try and worm her and then if that makes no difference then take her to the vets - what kind of product could i use?

oh how i wish tortoises could talk!

May be she/he isn't eating because they are too warm, especially as they are in a viv.

My Hermann's are in a tort table (first one was in a viv for a year and was much happier when I changed to a tort table). The basking light heat is 28-30C, the cool end of the tort table is whatever the room temp happens to be! So generally between 15-22C.

They have 12 hours UV and heat lamp and then they switch off. There is no heat for the night time as they are in the house, though I don't have central heating so my livingroom drops as low as 10C on very cold nights, and if I think it will be that cold I leave an electric radiator on. I would say as long as they are kept about 15C during the night they are fine, the temp does need to drop a fair bit at night time as it would in the wild.

Also if you are feeding T-Rex pellets do you think it could be the reason it is leaving the weeds? A bit like a kid who is fed too many burgers and chips won't eat veg!!! I only feed weeds to my torts.

By the way, one of my Hermann's was hatching in 2005 and only weighs 77g, so yours is quite big for it's age, once it is eating again I would be careful about how much you feed.

Try giving extra warm baths.... Don't me hot baths I mean hand warm but more often, a couple of times a day every day, or more if needed. If the tort drinks in the bath you could buy some Reptiboost to see if that perks it up a bit. Other than that I would suggest a good tort vet.

thanks for that, i think i will turn the temp down a little bit and see if that helps - she always seems much livelier when i bring her out into the lounge - which does happen to be a lower temperature so maybe that makes sense.

she has just eaten loads of those pellets literally 5 mins ago so i think you have a point there - i'll leave off them for a while - i know they're not good - they were a last resort as she wasnt eating leaves - it didnt occur to me that may be why she's not eating weeds!

im going to buy some wild flower seeds from that shelledwarriors shop to add a bit of variety to her weeds.

that gives me piece of mind to know shes not underweight - how heavy are other peoples tortoises just out of interest?