Something has just clicked in my head. Balders stopped eating soon after she went on the drops. I have to drop the antibiotics into the nostrel. Do you think this could be related or just a conincidence?

Well I feed mine as much variety as possible,everyone has different ideas and everyone believes different things but one thing is for sure a wide variety of different foods is best,especially for redfoots.Mine have plenty of weeds and salad leaves throughout the week,never iceberg though.Once a week I give them chopped defrosted prawns (you can buy a small tub from the supermarket and freeze them and take one or two out and defrost when needed so they don't have to be in the fridge smelling or you can buy a small bag already frozen) with plenty of calcium powder added,mash them up or chop up small bits and add calcium powder (not nutrabol) for some reason mine will not touch anything with nutrabol on so I have changed to Reptivite.On the prawns I just use calypso pure calcium powder mixed well in.Twice a week they have fruit of all different kinds but nothing acidic,Once a week they have soaked and drained T-Rex pellets (which they love) Once a week I give them two or three waxworms each they love waxworms too.The rest of the time they eat weeds and salad leaves.There are other things you can give and try also,Blazingtorts might tell you some of the foods they feed.

How long has he been on the anti-biotics for then Lee? Since mid April when you first took him to the vet? I'm really confused now as it seems a long time to be on a course of anti-biotics... or did you not start him on them until you came back off your holiday?

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Can the antibiotics taken his way affect the gut flora? I have no experience of antibiotics but it seems fair that she might be off her food during treatment. How long has she been on them and how long is left to go?

What percentage of her weight has she lost?

The moving around could upset her for a few days. Then the boost of real natural light could also really perk her up. Stick with your diet rather than the chenolia groups. More natural stuff.

If she is poorly/undergoing treatment you might be looking for something to giver her a boost. Mushrooms, red fruit and red lettuce. Get a couple of prawns from your mum or whoever likes them. Remember to give them a good rinse to reduce salt if they have been frozen. You might get nutrobal in her this way but I'd just try plain first. If you pm me your address I can stick a few of my fat cats diet cat biscuits in the post for you to try rather then having to invest in a big bag. A couple of my adults have a keen taste for cat poo and cat biscuits. The little ones might get a sprinkle of crushed biscuit on wet lettuce (maybe on something else in your case) now and again when I think about it. I don't know about cat biscuits vs the developed tortoise pellet diets though.

The vet said the course is three weeks/until the bottle runs out. I started them around mid April so thats until about now. He said you cant really measure a drop so this bottle will last approx 3 weeks. I still have a fair bit to go. I did stop the drops for a few days last week and I noticed she wasnt as perky. Back on the drops and she perked up.

She has lost about 14%. Im picking some mushrooms up tonight and the prawns. I just give her some peas carrots and sweetcorn. She ate one piece of corn and went for a wander around my room instead.
Speaking of fat cats my sister is a health freak and has diet cat biscuits, So ill get some of them tomoz. Cheers for the offer though, thats very decent of you :o)
Ive read many times to stay away from these cat biscuits etc..thats why I have never bothered.

Can anyone tell me what the recommended treatment for herpes is? Its strange that the diagnosis was made but no tests done (we seem to have established that the vet was a specialist and that certain tests are required for such a diagnosis).

Have a look at this article it covers treatment:

Tortoise Trust Web - Herpes Virus Infection Associated with Lymphoma in Testudo hermanni .

What concerns me is that Lee doesn't know for sure that Balders has herpes as no tests have been done.

Also, Lee - do you realise that once a tort has had herpes that they will always be carriers and should be kept alone or in herpes groups?

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This is exactly what happend at the vets. Im not bad mouthing him if anyone knows him, this is as it went:
Take her in. he picks her up by her shell. Has a look into her nose with a magnifying glass, and shows me her nose is blocked up. he then goes to her eyes and shows me she has a nick on her eye lid, he said prob from the Reptibark/orchid bark. He then got this little machine out and listened to her breathing. She sounded like Darth Vader. He said that her breathing was fine. She then wee'd all over him. Her wee sometimes has this slight jelly consitancy about it, ive been told this is normal? The vet said nada about it. He then asked me was she kept with any other torts, I said yes a leopard. he put her down, went out the room (For about the 3rd time) came back and said that she has something that is common in Leopards but not in Redfoots. Its Herpes. And said the antibiotics will clear her nose and eyes up, and might help with the herpes. I paid and left. I phoned up the next day for the records because I was slightly confused. They faxed the diagnosis over to me which reads 3 week course of antibiotics. No description of what his diagnosis is.

Cat biscuits, very small amounts. I don't feed them regularly but the big ones sometimes find ones that the fat cat has left and little ones get a bit just for a variety of protein source.

A lot of people with the 'old school' method of tortoise keeping (meds in the uk) used to rely on cat and dog food (possibly usually tinned) so lots of deformed tortoises. Hence it is now on the 'never' list for meds. Similarly, lettuce. Lettuce is often on the bad list but that seems to be due to people interpereting that as iceberg lettuce. There are many other sorts much more widely available now.

I also view cat biscuits similarly to banana in non eating redfoots. If they will have a bit of that it shows the tortoise has some interest in food and may just be holding out for its favourites. For a poorly tortoise, getting some food in for the body to use can be useful (thinking about the weight loss in particular). Ever had lucozade when you were poorly? If she goes for the cat biscuit, use it crushed and sticking to some fruit or something. She'll get the fruit as well and then has proper goodies along with the tempting cat biscuit.

Good luck with the prawns and mushrooms. Mine weren't initially attracted to prawns so just use a bit, stick her in front of it and then walk off. If she hasn't encountered it before, it may be a while before she recognises it as food!