I agree totally with incrisis, at the end of the day the OP is trying to help his/her friend so obviously is concerned, well done you!

thanks

my friend would never mistreat it ever intentionally, she has just been doing what the pet shop told her to,
yes it does have a UV light, it lives in a viv because she has a young daughter so a table set up isnt appropriate,

ive only known about the tort for a few months and have done what i can in the time to look after it, but i have very limited knowlege on them, and its only what ive picked up on here.
i havnt seen it 1st hand so i dont know how bad/good it is

someone mentioned it may be going into hybernation.. if it has no heat lamp the temp of the house will have dropped now... is this a possibility

Yes it is a possibility that it might be going into hibernation but if the tort is ill then hibernation could kill it.

The best thing your friend could do is get an appointment with a reptile vet and go from there, if the tort is ill they will most likely give your friend the means to a cure and advise to not hibernate this year.

I have been nosey and checked your posts I won't mention where you are, but I strongly advise that you let others know so that they can provide you the details of a local reptile vet.

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Everything good is bad ............. everything bad is good ....
Looky0.1.2 Horsfield1.0.0 Bearded dragon0.0.1 Royal Python1.1.0 Rex Rabbits

You've been given some good advice already... lukewarm baths to a depth up to the bottom of the plastron a couple of times a day and a heat lamp is a must to get him to wake up properly. Some Critical Care Formula wouldn't go amiss either... all this advice is only offered for the short term though until your friend can get the tort to a vet.

I would say the tort is definitely trying to hibernate without any heat... as has already been said it wouldn't be recommended to let it until it's back to full health.

Best of luck, your friend is very lucky to have someone like you who cares and will take the trouble to ask... please let us know the outcome.

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Well said Tina
Funny that nobody on here has slated me for having a 100 year old tortoise that lives in the garden and has no heat lamps etc............. would they dare? Put up yer dukes

both my rehomers had never had any heat before they came to me and lived in the garden, I was in 2 minds whether to carry on like that but having seen how they do love to sit under the heat thought that a treat like that wouldn't do any harm, mind you I don't know whether they are better for it or not, I know they are fine without but we have such miserable weather in the summers I feel sorry for them when its so cold and wet, basically they are spoilt and I'm sure they know it.

just an update, hes been doing whative said, ive been round tonight and hes much livlier, apparenly he has only eaten half a bit of carrot in the last week, so i took a few bits from my fridge (rabbit and turtle food haha) and spent a bit of time with him, after half a hour of me sitting with him he bagan to tuck in (his eyes were sealed closed still, how they have been for the last few months) so i rekon he had trouble working out it was food

then i cleaned his eyes with some cotton wool balls and eventually to my delight they both opened, not fully but its something, they were very bloodshoot and a but gooey but we are deff moving in the right direction

good to hear he is doing ok. as for his eyes, It sounds like maybe either an eye infection or a reaction to uvb. Some compact uvb tunes ( small curly light bulbs) can cause major eye irritation. if your friend still refuses to get him to a vet then it may be worth you getting some eye drops for him. you can buy them over the counter....ask for chloramphenicol (sp) its used for conjunctivitis and minor RIs. any chemist will stock them and you should see some result within a day or two. They wont do him any harm if thats not what it is. If they dont make any difference then it may be an allergic reaction to the substrate. one of my leos is allergic to hay and get a mild runny nose and sore eyes if i put it in her sleeping box.

now that he is eating a little its important that he has proper temps in order to fully digest his food. The shell is basically a solar panel to power his body. if he doesnt get heat, he wont digest his food. Hope this helps a little, but i would still suggest getting him to a vet for fecal checks and a general checkup

poor little thing I'm so glad he's found a freind

sometimes i dont know why i bother...