As you may or may not know I have had Thomas my 07 horsefield since June and he was always pretty active. I went away at the end of July for 3 months and my dad cared for him. When I got back at the end of Oct, I noticed that he wasn't really eating, hadn't gained much weight and was quite lethargic.
I noticed a worm in his poo and had him treated by the vet, who said that he must have a pretty big infestation if he is passing them. 2 weeks later (2 weeks ago now) I took him back and he was treated with panacur once again. I am still seeing the odd worm being passed but considerably less now. I was told that if they were still present by the end of the month to go back again.
Now he has a mega ray lamp with basking temp of 32 C and the hot end is about 30C, the cool end 18 - 20 C. When he wake up in the morning he is being bathed and at least his appetite has returned as is eating plenty post bath.
My concern is that after this he goes and sits in the basking area for a while then returns to the hide where he sleeps and just stays there indefinitely, in fact I don't think he would do anything at all if I didn't stimulate him. As I say he is eating well, eyes bright, no signs of resp illness. If I take him out of the enclosure he will walk around the house for ages and the same if I put him the garden for a little while, he just doesn't do anything whilst in the warmth of his enclosure.

Now do you think that the temps are too hot? He is bored? He is still recovering from the worms? Or maybe it is just the time of year and is feeling generally lethargic. I really don't know what to do for the best, just leave him to it or to stimulate him and would welcome any advice out there please, if there is any info that I have skipped that may explain things please ask.

Thanks in advance

__________________
Take care

Denise x

My pair of Hermanns are generally lethargic at the moment. Same as you, I sometimes feel that if I didn't point them towards the fresh food, they'd just lounge around most of the day....

The difference mine seem to respond to is when I take the time tosit with them, stimulate them tobecome active etc.

I've got into the habit of bathing them in the afternoon,then putting them on the floor for a while. They certainly get active then....!!!!

Try yours outside his usual environment for a while.

That at least may show you whether he's generally lethargic, bored or whatever...

I normally can get mine to eat stuff like cucumber when they're outside their home, whereas if I leave cucumber in their feeding bowl, it remains untouched.

Just try a little variety.....

Craig

Come on - someone must have some ideas!

__________________
Take care

Denise x

my 2 spurs are not quite the ticket at the mo either i believe its just the time of year and they know that they are comeing up to hibination (even if we chose not to they are pre programed to slow down at this time of year- someone with more experiance will correct me if im wrong ) one of mine wont eat much at the mo but as i understand it torts can go for quite a long time without eating as long as they are hydrated, hope this helps you try not to worry to much i would also try to get a poo sample back to the vet (is it a tort vet or just anormal vet ) and get them to give the tort a full MOT

__________________

Yes, if there are still worms visable at the end of the month I am going back again.
I would have thought though if he was just naturally winding down due to the time of year he wouldn't still eat like a little piglet, but maybe this is irrelevant?? I suppose it could be a combination of many things but I don't know what to do for the best - do I just leave him sitting there all day or do I try to stimulate him?

Glad to hear that I am not the only one that worries about this sort of thing though!

__________________
Take care

Denise x

Like I said, I get mine into a bath (usually means disturbing them) then after they've drunk and done other things, I dry them then let them have the run of the lounge floor.
Once they stop exploring, they go back under their lamps in their viv.

Denise, the weather here has been bitter cold the last week and my two were hardly coming out from their readigrass and not eating much despite the temps being ok in their enclosure to my mind. However, I wasn't too happy with the lack of activity or appetite so each day I increased the temps by about 0.5oC. Today they have been absolutely brilliant! they have eaten me out of house and home and have been active all day. They got up around 9am, had their bath 11am, then fed weeds. They have been busy around the table all day and then got a treat of a cherry tomato between them around 3pm. Buster went to bed around 5pm and Marvin is still up exploring her table!!!

The temps btw are 34-35oC under the basking lamp, 26-28oC around rest of table and 22-23oC in their readigrass bedroom.

Hope this helps.

__________________
Karen

I do this already, but after 1/2 hour or so of running around the floor and I put him back in the table, he sits under the lamp and then back into his hide, not to be seen again unless I drag him out again. Yes very active around the living room for just not so much in his table.

__________________
Take care

Denise x

That's interesting as I was wondering whether it was because the temps were too high as I know this can make them a bit dopey. Also the hide where he spends a lot of the time and digs down under to sleep is in the hot end of the table -should he be sleeping in a cooler area?
Maybe i'll try upping the temps a bit tomorrow and see what happens. I was also concerned that it may be due to the worm infestation - how long does it take after treatment for the tort to be back on top form?

Thanks for your help.

__________________
Take care

Denise x

Not sure about the worms because mine only had a light burden which cleared after one treatment (never anything visible in poo).
I would imagine if he was too hot he would move to the cooler end? I think it sounds as if he is too cool??

__________________
Karen