The Tortoise Table

Hi everyone new to this forum. Help please.
We rescued a male Horsefield 18months ago and his size and weight hasnt changed at all ! He was found a stray so they guessed his age (Vets) around 7 so he would be 8/9 now. He 15.5cms long (bottom shell) and weight 605g. He seems very healthy and is very active and very interactive with us.. he is a petite eater and very fussy. I didnt hibernate him last year due to his weight and was worried as a new owner. I have kept him in this inside enclosure over winter and he has another with free access to secure very sunny and shaded garden which he loves. He's been out the last 2 weeks a couple of hours as we have had some very hot april days ! I feed him romain lettuce (his favourite), spring greens, dandeloins, sometimes kale, saag, watercrest, sometimes shredded carrot and cucubmer to encourage him as he is a very small eater.

He has a combined basking bulb - I wondered whether it wasnt enough but he doesnt go under it alot.. tem is average 35 under the lamp.

I have attached pictures.. any advice? is he just a petite little man as he really does seem very healthy and happy and yes i bathe him which he loves and he has fresh bathing water in his enclosure aswell which he goes in (only if warm!)...

will post pics just having issues uploaded wont recognise file type...

Hi Ktdevanny and welcome to the Tortoise Table.

If you would like to send your photos to me at lin@thetortoisetable.org.uk I will try and up load them for you and we will be able to answer better.
Can you also send photos of the full enclosure and the thermometer because this all helps in our answers.

Look forward to seeing the photos.

Lin

Great thank you pictures sent.

Hi,
I am concerned about my horsefield tortoise, I believe she is a female and she is 9.7cm in length and around 3 years old as I rescued her from people who weren't feeding her correcrly and she has poor housing etc she only weighs 69g and is in a wooden indoor enclosure with a combined UVB and heat light, I give her calcium regularly and she seems really healthy and eats well but she can be fussy, any advice on how to increase her weight would be greatly received, thank you Jo

Hi I am no expert but having same issues. I got some advise from an owner who described to me that perhaps the combined light wasn't working for my Trigger, ie simply he gets hot and moves away therefore not getting UV which in turn doesn't help his appetite.

So I am going to invest in a separate UV strip and basking light so he always has UV but can choose when to bask.

I'll post how we are getting on.

I very much sympathize with you. I have been taking care of my tortoise Hermann for over a year now, but I have noticed that he is not gaining weight or growing much, even though he seems active and healthy. I am worried that he may not be getting enough nutrition or that there may be some health problem. I have tried various greens and given him a sunny spot at around 35°C, but still no change. Should I take him to the vet?

Hi,
There are various reasons why a tortoise might not be putting on weight. Could you describe his indoor enclosure and perhaps post a photo of it? What types of plants are you feeding him, and how old he is, and how much he weighs? We can usually solve the problem, but sometimes it takes a lot of questions to find the answers, and often it's just a bit of tweaking with the set-up that fixes things.

Nina