Give him daily Baths, then offer food

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Posted by Tom on January 20, 2001 at 17:55:58:

In Reply to: help, my new pet won't eat posted by HANNAH on January 20, 2001 at 07:46:12:

Hannah,

Try giving your tortoise daily baths in luke warm water that is no higher than half the height of his shell. See if the tortoise defecates at all, and this will indicate the tortoise has some food in its system. Mardel labs (I think) makes a good appetite stimulant and electrolyte supplement that you can add to this bath water. Most likely your tortoise is very dehydrated, as he/she has endured a long journey from western africa, and is severly stressed. I have never seen a healthy forest hingeback being sold in a pet store.
Definitely try a night crawler, these tortoises are omnivorous, and I Have had Forest Hingebacks eating worms, slugs, insects, as well as fruits and leafy greens such as collard and endive.
Really though, your turtle will become much more active with daily bathings until his appetite picks up. After that, giving your tortoise a bath twice weekly should be routine.

I never have had good luck with these tortoises. They require high amounts of humidity and high temperatures 80's during the day, no less than 65 at night, and always have a heavy internal parasite load.

Tom Arbour

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: Hannah, : Try giving your tortoise daily baths in luke warm water that is no higher than half the height of his shell. See if the tortoise defecates at all, and this will indicate the tortoise has some food in its system. Mardel labs (I think) makes a good appetite stimulant and electrolyte supplement that you can add to this bath water. Most likely your tortoise is very dehydrated, as he/she has endured a long journey from western africa, and is severly stressed. I have never seen a healthy forest hingeback being sold in a pet store. : Definitely try a night crawler, these tortoises are omnivorous, and I Have had Forest Hingebacks eating worms, slugs, insects, as well as fruits and leafy greens such as collard and endive. : Really though, your turtle will become much more active with daily bathings until his appetite picks up. After that, giving your tortoise a bath twice weekly should be routine. : I never have had good luck with these tortoises. They require high amounts of humidity and high temperatures 80's during the day, no less than 65 at night, and always have a heavy internal parasite load. : Tom Arbour

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