Hi I am the proud new owner of a little Horsefield, he hatched in Nov 2007.  I brought him from the Tortoise centre at Whilton locks where he was housed in a very warm Vivarium He has since moved on to one of those large indoor guinea pig cages, which I have covered with top soil and sand and he has a water dish which he has been in, a basking lamp with a piece of slate under it and a granite tile for his food.  I put his cage outside at 10.30 as he was still hiding in his house, he came out almost imediately and has been active till about 4.30 this afternoon, I moved his cage back in at 5pm.  He has been in his house since then and he feels really cold to touch, is this normal? I have moved his basking lamp lower and he is in our kitchen which is naturally quite warm.  I am just giving him a warm bath, Should I be bathing him earlier as I had to wake him to do this? I have the thermometer on the opposite wall to his basking lamp and it is reading just under 20, is this too cold for him?

Any advice would be great thanks Kerry 

Hi Kerry

A 'cool end' reading of about 20C sounds fine, can you confirm what the temp is under the basking lamp too?

If he has been active all day when he was outside, he may well jsut have been ready for his bed at 5.00.  As long as he is active for much of the day, eating well etc, he will move in and out of the hotter areas at will - this is the advantage of the type of set up you have now over the viv that he was in previously.

atb

Arlene TPG

Today has been different< Trevor has been in his house all day, I took his cage out in the sunshine and that still did nt tempt him I have given him Budlea leaves, stickle plant and dandelions with calcium on but he only nibbled a little dandelion! He had one eye closed earlier when I checked on him and when I put him back in his house after the check he just sat on his shredded paper!  I have just put him under his basking lamp and he managed to open both eyes walked up to the dandelion leaves had a little nibble then went straight back to his house  I am praying that he is ok and it is just taking him a while to adjust to the new temperature. 26-28 degrees under the lamp??

Hi, the temperature under the lamp needs to be a little higher, try lowering the lamp until you reach 30-35C, he needs to warm up before you put him outside, I usually put my younger ones out at lunch time when it is warmer outside, its a bit chilly first thing and the ground is damp, so they warm up under the lamps and then go out in the mid day sun (with hides of course incase they dont want full sun all the time!).

Torts aren't active all the time they do a lot of sunbathing and sleeping so I shouldnt worry too much.  You could have his poo checked though for worms, as this can make them sluggish.

Regards Vivienne

Hi Vivenne

Thank you for your help, I will move the lamp lower and see how he goes..  The tortoise centre said they had wormed him in Nov 2009 and he should be wormed again same time this year, Is that right?  I will send a sample off just incase. Should I wake him up to give him his bath?

Thanks again Kerry

Hi Kerry, I wouldnt take much notice of what the pet centre says, you dont worm them unless they have evidence of worms, a small amout of worms is nothing to worry about, but a large burdon must be treated.  Best to send a sample off and take it from there.

If he has been bathed today I would leave him as the warm water will wake him up and active, he has wound down now, best to bath during the day when they are active.

Hope this helps, Vivienne 

Ok thanks  I will see how he is tomorrow.

Thank you for the advice. Trevor has been much more active today.  I bathed him this morning and I was really concerned as he still only had one eye open, when I put him in his bath he dunked his poorly eye under the water and held it there for what seemed like ages, to us watching him, I thought he was going to drown!  When he finally took his head out of the water he opened his eye!! How amazing is that. After his bath we took him out in the glorious sunshine where he spent the next 4 hours wondering round happily eating and bathing, he is a real water baby!  I have read that Horsefields dont like the bath, but this one definately does.

We are both much happier now.

Kerry and Trevor

Hi Kerry, thats great news

Regards Vivienne