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Lately I've noticed that my approximately 4 year old sulcata seemed to be acting differently than usual.... At first I thought it was because I covered up the huge hole that he had dug. (about 3 weeks ago) He was NOT happy about it! If any tort can be agitated and pissed off....he was. I moved his dog/tort house over the place where he'd dug (so he couldn't re-dig the hole) and he spent days pacing and stomping around and wouldn't sleep in any of his tort houses.

This past week he gone from hyperactive to lethargic and now he's not eating very enthusiastically. I'm going to make a vet appointment tomorrow..... but what should I do until then?

I've heard that you should hydrate and provide heat for a sick tort, so I was thinking that I'd soak him....and bring him in the house and put him under a heat emitter....?

Background information: My tort stays in a very large outdoor enclosure 24/7. His main diet is grasses and weeds with a variety of veggies (mostly collards, zucchini, plus hibiscus flowers and leaves) thrown in. He has access to grazing, water, cuttle bones, shade, and a variety of tort "houses" at all times. His tort poo has not changed...no diarrhea or anything....
I live in SE Georgia where it's been hot, humid, and rainy. (and suspect that this has something to do with the problem.)

Any suggestions, ideas...anything?

Pamela

It sounds as if you have all the basics covered: hydrate, heat, trip to the vet.
It HAS rained a LOT here lately.
One thing you might try. The doghouses we use are kind of "close" (as in - the tort takes up most of the room inside). One of our shelters is a sheet of plywood 3 feet off the ground with one side closed off. This allows our torts to be under cover when it rains without being in a closed in space where the high humidity might be harder on them. I have no proof that this is a factor or that it actually helps anything. Just a thought. Our 4 are just as active as ever. I hope your tort gets to feeling better. Please let us know what the vet says.
Karl H. Betz
Buzztail1@hotmaildotcom

I do have one tort house for him that is just an open 3 X 6 foot piece of plywood. But it's only about 18 inches high. Since it's so close to the ground, it may be just as humid as the dog houses. I did notice that this particular tort house (the open one) was the only place that he would shelter lately and he seemed to only want to be at the very edge of it.....so it sounds right that he's might be trying to escape the humidity.

I'm worried that he may have a respiratory infection...but his nose is not runny...and I haven't heard any wheezing from him. So, I dunno.

Thanks for you suggestion! It never entered my mind that the tort houses might be more humid because of being enclosed or close to soil. I'll get a bigger piece of plywood and try to fix something up more like what you have.

Thanks again!
Pamela

Here is a pic of that shelter.
As you can see, we originally had two doghouses under the plywood. The braces are landscape timbers.
Now only the one in the foreground is still under there and all that space is open (and they certainly use it).
It's hard to tell but that plywood is a whole sheet 4 X 8. When the weather is real bad, we hang a tarp over the edge to keep the rain from blowing in. For those "purists" who are into the details, the open side faces north so there is always shade underneath.
Karl