Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My next door neighbor has one that's pretty miserable. Doesn't eat or move around, hasn't for a good year or more. She has him set up with a basking spot of 95 and a cool side of 80 or so. He's on some kind of pellet substrate (lizard litter maybe?) and is offered romaine but not much else.

He's visiting me for a few days to see if I can fix him up (with all my tortoise knowledge- haha- I'm good with lizards and snakes, not too much chelonian experience). He looks WAY underweight and has multiple retained sheds or just really bad skin. His color also looks very yellow to me. He looks bad.

He's soaking right now. What's my next move? Thanks in advance!

Hydrate it by allowing it to soak in luke warm (74-84 f) water daily. Diversify its diet, as it could be easily starving even with unlimited lettuce. Romaine is amongst the best of the lettuces, but there are far better things to offer, such as dandelions, chicory, turnip greens, perhaps a small amount of yellow grated squash, various weeds, etc. You should talk your friend out of this animal and get it to someone who is experienced and cares, as it sounds neglected... It may benefit from natural Sunlight if that too has been restricted. Are the artificial lights UVB spectrum? Tortoise are tough and slow to show symptoms, but this sounds like a depressed animal to me. I hope you get it on the right track...

Thanks for the response!

He seems to be doing a little better. I've been soaking him daily, and the texture of his skin looks noticeably better. His appetite is still pretty poor- although I've been offering mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion, hibiscus and nasturtium. He's definitely more active though.

His lights had no UVB. I have him on a megaray bulb inside right now as well as about an hour a day of regular sunlight (unfiltered).

I'm getting a little attached to him, although my tortoise experience is zip (I have beardies and uros).

That sounds promising. You may see dramatic improvement with some natural Sun, the improved indoor lighting and hydration, diet. Not a suitable staple, but some grated yellow squash and yellow flowers may help stimulate appetite and help overcome lettuce "addiction". It takes awhile for them to go downhill due to deficiency, so it may take awhile to see major improvement...slow is normal. Don't forget Calcium supplement, important, perhaps even more so than lizards. I kept snakes and lizards for about 35 years prior to tortoises, and I am really glad to have finally "evolved" into shells/legs. Tortoises have so much personality, especially horsefieldi, I hope it stays with you and gets a new lease on life.