Hi i have written before in tortoise health. I have a 3 year old horsefield he hasnt eaten anything for about 6 weeks took him to vets because eyes were puffy gave him some eye drops and antibiotics.Eyes seem a bit better still not eaten anything been bathing him every day but all he does when he goes back in his house is burrow himself down in the corner.Do you think he is trying to hibernate?

Hi Louise,

Good to hear your tortoises eyes have improved. Need to know a few things in order to answer the activity question. Is the tortoise indoors? What kind of heating and lighting does he have and for how long each day? What are the basking temperatures, cool end and night time temperatues please?

I wouldnt recommend hibernating a tortoise that has had problems recently so you need to keep him warm, basking spot up at 34c, cool end 20-22c and dont let it get below about 16c overnight. Ive found that Horsfields are particularly sensitive to temperatures so you need to make it like summer in order to keep him active.

Hi he is kept indoors in an indoor rabbit hutch with soil and sand substrate.Until a week ago he was kept in a vivarium when i came across your website i changed it.He has basking temp of 32c and cool end 22c.Heat lamp on for about 12 to 14 hours a day.Uvb on about 10 hours.I bathed him this morning put him back in his cage and he has burrowed in the corner about 6 inches away from his heat lamp.He has hay on top of him,he seems quite warm where he is do you think i should just leave him there.

Hi Louise,

I think you need your basking area slightly hotter especially for a horsfield, they can take extreme temperatures unlike other species so you need the basking area around 34c. Remove the hay as he will only burrow down in this and we dont recommend using hay as it may contain spores and can be quite dusty too. I wouldnt leave him to hibernate as you have only just changed his environment which he needs to adjust to, you may need to place him under the basking light each morning to wake him up and get him eating.

Ali

thanks ali will try to get him waking up