pet tortoises often experience hunger strikes after waking up from hibernation, which is known as anorexia. There are pet editors to take you to understand the causes of anorexia in pet turtles during sleep.

1. Definition of anorexia hypnosis

In hypnosomnia anorexia (PHA), turtles wake up from hibernation without eating for several days or weeks. PHA is not a disease, but a description of a state that causes the disease.

2. Reasons for anorexia

1. The pet owner confirms that the pet turtle is a pet turtle that can hibernate. Forced hibernation of non-hibernating tortoises can be fatal. Many exotic turtle species are not hibernating themselves, such as the leopard tortoise, red-legged tortoise, yellow-legged tortoise, Indian star tortoise, and sulcata tortoise (even if individual No matter how big it is, it is a risky behavior to let it hibernate), etc.; the things among the water turtles are not the side-necked turtle, the yellow-headed side-necked turtle, the Mexican egg turtle, the Salmon egg turtle, etc. Common tortoise species that can hibernate are European tortoises, Hermann's tortoises, edged tortoises, etc.; common exotic species of water turtles that can hibernate are Brazilian tortoises, painted turtles, spotted pond turtles, razor turtles, giant eggs turtles, Japanese stone turtles, etc.; most common domestic turtles can hibernate.

2. Improper preparation before hibernation. What is consumed in winter is not the food in the gut but the energy that has been digested, absorbed, transformed and stored. Autumn bowel cleansing is for safer hibernation. During this period of 4-6 weeks, the turtle will become less energetic, lethargic, and not eat. The time for the juveniles to clear their intestines is correspondingly shortened. This allows them to empty their gastrointestinal tract. It is important to take regular baths to allow the turtle to build up enough fluid storage to survive the winter. If you're not prepared for this time or don't have enough energy reserves in the summer, anorexia may occur after winter.

3. Improper hibernation environmental conditions or improper feeding and management during hibernation. If there is no temperature monitoring and management and water supplementation throughout the hibernation period, if the temperature is too low, such as breaking the freezing point, it may cause frostbite such as eye crystals and forebrain tissue crystals, resulting in a decline in vision or smell. If the temperature is too high, catabolism will be accelerated, resulting in rapid body loss; there may also be severe dehydration and kidney failure death in hibernating turtles. In addition, turtles that hibernate outdoors may be bitten by mice. If they are not checked regularly, they may not be found.

4. Sleeping period (improper timing for eating or heating). If it is not found in time that the turtle has finished hibernation and wakes up completely, and timely replenishment of water and nutrition, it may cause problems with excessive nutritional consumption of the turtle.

5. The hibernation time is too long. Turtles will still produce nitrogen-containing metabolic wastes during hibernation, of course not as high as in summer. Turtles use previously stored water (mostly in the bladder) to dilute these nitrogenous metabolic wastes. If you hibernate for too long, you will be dehydrated and dehydrated, which can lead to kidney failure and hyperuricemia. In some severe cases, urate may even precipitate, leading to visceral gout and organ damage. Generally, the frequency of weight loss of healthy turtles during hibernation is about 1% per month.

6. Potential diseases, hibernation becomes the last straw for death. If hibernating with illness, coupled with the low level of white blood cells throughout the hibernation period, it will accelerate the tortoise’s physical energy consumption and organ damage, and die in deep sleep, or once the temperature rises, latent diseases will break out, pushing the sick turtle to the brink of death. The potential diseases that the owner is easy to ignore are generally: mold (fungal) infection, viral infection, kidney failure, egg stagnation (dystocia), liver disease, digestive tract disease and eye problems.

7. Low levels of immunity during sleep. The average lifespan of turtle leukocytes is 3-4 weeks, and during the hibernation period, the production of leukocytes is suppressed, which means that at the end of the hibernation period, the turtle is in a state of immunosuppression. The production of white blood cells takes several weeks. The end result is that turtles are susceptible to many diseases caused by opportunistic pathogens during the first hours of sleep. Turtles will present with a variety of clinical syndromes including stomatitis, pneumonia and ear abscesses, conjunctivitis, rhinitis, skin/shell infections, and sepsis.