My Desert Tortoise

Question
Hello my Desert Tortoise is not eating and is hardly waking up at all. I was thinking about taking him to a vet and I will if I need to. He is very close to being two years old and his brother is eating and awake almost all the time. They have an inside cage that stays at 70-72 degrees 24 hours a day. The inside cage is 4 square feet. They get sunlight directly on them at least 1 hour a day and the light in the room is never on. They always are in the light sun light but it is not directly on them. They have never been to the vet and are breed in captivity. They are free fed, I feed them a lot in the morning and see how they are doing as soon as I get home at around 3-4. I feed them Romaine Lettuce, Bean Sprouts, Carrot Shavings, grass (rarely), Broccoli, I have even tried to feed them some Cactus and Grapes. I do not feed them all of this daily usually all of this in a week, except the grapes and cactus. Their substrate is paper. The last time he ate was on Wednesday April 27, 2011, he took about three bites of grass on my lawn. How they get their water is whenever I feed them I wet there food and have drops of water all over their food. Sometimes I set them on a plate of warm water and they take deep drinks. The last time I did this the tortoise who is having problems drank a lot of water them started throwing up. He then started falling asleep so I put him back in his cage and tried to feed him again, he didn't eat. The only other animals that lives with him is his brother who is the same age and size. I do not give them any substitute or formula I just feed them what I listed above. The last time he defecated was around April 20, 2011. The humidity is unknown but it is dry, not very humid. The tortoises shed little piece by little, I have never seen a huge piece of skin in their cage but I can see pieces of skin hanging off of them. I also have noticed that hid nostrils looked plugged up. I hope that that will help you, but it doesn't look like he has clear nostrils.

Answer
Desert Tortoise? Where are you located first of all, and where did you get it? I need to know the origin and to make sure the species ID is correct.

You are going to have to take him to a vet, because once it gets to this point we are beyond magic bullets, but a lot of things need to be corrected if he is to survive, as well as the other.  

Your temperatures of 70-72 degrees are horribly low, and I'm surprised they didn't get sick sooner.

Romaine should be more a treat and not a staple, as should broccoli. You are listing grass as a rare diet item, yet this species forages widely on grasses in the wild. Excessively watery items in the diet of an arid dwelling tortoise are going to lead to problems as well, in conjunction with the suboptimal temperatures you are offering. Where are you getting your care information, or have you researched this before?

I'm not sure what you are describing here because the details are not that clear, but it sounds like you have them caged indoors, and they are getting light through a window. This is not sufficient and is going to lead to illness. A tortoise should be housed outside unless you have an outstanding indoor zoo quality enclosure with high intensity mercury vapor lamps, which it doesn't sound like you have.

I doubt this is "sleep". This sounds like organ failure, aspiration of fluid at the time of regurgitation, or ingestion of a toxin. But, we can't really know to diagnose because your housing temperatures are way wrong and nothing about a desert tortoise is going to work right under those conditions. Nevertheless, you don't have time to be discussing it with me before seeing a vet. You should search for a veterinarian in your area who is documented to be experienced with tortoises, ARAV member preferably, then you can get back to me to consult after you find one and arrange an appointment. I would recommend an x-ray right off the bat to look for impactions of foreign debris or bladder stones, both of which are quite common in tortoises and can cause these symptoms. Take my word as law. Based on what you have told me of symptoms, this tortoise WILL die unless you go to a vet right away.

If you are not going to go to a vet, then locate a wildlife rehabilitator or reptile rescue to surrender the animals to so they can get proper care.