Yellow foot turtle problem

Question
Hi Mark, I have what I believe to be a yellow foot turtle, that was given to me as an adult over 6 months ago.  He lives outside in large garden with lots of shade & greenery.  He is usually very sociable & comes to me when I call him for food or just to greet me when in the garden.  He never has been interested too much in water, although it's there, but eats most fruit & veg I give to him.  I live in Caribbean & we are currently in drought with really hot weather, but still he does not seem to drink water.  In the last 2 weeks he has changed, sleeping most of the time & rarely accepting much food ... just a little banana.  He hardly walks about anymore & if it were cold here I would think he was trying to hibernate.  Thinking it might be best to take him to vet, but thought first to ask whether you thought this was common for tortoises in hot weather?  Really appreciate your answer.  Thanks, Sue

Answer
Here is the deal... if you do not KNOW what the species is, you cannot be giving it the best possible care.

Hot weather DOES cause most tortoises to hide in cooler locations and eat less. It is called 'aestivation'. Most tortoises also drink little water but should have moist foods and good humidity to make up for it.

You may want to mist some part of the habitat to cool and humidify the area.

The BEST thing you can do is to get a good identification of the tortoise and learn the best cares. A good starting point would be http://www.tortoiseforum.org