Hello from Texas! New Keeper of a Young Sick Sulcata

TortoiseWoman

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Hello all!

I am Tortoise Woman and we're new to Sulcatas. We've owned turtles for awhile. A 2 yr old Northern Black-Knobbed Map turtle that we've raised from a hatchling. We also have a Mississippi Map turtle hatcling and a Common Musk hatchling. We wanted to get a tortoise at some point and were looking at Russian torts so I did a lot of research on their care. Just when we were thinking of a Sulcata a friend of ours offered us hers. Knowing this person as we did we thought we'd be getting a healthy tort. Well, we didn't.

Unfortunately they did no research on her care and she has suffered for it. She is 2 yrs old and is only 163 grams in weight. Never had any UVB or calcium so her shell is very soft with pyramiding and she can't walk properly. She belly crawls. Her diet was very poor. We've had her for two weeks and she's just now eating on her own. She had never eaten grass before but she's loving clippings from our yard. We took her to an excellent tortoise vet and we are force feeding her baby food mixed with liquid calcium and a high fiber powder called Critical Care. The vet was shocked at her poor condition. She gave us lots of good advice and answered all our questions. Also said our tort should be at least 2-3 times larger than she is at this age.

Her enclosure was very small with almost no substrate and a cheese nip box with a hole cut in it for a house. We just got her a new tortoise house and she's loving it. Crawling all over. We have towels in part of it so she can get around easier. Until she can actually walk we'll keep it like this. We take her outside when it's warm enough in a rabbit run (for her safety) and she loves that. She had never been outside before we got her. When she's bigger and in better health we'll make a nice big enclosure outside so she can spend more time there.

It will be at least a year before we will be able to call her healthy. Took her a long time to get this way, it's going to take a long time for her to get better. But she's finally showing signs of improvement!

Since she's so small, we've named her Tinkerbell.
Tinkerbell Doing Great 2-25-17.jpg
Tink's New House II 2-25-17.jpg
Tink's New House 2-25-17.jpg
 

wellington

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Hello and Welcome. So glad your friend found her a good home. It would help her a lot to get her humidity of 80%. This will help her to stop pyramiding and with hydration. Also I rehabed a leopard that couldn't walk with some hydrotherapy. It worked great and he is my fastest leopard. Use warm water, deep where the tort can't touch bottom. Let her swim. If she sinks, then hold her with a couple fingers between her front legs and let her kick and struggle all she wants with her legs. If she just sits still, try different things to get her legs moving. Keep the water warm and don't leave her alone. Do it 1-2 times a day for about 20-30 minutes if possible. Good luck
 

Stuart S.

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Hello and welcome! Sounds like you're lucky to have gotten her when you did and she's lucky to have gotten a good home. Be sure to keep her humidity and heat up. I'm no expert but sounds like early signs of MBD. These folks on here no what they're talking about, stay posted on here and you'll definitely get great help.
 

JoesMum

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Hi there and welcome

It sounds like you're in urgent need of the TFO care sheets for Sulcatas

They're written by species experts working hard to correct the outdated information widely available on the internet and from pet stores and, sadly, from breeders and vets too.

Apologies if you have already read them

Beginner Mistakes
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

How to raise a healthy Sulcata
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

For those who have a young Sulcata
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

Well done for taking this one on :)
 

Tidgy's Dad

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Hello, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum to you and Tinkerbell. :)
Hoping she gets better quickly.
 

Yvonne G

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Welcome to the Forum!

Everything you've said tells me you're on the right track with Tinkerbell. The only thing I'd add would be more moisture/humidity in her environment.
 

TortoiseWoman

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Thanks ya'll! Ok, two more questions. First question: With higher humidity I've read that I need to keep all temps 80 or higher to avoid URI as well as to help stop the pyramiding. Which means I need to add a heater in her hide too cause it's in the 70's in there. What kind of heater would be recommended for that?

Second question: I'm not sure how to add humidity. Do I use a humidifier directed into her hide? Does it need to be in the hide and the rest of the enclosure? How do I cover it to keep the humidity in but have air flow? I've read a lot about the proper care on here and I feel that we're doing well on everything else. But I'm not sure about humidity. Don't really have to worry about that with my turtles. :)
 

cmacusa3

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Thanks ya'll! Ok, two more questions. First question: With higher humidity I've read that I need to keep all temps 80 or higher to avoid URI as well as to help stop the pyramiding. Which means I need to add a heater in her hide too cause it's in the 70's in there. What kind of heater would be recommended for that?

Second question: I'm not sure how to add humidity. Do I use a humidifier directed into her hide? Does it need to be in the hide and the rest of the enclosure? How do I cover it to keep the humidity in but have air flow? I've read a lot about the proper care on here and I feel that we're doing well on everything else. But I'm not sure about humidity. Don't really have to worry about that with my turtles. :)
Remove that divider, it's useless and doesn't work good as a hide. Buy a plastic tub flip it upside down and cut a small door opening. CHE on thermostat is what you need for the heat. Cover the top part of that enclosure where the lights are with foil.

You don't need to worry about airflow, plenty will get inside the enclosure
 

cmacusa3

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Here are some old pictures of a zoomed I once had that I modified when my Sully was little. Unfortunately these houses weren't designed very good for small torts that need humidity

ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1488143214.672507.jpg

ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1488143202.392983.jpg
 

TortoiseWoman

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Is a humidifier even needed? Or will the humidity be high enough with it being covered and the substrate being moistened? What kind of substrate are you using?
 

cmacusa3

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Is a humidifier even needed? Or will the humidity be high enough with it being covered and the substrate being moistened? What kind of substrate are you using?
No a humidifier is not needed once you close things up. Temps and humidity will be great when it's closed and the substrate is damp. I do have them with my enclosures but they only turn on a few times during the day, it's not necessary. It's odd though, when my humidifiers come on the torts always go to the food. I use coco coir with reptibark on top. That picture was just with the coco coir.
 

Tidgy's Dad

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Coco coir, cypress mulch and orchid bark are all good substrates.
Mix in water by hand, to keep it moist but not wet, add a few plants and a shallow terracotta plant pot as water bowl big enough for the tort to soak in and with a closed chamber you should get the required humidity.
 

TortoiseWoman

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Ok, thank you. I wasn't sure what to do about substrate and a water bowl that she can get in because she has so much trouble getting around right now. She has a much easier time walking on the towel. But with more substrate that is moistened and packed she would be ok, I think
 

cmacusa3

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Make sure you line the bottom of the enclosure with plastic, shower curtain, trash bag anything to keep the water from leaking out the bottom
 

TortoiseWoman

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Thank you everyone for the great welcome and helpful advise! We're working on improving her enclosure. Very happy I found this forum!!
 

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