Help! Tortosie left by my brother.

[Sarahcw86]

I have no idea what I'm doing. My brother got this tortosie about a year ago but left him (and his bearded dragons) my parents when he moved. My mom hadn't done much with him and was going by what my brother said to do but I'm not sure he knew either. Since the weather is nice today we walked over (I live across the street from them) and mom brought him out to enjoy the sun. The last couple times I've seen him, he doesn't seem healthy and today he's barely moving. From the little I've read so far, we soaked him in warm water for about 10 minutes which has seemed to help slightly but I'm not sure what else to do for it. He/she hasn't opened his eyes the last few times I've seen him either. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Sarah, and welcome to the Forum!

I'm sorry to say that this poor little sulcata tortoise is very close to death. You're going to have to work pretty hard and diligently to bring him back. His biggest problem is that he's very dehydrated .

Baby sulcata tortoises hatch out during the monsoon season. This means for the first few months of their life they live in hot, humid conditions with plenty of green food growing all around him.

This is what I would do if this were given to me:

Set up a hospital tank. A 10 gallon aquarium works nicely for this. Figure out a way to cover it and the lights, and cover it. Keep it continuously warm, day and night, at about 80-85F degrees inside the tank.

He also needs a UVB light. The UVB works on the tortoise's skin to make vitamin d, and the calcium the tortoise eats needs the vitamin d in order to work its magic on the shell and bones. It's very important to check the temperature inside this small tank occasionally to make sure you aren't cooking the baby.

Buy a few jars of Gerber strained carrots. Every day soak the baby in a small bowl with half and half strained carrots and warm water. Place the soaking bowl back inside the hospital tank NEAR, but not directly under the light so it stays warm, and leave him soaking in there for at least 30 minutes. Keep going back and looking in to make sure he hasn't tipped upside down in the water.

He's not going to eat until his eyes are open, and this usually happens after about 3 days of carrot soaks. I'm going to give you a recipe for SICK babies. Once he gets healthy, you can change over to feeding weeds and grasses and plants, but to get this sick baby eating, buy romaine and Spring Mix. Take the spinach out of the spring mix (spinach binds the calcium and it gets pooped out with the waste, so you don't want to feed him spinach at this point). Chop up some romaine and spring mix into tiny pieces. Grate a little cucumber over the mixture and stir it all up. Place a glob of this on a tile or flat rock and put him in front of the food.

 

[Sarahcw86]

That kind you very much for your advice. That is what I was afraid of. I will pass your suggestions on to my mom and find out if she's capable of caring for him and if not either take him in or find someone local who can take him and hopefully nurse him back to health.

 

[Sarahcw86]

This is his current enclosure. My mom asked if you could give suggestions on anything she should change with it. And also wants to know how deep he should be submerged when soaking.

 

[wellington]

The enclosure is okay for now as far as size. However, remove the hay. Get a bigger water dish, a clay saucer with low sides and big enough for him to fit into. The a lot of UVB is being blocked by the screen. Cut holes in the screen just under the light bulb, so nothing is between the bulb and the U enclosure then cover the rest of the screen with tin foil. The substrate under the hay seems to be fine. Make sure at tort level the temp is no lower then 85 day and night with a basking spot of 95-100. Do the daily soaks with the carrot baby food and add some warm water to the substrate of his enclosure to get the humidity up to 80% coconut coir is another good substrate and misting the inside of the glass with warm water several times a day is another way to help get humidity up. Also add grocery store greens to his diet like endive, ridicchio, romain, red leaf lettuce, mustard greens, arugula, etc, and soak the pellet food you are using in water before feeding.

 

[Sarahcw86]

Thank you so much! She went to get some grocery store greens and the carrots. I'll send this on to her so she knows the rest. Thank you for all your help.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Thanks for trying to save this little guy, Sarah, and good luck.
When soaking, have the level up to just above where the plastron joins the carapace.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hi Sarah

 

[wellington]

Thank you so much! She went to get some grocery store greens and the carrots. I'll send this on to her so she knows the rest. Thank you for all your help.

Good luck to you and your mom with this little guy. Hoping all turns out good. We are here to help you two through it the best we can without being there.
Keep us updated.

 

[PJay]

Welcome to the forum,and good luck Sarah!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Thank you so much! She went to get some grocery store greens and the carrots. I'll send this on to her so she knows the rest. Thank you for all your help.

I put a UVB light over the dish so the water stays warm, and the tort gets Vit D

 

[lisa127]

Good luck with this little one! And welcome!

 

[Sarahcw86]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, unfortunately I stepped in too late and the little guy didn't make it

 

[Yvonne G]

Aw, darn it! So sad. Too bad you had to have this happen on your watch. It's always a very sad situation.

 

[PJay]

So sorry, thanks for trying to step in and help!