Leopard tortoise sick! Help! Advice is much needed!

[Bkelly]

Hi everyone I just joined and I need opinions. I have a hatchling leopard tortoise i would say hes about 4 or 5 months. That's an estimate. And he has not been eating the past two days. He slowed down his overall eating within the past week. We took him to the guy we bought him from because he is an expert with torts and he told us that he needs more calcium because we were concerned about his shell being somewhat soft. So we have been giving him liquid calcium drops everyday. But as of the past two days he has no eating at all. He barely wakes up, I soak him all the time and try to get him to eat constantly. Are tank is set up correctly because we had the guy set it up. And he knew what he was doing. Temp is 90-92 mostly during the days. 12 hours light and 12 hours dark. We have a heat pad on one side a low dish for him and we feed him the beat greens! Endive, escarole, romaine, dandelion, and he grazes. But i have no idea what to do other than take him to get looked at again but i want some other opinions!

 

[Gillian M]

Hi and a very warm welcome to the forum. Very sorry to hear your CUTE tort is not eating.

How long have you had it for? Not that long it seems. Am asking as torts take LONG, VERY LONG to get used to a new place, home, climate and last but not least OWNER. Therefore, a lot of patience is required, here. So DON'T panic.

Please read the 'beginners mistake' thread. We've all been beginners and we've all made mistakes. This should be of help, and don't hesitate to ask ANY question. Please keep us updated, and hope to hear good news soon.

 

[Bkelly]

Hi and a very warm welcome to the forum. Very sorry to hear your CUTE tort is not eating.

How long have you had it for? Not that long it seems. Am asking as torts take LONG, VERY LONG to get used to a new place, home, climate and last but not least OWNER. Therefore, a lot of patience is required, here. So DON'T panic.

Please read the 'beginners mistake' thread. We've all been beginners and we've all made mistakes. This should be of help, and don't hesitate to ask ANY question. Please keep us updated, and hope to hear good news soon.

I got him in april. I also got a hatchling sulcata with him as well. The sulcata is doing great though. They both were very healthly when we got them too! But the leopard, which his name is Groot has had a couple off and on problems unlike the other one. And thank you for the warm welcome!

 

[Lyn W]

Hi everyone I just joined and I need opinions. I have a hatchling leopard tortoise i woukd say hes about 4 or 5 months. Thats an estimate. And he has not been eating the past two days. He slowed down his overall eating within the past week. We took him to the guy we bought him from because he is an expert with torts and he told us that he needs more calcium because we were concernd about his shell being somewhat soft. So we have been giving him liquid calcium drops everyday. But as of the past two days he has no eating at all. He barely wakes up, I soak him all the time and try to get him to eat constantly. Are tank is set up correctly because we had the guy set it up. And he knew what he was doing. Temp is 90-92 mostly during the days. 12 hours light and 12 hours dark. We have a heat pad on one side a low dish for him and we feed him the beat greens! Endive, escarol, romaine, dandelion, and he grazes. But i have no idea what to do other than take him to get looked at again but i want aome other opinions!

Sorry your little one is ill. Have you tried the Gerber carrot baby food soak to get some vitamins in? If you do a search I'm sure there are lots of posts about it so you can see what people do. I don't know anything about the calcium drops but maybe check that you're not giving him too much, I was advised only to sprinkle the calcium powder over food every 2/3 days but I do leave cuttlefish bone for mine to nibble on when he needs to.

If you are using a coiled type of bulb it could be that - so remove it straight away as many people here will tell you, they can cause blindness and illness etc. and are you keeping your 2 torts together? The bigger one could be bullying this one so they need to be separated if you are.
I think I would be heading to a good herpetologist vet if he doesn't improve soon.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello

Leopards rule !
You say you got the cute little leopard from a " Expert "is he on the TFO ?and we love Picts do we get to see a pict of his enclosure ? Watch out leopards are like " Lays chips " you always want more !

 

[Carol S]

Welcome to the Forum. I hope your little tort gets well soon. You will find excellent information here on the Forum.

 

[Lyn W]

Hi everyone I just joined and I need opinions. I have a hatchling leopard tortoise i woukd say hes about 4 or 5 months. Thats an estimate. And he has not been eating the past two days. He slowed down his overall eating within the past week. We took him to the guy we bought him from because he is an expert with torts and he told us that he needs more calcium because we were concernd about his shell being somewhat soft. So we have been giving him liquid calcium drops everyday. But as of the past two days he has no eating at all. He barely wakes up, I soak him all the time and try to get him to eat constantly. Are tank is set up correctly because we had the guy set it up. And he knew what he was doing. Temp is 90-92 mostly during the days. 12 hours light and 12 hours dark. We have a heat pad on one side a low dish for him and we feed him the beat greens! Endive, escarol, romaine, dandelion, and he grazes. But i have no idea what to do other than take him to get looked at again but i want aome other opinions!

Check the care sheets here for Leopards, It will tell you all about diet, temps and humidity. Also look for Beginners Mistakes and Enclosures threads
Maybe post on the Health thread too to make sure people see your problem and offer advice.
This is the most up to date info available on torts so double check what you have been told here to make sure your expert is up to date too.

 

[Bkelly]

Check the care sheets here for Leopards, It will tell you all about diet, temps and humidity. Also look for Beginners Mistakes and Enclosures threads
Maybe post on the Health thread too to make sure people see your problem and offer advice.
This is the most up to date info available on torts so double check what you have been told here to make sure your expert is up to date too.

I have read the beginner mistakes and my humidity is 55 right now. I take both the torts outside when i can when it is nice but we have like the best bulbs. I paid $80 for once. We have like one of the top sun bulbs and then a heat bulb for at night. I know the bulbs are not an issue. I dont think he was getting much calcium for awhile because he was doing great for a good while it was recently that I saw a decline. And whenever I say we I refer to my bf as well, because these torts are both of ours.

 

[Bkelly]

Sorry your little one is ill. Have you tried the Gerber carrot baby food soak to get some vitamins in? If you do a search I'm sure there are lots of posts about it so you can see what people do. I don't know anything about the calcium drops but maybe check that you're not giving him too much, I was advised only to sprinkle the calcium powder over food every 2/3 days but I do leave cuttlefish bone for mine to nibble on when he needs to.

If you are using a coiled type of bulb it could be that - so remove it straight away as many people here will tell you, they can cause blindness and illness etc. and are you keeping your 2 torts together? The bigger one could be bullying this one so they need to be separated if you are.
I think I would be heading to a good herpetologist vet if he doesn't improve soon.

Me and my bf do keep the two together in a 40 gallon tank with tons of room to roam and fresh water. They get along just fine, they both were doing great together its just the littler one aka the leopard has had off and on issues it seems. First his eyes wouldnt open so we knee it was the temp. Then we got that monitored better, we did vitamin A eye drops for him and its miraculously helped and he was doing great! Would graze outdoors very active and out of the blue he slowly decreased in activeness. One week he was fine then the next he wasnt! We have calcium powder with d3 etc. i read the beginners forum and everything i read we were doing right so far! Its been a week since hes been a little sick, and now its been 2 days since hes eaten

 

[Bkelly]

Hello
View attachment 136905
Leopards rule !
You say you got the cute little leopard from a " Expert "is he on the TFO ?and we love Picts do we get to see a pict of his enclosure ? Watch out leopards are like " Lays chips " you always want more !

And yes this guy knows his stuff. He owns an exotic reptile shop. Sells and deals with reptiles only. Has studies reptiles, he also a vet. All the vets in the area have no idea how to treat torts except this guy. Ive seen hom health multiple sick tortoises people have adopted so i take my tort to him because hes the only one in my area that knows what to do. And he has a pet leopard toroise too!

 

[Lyn W]

Me and my bf do keep the two together in a 40 gallon tank with tons of room to roam and fresh water. They get along just fine, they both were doing great together its just the littler one aka the leopard has had off and on issues it seems. First his eyes wouldnt open so we knee it was the temp. Then we got that monitored better, we did vitamin A eye drops for him and its miraculously helped and he was doing great! Would graze outdoors very active and out of the blue he slowly decreased in activeness. One week he was fine then the next he wasnt! We have calcium powder with d3 etc. i read the beginners forum and everything i read we were doing right so far! Its been a week since hes been a little sick, and now its been 2 days since hes eaten

Keep an eye on them though because torts are solitary creatures and do not need company. You may think they are being friendly towards each other - following each other around etc - but one will be dominant and very subtly harass the other. Some torts become ill and die because of this and if your tort can't get away that may be what is making him stressed and ill. They are OK in groups but pairs often caused problems and the more you have the bigger the space they need. As he is sick I think he should be separated from the other anyway to avoid passing it on if it is something infectious.

Can you post pics of your set up so the more experienced people here like @Tom or @yvonne can see if there is anything that needs to be changed to help your tort? It would also help if you could give your 4 temps too and say what bulbs you are using. Do they have night heat? Your humidity is a bit low - what substrate are you using? All of this will help people here give their advice and maybe save you some money.

I think you really need to check the amount of calcium you are giving him because I believe too much can cause kidney stones - but do a search to find out unless someone else jumps in with advice.

 

[Bkelly]

Keep an eye on them though because torts are solitary creatures and do not need company. You may think they are being friendly towards each other - following each other around etc - but one will be dominant and very subtly harass the other. Some torts become ill and die because of this and if your tort can't get away that may be what is making him stressed and ill. They are OK in groups but pairs often caused problems and the more you have the bigger the space they need. As he is sick I think he should be separated from the other anyway to avoid passing it on if it is something infectious.

Can you post pics of your set up so the more experienced people here like @Tom or @yvonne can see if there is anything that needs to be changed to help your tort? It would also help if you could give your 4 temps too and say what bulbs you are using. Do they have night heat? Your humidity is a bit low - what substrate are you using? All of this will help people here give their advice and maybe save you some money.

I think you really need to check the amount of calcium you are giving him because I believe too much can cause kidney stones - but do a search to find out unless someone else jumps in with advice.

Well thank you for the advice but unfortunately he died not too long after I posted this. I'm devastated right now

 

[parrotlady]

So sorry for your loss. Keep a eye on your other guy. Sounds like you are trying very hard to give them good care.

 

[Bkelly]

So sorry for your loss. Keep a eye on your other guy. Sounds like you are trying very hard to give them good care.

Thank you. I go above and beyond for these little guys.

 

[Tom]

Here is the most likely cause of what went on with your baby:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/

Being a vet, running an exotic shop and having a pet leopard tortoise does not mean someone knows what they are talking about. I'm not going to argue with you. If you think this other guy is an expert, then why are you asking us for help? It is frustrating reading post after post of good advice that you asked for and having you shoot it all down.

You can do whatever you want, but there are people here that can help you understand what is going on better and learn more about proper tortoise care, if you would open your mind a bit and stop telling us about the expert that has given you bad advice and is now responsible for at least one tortoise death. The world is full of "experts" that don't know what they are talking about. Anyone that would sell you a baby started too dry, sell you different species that you were going to house together, or sell you a pair, is no expert in my opinion.

I've hatched and raised dozens of leopards and hundreds of sulcatas and have been doing so since the early 90's. None of mine are dying.

The point of all this is not to be mean or hurt your feelings. The point is to get you to open your mind and listen. I hope you will let us help you.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm so sorry we weren't able to help you in time to save your leopard baby. Chances are pretty good that one of the things that went wrong is that you housed two tortoises in the same small* aquarium, an outgoing and aggressive sulcata with a timid leopard. Even at that young age, the dominant sulcata baby mentally told the submissive leopard baby to get out of the sulcata's territory. Having nowhere to go, the more submissive tortoises tried to stay out of his way and stopped eating.

*Small=aquariums "gallons" are measured up the sides by how much water they will hold. You need a large floor space, not tall sides. 40 gallons spread out over the floor might have been big enough.

I hope you will stay with us and keep an open mind. We have new and cutting edge info on keeping and raising baby tortoises, new info that some breeders have not yet accepted. Read the pinned threads at the top of the Sulcata section with an open mind, and change your baby sulcata's husbandry accordingly. He will thank you for it by growing big and strong!

 

[Lyn W]

Well thank you for the advice but unfortunately he died not too long after I posted this. I'm devastated right now

I am very sorry you lost your little tort, but although it is too late to help him I hope you will use the advice and info available here to help the sully.
Best wishes

 

[Carol S]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Robertchrisroph]

Oh @Bkelly. So sorry. And I know it hurts. Don't make me ball now. Um these people know what they are talking about. It might not be time to hear. But ,you do have sulcata. So do I and man they will be large before you know it. Please help him grow strong and read the care sheets and all there is here. And remember there is always help for you and your babies here. Good luck