Poorly Earl, Conflicting advice and confuzzled brain!

[LucyJ]

Did they X-ray him? One of the many things that goes wrong with free roaming is ingestion of common household items. Is the tortoise pooping regularly? Pooping in the soaks? It may have swallowed something toxic, or something like a nail or screw that is not blocking the intestinal tract.

Another possibility with no heat and no UV is metabolic bone disease. Most of the care info out in the world is all wrong, but I have never seen any of those wrong care sheets that says to let them roam the house with no heat source and no UV.

A plastic box with straw will make things worse. Straw does nothing for ectotherms. Straw keeps an endotherm warm because they are generating their own heat from within, and the straw has some insulation properties that keep the heat in.

Your tortoise needs a proper large indoor enclosure with they correct heating and lighting, substrate, hides, water and food dishes, basking slate, etc... Outdoors in a large secure enclosure is great for warmer days, but a heated shelter would still be of benefit.

Please read these and follow the advice given if you want your tortoise to survive. Also get an X-ray to rule out intestinal obstruction.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

UPDATE : Earl is booked in for an X-ray on Thursday with a view to taking a blood sample also

 

[LucyJ]

These things frustrate the lot of us! Most people, like yourself, have the best of intentions and just want to know how to properly care for their pet. Why wouldn't you ask a "pet" store? Surely a veterinarian with all those years of schooling should know what they are talking about, right? Why don't vets and pet stores understand the most basic tenants of tortoise care? Its because the wrong information, based on old incorrect assumptions of how they live in the wild, has been written down and passed from generation to generation for decades. It was wrong decades ago, but it keeps getting repeated. And then some people put a strawberry in front of their tortoise and the tortoise takes to it like a kid in a candy store, so they assume that it is "good" for the tortoise. It isn't.

What little time is spent on tortoises in vet school is spent repeating the old wrong info. The vet handbooks and websites that practicing vets refer to when there is a customer with a tortoise in their waiting room are filled with that same old wrong info the I was taught 30+ years ago, and that I taught to my pet store customers until I learned otherwise.

In time, with enough trial and error, everyone will learn the things I am trying to get across. That is how I learned it, and everyone else that I know of that has learned the correct care info learned it. But how many tortoises need to receive the wrong care for how many years, before each person learns this stuff on their own? Some people only have one tortoise and since it is still alive, they figure the information they have is the "right" information. If that person had hatched and raised 100s or 1000s of tortoises and done side-by-side comparisons eliminating variables as they go, then they would know what I know. Its the people who have tried the different methods and studied their results and the results of others that really know what is going on. We try to share this info with new tortoise keepers, but there is a sea of bad info raging out there. That tide is slowly turning though...

I, for one, am very very grateful for your efforts Tom and that I have found this forum. Fingers crossed for a good result on Thursday 🤞 then its onwards and upwards for Earl and I, armed with the correct information!

 

[MenagerieGrl]

Lucy J. Any new News of Earls condition?
Did Earl Get an X-ray?
\Was anything found in His GI tract?
Right now, I'm hoping that No News is not bad News...

 

[LucyJ]

Lucy J. Any new News of Earls condition?
Did Earl Get an X-ray?
\Was anything found in His GI tract?
Right now, I'm hoping that No News is not bad News...

Sadly, Earl never made it to the vets. He passed away on Wednesday 💔😢

 

[MenagerieGrl]

Sadly, Earl never made it to the vets. He passed away on Wednesday 💔😢

Oh, Lucy . . I'm So'oooo sorry. I lost my Gigantor November 13, 2020, two days after finding TFO. All I can say . . now is . . . I wish you peace💔

 

[LucyJ]

Oh, Lucy . . I'm So'oooo sorry. I lost my Gigantor November 13, 2020, two days after finding TFO. All I can say . . now is . . . I wish you

Oh, Lucy . . I'm So'oooo sorry. I lost my Gigantor November 13, 2020, two days after finding TFO. All I can say . . now is . . . I wish you peace💔

Thank you for your kind words. 💔
I will be leaving this forum now. Thank you for everyone's help.

 

[MenagerieGrl]

Thank you for your kind words. 💔
I will be leaving this forum now. Thank you for everyone's help.

Wishing you the best in the future...

 

[zolasmum]

Thank you for your kind words. 💔
I will be leaving this forum now. Thank you for everyone's help.

So very sorry, Lucy - you tried so hard to do the right things, and I'm sure you gave him a very happy life. Maybe one day, you will feel able to give another little tortoise a home - I hope so - the people here will welcome you back.
Angie