Star Tortoise is Sick

[Mehul]

My star turtle is sick..He sleeps all the time.and isnt moving frm One place..
Suggest me some help as there are no ANIMAL DOCTOR around..wht to do

 

[Mehul]

hi I m new here ...and my tortoise is sleeping all the time ..and doesnt eat anything...As you can see hes sleeping in water
SOMEONE TOLD ME TO KEEP IN WARM WATER SO I DID...BUT NOT WORKING ..PLZ HELP

 

[JoesMum]

The usual problem is lack of heat. Your tortoise must be able to bask at 35-37C / 95-100F under a lamp or in the sun.

If this tortoise is kept indoors then it will not be getting the heat it needs without a lamp. This can be an ordinary reflective bulb of 60-100 W hung above its enclosure, but low enough for the heat to be felt.

Your tortoise must also have UVB to be healthy. This means it needs to go outside for at least and hour every day, or it needs to have a UVB lamp. uVB light from the sun does not pass through window glass.

You must soak your tortoise in warm water for at least 30 minutes twice a day to ensure it is hydrated. Use a flat-bottomed bowl with high sides that it cannot see over or through. The water needs to be deep enough to come just up over the join between the shell and the plastron.

You should read this care guide for Indian Stars
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...rtoises-modified-for-indian-residents.139674/

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I can't see the water line clearly there - is his mouth and nose above the water?

Are you sure this tortoise is still alive?

 

[Mehul]

The usual problem is lack of heat. Your tortoise must be able to bask at 35-37C / 95-100F under a lamp or in the sun.

If this tortoise is kept indoors then it will not be getting the heat it needs without a lamp. This can be an ordinary reflective bulb of 60-100 W hung above its enclosure

Your tortoise must also have UVB to be healthy. This means it needs to go outside for at least and hour every day, or it needs to have a UVB lamp. uVB light from the sun does not pass through window glass.

You must soak your tortoise in warm water for at least 30 minutes twice a day to ensure it is hydrated. Use a flat-bottomed bowl with high sides that it cannot see over or through. The water needs to be deep enough to come just up over the join between the shell and the plastron.

You should read this care guide for Indian Stars
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...rtoises-modified-for-indian-residents.139674/

thank you so much for ur help....ty

 

[Mehul]

Yes its still alive his problem is
he sleeps in water

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

His eyes look very swollen. How do you house him when not in water?

 

[Mehul]

we keep him in tub.and he sleeps all the day

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Do you have lights on him? Does he have substrate? How warm is it in the tub?

 

[Mehul]

There is no warm in tub... SHOULD I HAVE TO PUT LIGHTS ON HIM? IF YES THEN HOW MUCH WATTS?

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Yes they need lights and warmth. Read what @Joesmom wrote in your other thread.

 

[Tom]

Here is some info on how to house them. It says sulcata and leopard in the title, but care for stars is the same:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[Yvonne G]

Baby tortoises need to be set up in an enclosure that mimics where he lives in nature. Something like this:

 

[Mehul]

tysm..your suggestions helped me ...
i want to ask u that..
My tortoise cant eat on his won.i feed him daily..and if i dont feed he wont eat.
can u suggest me some help plz?

 

[TammyJ]

I can't see the water line clearly there - is his mouth and nose above the water?

Are you sure this tortoise is still alive?

Right - he does not look good and seems drowned.
If he is alive, the owner needs to take him out of the water and put him in a warm place with correct conditions of temperature and UV light, to start with, I think.

 

[Pearly]

Oh, I don't mean to sound like a "kassandra" but this poor baby looks very unwell. The swelling in soft part of his body is no good. You have received best advice from experts here, if you change your husbandry practices immediately and follow what people here have been advising you to do, you maybe able to turn things around. Before you do anything else, bump up the temperature of your tortoise's enclosure. Do not let it drop below 85F, even at night. Your baby is sick and needs higher temps to allow it's body to hopefully fight the illness. If this were my pet, I'd take him to a reptile vet today or tomorrow but i know that reality for many tort keepers around the globe is such that they are on their own with their sick pets. Be sure you have reliable way to measure the temp around your tort, like the ambient of his enclosure, at substrate level, temp under the basking light, inside his hide, temp of his bath water, and temp of his carapace while in bath or basking or sleeping in his hide. Most of us here like to use hardware store infrared gun thermometers, they are much cheaper than pet store devices and very reliable. Keep this baby warm and hydrated, soak for 20-30 min every day, or 2x day if you can. Make sure his bath water doesn't get cold, i keep mine around 95-103F. As for feeding, consider yourself very lucky that he eats when fed by hand. One of my baby torts was so anorexic upon arrival, that it took lots and lots of work and research to get him to eat and long time before he had finally caught on and started taking any interest in food. Today he is my one of the two torts who steal the show everytime. As long as yours will eat from your hand, PLEASE FEED HIM! This is no time for tough love and teaching him to eat on his own. Right now ut is imperative that he stay nice and warm, well hydrated and well fed! Getting his calories and vitamins, amino-acids, all the nutritional elements necessary for his immune system to do the healing. Make sure his diet consists of more than just lettuce, which has very little nutritional value. Take all the advise you have received here especially from Tom who I think works with your tort species and can be most helpful to you in making adjustments in your husbandry, so ask questions and be sure you understand the answers. If not ask fir clarification. We have members from all over the globe on this forum and everyone knows that language that's being used here (English) is not a native tongue to many of us, so it's understandable when people at times "don't get it at first take". Remember that the worst question is the one you have never asked... so please ask away, follow advise and let us help you.

 

[Pearly]

One more thing on food topic, if this was my tort I'd get couple brands of commercial tortoise food (pelleted or cubed type) soak those pellets and make them part of your tort's daily diet. Open this link when you have a minute, this is my old thread from when my little Tucker was sick and not eating, just sleeping a lot, there are lots of tips and ideas on how to get a sick or fussy baby to eat. http://www.tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Pearly's-tips-to-feed-picky-eater.139381/ one more thing, almost forgot! Welcome to the Forum! Wishing your little cutie a very quick recovery. He sure is very pretty

 

[Mehul]

how would I come to know that he is recovering? signs?

 

[JoesMum]

how would I come to know that he is recovering? signs?

Your tort becomes active by day and eats normally

 

[Pramodh]

Mehul bro you should have lamp on it and some times try to with it on the Terra's , upstairs if it a sunny day however you had a great choice from selecting the star tortoise