Sulcata favoring front legs

[Emma-Rae]

Hi!

Taz is about 1.5 years old. Roughly 6 inches in length. She is kept in a long 40 gallon tank with a warm end and cool end. The warm end with the heat lamp is about 87 degrees and the cool end is around 70 degrees. I have been soaking her in warm water twice a week for about 30 minutes. She gets fed a wide range of lettuces and occasionally will get a little pumpkin or a tomato.

After coming back from Christmas break, she started eating less and now I haven't seen her eat in about 3 days. I didn't think too much of it after the first day because she was still awake. But now she is awake and barely moving. After pestering her to move, she did but she is not using her front right leg. This is causing her to move in circles. About an hour ago she started moving around but now she is just pushing herself around with her back legs.

I beginning to get very worried and I am wondering if anyone knew what was going on or advice on what to do.

 

[cmacusa3]

Hello and Welcome to the forum. Let me suggest these threads. It may help to post some pictures of the tort and enclosure. The temps seem way too cold. What are you using for UVB?

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Beginner-Mistakes.45180/

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/closed-chambers.32333/

 

[dmmj]

you say a warm end & a cool and but what are the temperatures exactly? Also what type of substrate are you using?

 

[Killerrookie]

Hi!

Taz is about 1.5 years old. Roughly 6 inches in length. She is kept in a long 40 gallon tank with a warm end and cool end. The warm end with the heat lamp is about 87 degrees and the cool end is around 70 degrees. I have been soaking her in warm water twice a week for about 30 minutes. She gets fed a wide range of lettuces and occasionally will get a little pumpkin or a tomato.

After coming back from Christmas break, she started eating less and now I haven't seen her eat in about 3 days. I didn't think too much of it after the first day because she was still awake. But now she is awake and barely moving. After pestering her to move, she did but she is not using her front right leg. This is causing her to move in circles. About an hour ago she started moving around but now she is just pushing herself around with her back legs.

I beginning to get very worried and I am wondering if anyone knew what was going on or advice on what to do.

Hello, do you only offer your little guy lettuce? I recommend changing the diet some by adding grasses and weeds into it. If he doesn't eat it trick him with some mazuri or grassland tortoise pellets mixed in.
Now the cool side needs to be raised to at least 80 F and the basking area to around 90's.
Do you offer him calcium or supplements?
Also could we see a picture of the enclosure?
The links that Cmac posted will help and I hope you'll give them a look!

 

[BILBO-03]

Your tortoise should never experienced temperatures below 80 degrees the warm side should be 100 and the cool side 80.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

That's quite a small enclosure for a tortoise that size. Exercise is essential for proper growth and in a 40 gallon a 6" sulcata will not be getting enough exercise.

Your temperatures are also too cold for a tropical species - keeping tortoises too cold can have all sorts of ill effects. If 70F is your cool end, how cold is it getting overnight?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

I'm afraid we're not going to be of much help to you, as this tortoise needs to see a vet.

Please read the info shown on the links in post #2, this thread, and make the changes in your care and habitat that are necessary. The first thing that jumped out at me is the small aquarium for a tortoise of that size. They need a lot of room to walk around. This MIGHT be what's wrong (lack of exercise), but we really have no way of knowing.

 

[Emma-Rae]

Hello and Welcome to the forum. Let me suggest these threads. It may help to post some pictures of the tort and enclosure. The temps seem way too cold. What are you using for UVB?

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/index.php?threads/Beginner-Mistakes.45180/

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/closed-chambers.32333/

The UVB is given by a bulb I got a Petco (I don't have the box and cannot remember the name). In the summer, I take her outside when it is warm for a few hours.

 

[cmacusa3]

The UVB is given by a bulb I got a Petco (I don't have the box and cannot remember the name). In the summer, I take her outside when it is warm for a few hours.

Ok, I was just making sure the bulb was UVB. They can stop producing UVB and I would worry with the small enclosure and not enough UVB that this could be causing some issues

 

[Emma-Rae]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

I'm afraid we're not going to be of much help to you, as this tortoise needs to see a vet.

Please read the info shown on the links in post #2, this thread, and make the changes in your care and habitat that are necessary. The first thing that jumped out at me is the small aquarium for a tortoise of that size. They need a lot of room to walk around. This MIGHT be what's wrong (lack of exercise), but we really have no way of knowing.

The aquarium is about 3.5 feet long. It is not a true 40 gallon tank. It is a storage tub that can fit under a bed. For reference, it is about as long as a body pillow but wider than a standard body pillow by at least a foot. The breeder I got her from said she would be fine in that until she reached over 8-9inches. Should it be bigger than that? I am willing to change if that helps her.

 

[Emma-Rae]

That's quite a small enclosure for a tortoise that size. Exercise is essential for proper growth and in a 40 gallon a 6" sulcata will not be getting enough exercise.

Your temperatures are also too cold for a tropical species - keeping tortoises too cold can have all sorts of ill effects. If 70F is your cool end, how cold is it getting overnight?

I just looked at the temp again on the far side which is about 3 feet away from the heat lamp and that is 75 degrees. Directly under the heat lamp is 90+ degrees. The enclosure is covered with a gap for venting purposes. The temperature in between those two spots is around 80-85ish (she normally stays in this area/middle of the terrarium). She rarely ever goes down to the end that is 75 degrees. Do you think that is still to cold?

Temperatures are consistent throughout the night

 

[Emma-Rae]

Your tortoise should never experienced temperatures below 80 degrees the warm side should be 100 and the cool side 80.

Okay- I will raise the temperature on the cool side.

 

[Killerrookie]

The UVB is given by a bulb I got a Petco (I don't have the box and cannot remember the name). In the summer, I take her outside when it is warm for a few hours.

Is the bulb coiled?

 

[Emma-Rae]

Hello, do you only offer your little guy lettuce? I recommend changing the diet some by adding grasses and weeds into it. If he doesn't eat it trick him with some mazuri or grassland tortoise pellets mixed in.
Now the cool side needs to be raised to at least 80 F and the basking area to around 90's.
Do you offer him calcium or supplements?
Also could we see a picture of the enclosure?
The links that Cmac posted will help and I hope you'll give them a look!

No, I offer her grasses and weeds as well. She tends to not eat them though. When she was bought, she was on the Mazuri pellets but she has absolutely no interest in them now. I will see if she will eat them now as I still have them. The temperatures are fixed. She gets calcium supplements (a powder that goes on her food) every three days.

I am having issues uploading the picture. I gave a pretty detailed description a few posts up. in the enclosure she has a water dish she can get in and out of if she wishes. a small shallow bowl to hold tomatoes when I give them to her. There are a few rocks and fake flowers that she likes to hide behind as well as a log that she can hide under. The log is not under the heat lamp but about a foot away. The coolest end of the log is the farthest away from the heat lamp.

If you need more info just ask and I will do my best to answer them as detailed as possible.

 

[Emma-Rae]

you say a warm end & a cool and but what are the temperatures exactly? Also what type of substrate are you using?

I answered the temperatures/warm and cool in another post. The substrate she has always been on is the crushed walnut shells. Specifically, Dessert Blend: Ground English Walnut Shells

 

[Emma-Rae]

Is the bulb coiled?

No. The bulb is a round bulb. Should it be coiled?

 

[PJay]

No. The bulb is a round bulb. Should it be coiled?

No, it's best to stay away from the coiled bulbs.

 

[Yvonne G]

Walnut shells aren't good to use. I'm not saying that's the leg problem, but I'd change out to something you can moisten. It might just be that there's substrate stuck way up in the tender portion of the leg.

Let's try an experiment. Clean our your bathtub and rinse it real well, then put in a bunch of water, deep enough that the tortoise can't touch the bottom. Then gently place the tortoise into the tub. If she'll bring out those front legs, and if there's something stuck up in there and pinching her, that should make it fall out. This way too, if she uses her front legs to paddle around, at least you'll know the legs still work.

 

[Emma-Rae]

Walnut shells aren't good to use. I'm not saying that's the legg problem, but I'd change out to something you can moisten. It might just be that there's substrate stuck way up in the tender portion of the leg.

Let's try an experiment. Clean our your bathtub and rinse it real well, then put in a bunch of water, deep enough that the tortoise can't touch the bottom. Then gently place the tortoise into the tub. If she'll bring out those front legs, and if there's something stuck up in there and pinching her, that should make it fall out. This way too, if she uses her front legs to paddle around, at least you'll know the legs still work.

Okay- I will definitely try that! Thank you for the advice. I am also taking her to the vet either tomorrow or Tuesday depending on when there is an opening. thank you for all of your suggestions.

 

[Emma-Rae]

Walnut shells aren't good to use. I'm not saying that's the legg problem, but I'd change out to something you can moisten. It might just be that there's substrate stuck way up in the tender portion of the leg.

Let's try an experiment. Clean our your bathtub and rinse it real well, then put in a bunch of water, deep enough that the tortoise can't touch the bottom. Then gently place the tortoise into the tub. If she'll bring out those front legs, and if there's something stuck up in there and pinching her, that should make it fall out. This way too, if she uses her front legs to paddle around, at least you'll know the legs still work.

So.. update:
I tried putting her in a tub. The leg does move. But she DOES NOT want to use it to swim at all. She did bring it out of her shell but she wasn't using it for the same padding motion as her other leg. I am guessing that this would be something more than something irritating her or pinching her. Would you agree?
I am going to make her an appointment tomorrow first thing.