sulcata has slowed, not eating

[Tom]

What is inside this new hide? Was it the same as in the old hide?

 

[marcy4hope]

it's the same as the old hide. just substrate in it. i use coco coir. the cage looks pretty wet because the humidifier was just on when i took the photo. it dries out some in between running.

 

[marcy4hope]

i finally got him in his new, much larger enclosure today. i'll see if the added room helps him get a little more exercise and changes his eating habits any. if not, then we'll be heading to a vet soon to get xrays and just see what's going on. he's still "going" pretty decent, not every day, but every other day. i'm keeping up the gatorade/pumpkin soaks, as well as a "rinse" soak with just warm water. he's gotten to where he loves these soaks and really relaxes for a long time in them. he's been soaking a minimum of an hour now each evening. i give him a short soak in the morning in just plain water. urates are a little thicker than normal. i haven't actually seen him drink anything for a really long time. but, they are not gritty, so i'm not concerned about that. he's never had gritty urates in the year i've had him and has rarely passed urates that i could actually see, but this now is something i can see, sort of stringy white. is this okay?

 

[Tom]

The increasingly thicker urates, despite LOTS of soaking might be a clue. I have never used Gatoraide for this and wonder if it has something to do with this. Maybe try just plain water for a while. Also very odd that he's not eating, but still pooping. If nothing goes in, nothing can keep coming out. At least not after a little while...

I don't know what's going on with your little man. Just throwing out some observations...

 

[LuckysGirl007]

Don't know if this means or helps any buy as far as the Gatorade....I moved to AZ when I was 18 from PA. My Aunt and Uncle told me to always have WATER with me and drink a lot. So, I decided Gatorade would be good. Well, that spring at age 19 I had my first kidney stone. I'm not saying it was from so much Gatorade for sure but I quite drinking it so much. I don't know if it could do the same to torts kidneys...just a thought.

 

[marcy4hope]

thanks a lot for that, luckysgirl. i will cut out the gatorade and see how things go. he had this problem before he started the gatorade, but i certainly will stop doing that. i called the vet a 1/2 hour from me and if he's not better soon, i'll take him over there for an xray and fecal. will cost $92. i didn't think that was too bad for my area, since i work for a vet myself, but we don't have xray equipment and only work on large animals.

 

[reticguy76]

Gatorade has tons of sugar, not usually in agreement with desert type torts

Also, may wanna send out a fecal panel and reptilian panel to the lab and have acutal pathologists look at the fecal smears and blood smears to rule any microspcopic micr-organisms or odd looking blood cells out

 

[lovelyrosepetal]

Any new information to share with us about what is going on? Hoping for the best and good luck.

 

[marcy4hope]

Any new information to share with us about what is going on? Hoping for the best and good luck.

no new info except that i made a vet appointment for next monday. couldn't get him in any earlier than that. he's in the new enclosure and i'm still soaking in plain water in the mornings and pumpkin water in the evenings. he's still pooing, but a lot less than he was before since he's not eating. haven't seen any pee for the last two days, but in the pumpkin soak it'd be harder to tell if he did.

 

[sibi]

Sorry to hear that your tort is having this problem. The only thing I see in your enclosure that I think your tort may not like is his hide. He can still see the slightest light at night. Can your husband build a wooden hide? Or, can u drape it to block out light. Also, have u noticed if your tort eats small stones outside? Is he straining when he poops or pees?

 

[marcy4hope]

so excited. today, louis finally ate on his own!! actually, i think he ate on his own on friday too. i came home from work friday night and saw lettuce stuck to both sides of his mouth. so, i'm sure he ate something, although not much, as there was still a pile of lettuce left. but, this morning, he ate all of his lettuce (spring mix) and a little mazuri. the lettuce also had cactus chopped up in it. so excited. i still have a vet appt schedule for monday evening. unless i see him poop, pee and eat more, i'll keep the appointment. i haven't seen him pee for a few days now and that concerns me that he might have a stone.

 

[sibi]

Well, x-rays will tell u more. Hope it's something that can be remedied.

 

[marcy4hope]

well, we are off to the vet in another hour and we'll see what xrays show. hoping he'll poop on the way there in the car so i'll have something for them to do a fecal. he hasn't gone since friday morning, and i figured that would be too old to keep for a fecal so got rid of it.

when i was ordering vet supplies today at the office, i was also told about the product "critical care", so i ordered a package and it will be here tomorrow. will see what the reptile vet says about using it today. anyone used "critical care" before?

 

[Tom]

My wife has been syringe feeding that to her 19 year old geriatric green iguana for several years now...

 

[Zabbi0]

tonight, just for good measure, when i soaked him, i mixed pureed pumpkin, gatorade and water together. it was 1/2 a bottle of gatorade, 1/2 a can of pumpkin and then i filled the rest of the sink with water..

I have never in my life heard of soaking torts like this? What does soaking in stuff other than water do?

Also- do you really need a humidifier and all that stuff in an enclosure if you live in an incredibly humid place to begin with or should a heat lamp suffice ?

 

[Tony the tank]

Im from the northeast ..Not sure how this makes a difference but pretty much every yr around this time all my adult sulcatas really slow down on there eating quite a bit.(Funny thing is the temps in there enclosure doesn't fluctuate much a steady 88*F yr round ..I think they can sense the change of season)..But i have also noticed if the temps in the enclosure by chance goes over 90*F they head into there hides and stay there until mid afternoon or until the temps drop a bit....

 

[sibi]

The soaks not only stimulate torts to poop and pee, but torts absorb water while soaking. As such, mixing squash baby food in their soaks helps them absorb nutrients. This is especially important when the sully isn't eating. Also, sulcatas need high humidity in their enclosure to prevent pyramiding. Even if you live in a place w/lots of humidity, often people use air conditioning which will suck the humidity right out of the enclosure. It's your decision; but, if your sulcata starts pyramiding, I'd use a humidifier. Also, look at Tom's threads for proper care of sulcatas. Btw, I wouldn't use Gatorade in the soaks, just baby food.

 

[Zabbi0]

Also, look at Tom's threads for proper care of ..

Looking for Tom's links..?

 

[marcy4hope]

Also, look at Tom's threads for proper care of ..

Looking for Tom's links..?

tom had posted right above your last post. check the signature under his name. and check here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-18448.html#axzz1bv5qbbcz

well - we got back from the vet. fecal was fine. but, the xray showed 4 bladder stones. the good thing was that on the way there, the drive caused him to give me a fecal sample. he also peed a ton and the last of it was a bunch of urates. that was a first for him to ever pee solid urates.

vet said to continue with what i was doing. the stones weren't too big, so he said to add some vitamin A supplement and keep up with soaking. as long as louis starts eating (which he did start a little over the weekend) then he will re-xray him in 2-3 months and see how things are progressing.

so, i will be researching a lot more here on the forum about things to do for the bladder stones, other than what i'm already doing. i'll appreciate anymore suggestions. at least, i was really happy to see that he's not impacted. the stones were in a location where the vet said he's definitely still able to go and his bowels were not impacted at all. so, that makes me feel better. and to top it off, the entire visit only cost $60. i was happy with that.