Tortellini2018
New Member
Hi all, really hoping from some advice if possible! I am a brand new owner, having adopted my Horsfield only 3 days ago, but unfortunately he was not properly cared for and I am despartely trying to help him. I have been reading as many of the forum posts on here as possible to try and find the answers myself, but there is a lot of conflicting information out there, so hoping someone may be able to help me out a little. I am trying to book a vets appointment with a tortoise specialist so they can check him over, but in the meantime I would be so so grateful for anyones comments. I thought it would be good to give you some background on us and the current set up I have!.....
Background story
My Horsfield is called Tortellini and I have been told he/she (they are unable to tell me the sex but I call him he) is 4 years old. When we decided to adopt him 3 days ago it was because he was living with family that we were visiting that hadn't done much research after they had to adopt him from someone else who apparently hadnt taken too much care of him historically. His heat lamp had a faulty connection so often would only be on for 3 hours a day and temperature of his enclosure was around 18 degrees/65 Farenheit. He was in a tortoise table & the substrate/bedding being used was a mix of hemp and grass pellets and was piled up pretty high (I would say probably 6 inches of substrate in a 8 inch high table). He was permanantly in his shell burried deep below the substrate so it was completely covering him/you couldnt see him. He didn't ever move. He also wasnt eating any fresh food or dry pellet food left down for him, they actually hadnt seen him eat for weeks and believed he may have been eating his bedding as that was all they could think of.
His home & Substrate
We took Tortellini home (we live in the UK and it is going into our winter here, he lives indoors as we have no garden). I gave him a bath & as soon as he got into the water he stuck his tail out and went right back onto his rear legs, so I am taking this as a sign that he was likely massively dehydrated? I then cleared his table out and scrubbed it clean before drying it completely out and then adding new bedding as I believed the pellets in the previous bedding could be very dangerous (I since realised maybe I was getting confused with people who say pellet food is very dangerous) but I thought it should be changed anyway. The new bedding I added was from a pet shop, and was a mix of sterallised top soil, sand and limestone grit... plus i mixed this in with some left over hemp bedding we had (picture attached of this substrate mix currently in his table). I have since read comments regards sand, (and also hemp doesnt appear to be that popular?) so I am waiting for a delivery of Coco Coir/coco peat and orchid bark chips to replace it. If anyone thinks I am ok still using some of the pet shop substrate (sterallised top soil, sand and limestone grit) and any of the hemp bedding mixed in with the new stuff I am waiting for then please let me know, as I hate to waste anything! I have not piled the substrate up as high as before, its about 3 inches high at the moment with a bit more in his covered bed area as he likes to dig. I have read that Horsfields may need extra substrate to dig more so than other breeds, so please let me know if you think I should add more.
I have attached a picture of his tortoise table set up. Tortellini is very small and fits in the palm of my hand (his shell measures 14cm in length) so hopefully this is big enough as he seems to have a fairamount fo room to wander at the moment. I keep his table as close to a window as possible, not where it is in the attached picture. I have tried to create some mounds in his table to create different elevations and he has a water dish. I am waiting for a terrocata dish to arrive for his food, at the moment his food is just in the corner on top of some substrate until the delivery comes, but he hasn't gone anywhere near it (will come onto that in a moment!). I have a thermometer for his covered area/cool spot and keep this at 22/23 degrees (71/73 farenheit) all day and I test his basking spot and that comes out at 35 degrees/95 farenheit so I think I am ok with temperatures from what I have read? The light bulb I have is a 60w combination bulb of heat and UV. I keep the light on for 8 hours during the day and at night his table goes down to around 18 degrees/65 Farenheit.
I had read that Horsfields do not like any kind of damp or humdity, but have also read that owners like to dampen the substrate and add humid hide boxes, so I'm confused whether to do that or not, especially considering he may be poorly??
Food
Tortellini has not ate anything at all for the past 3 days I have had him, and we don't believe he has ate for a few weeks prior to that unless he was eating his bedding, so this is obviously really concerning. I have left him some rocket and some green leaves but have taken away the pellett food after doing some reasearch. I have also added some calcium powder, however as I said nothing has been touched by him. I am trying to find some dandelion leaves for him.
Underweight/dehydrated
His shell measures 14 cm long yet we weighed him last night and he was 225g, so very underweight I believe. I gave him another bath, keeping him in some warm water up to chin height for 20 mins and when we fully dryed him and weighed him again he had gone up to 230g. He was also alot more active and alert after this bath. I found a post which had suggested regular baths can be very stressful, but I think I should probably be giving him daily baths at the moment due to being so underweight? This is another reason why I think a humid hide box and dampening his substrate could be beneficial, but I haven't done that yet as I thought I needed to avoid any kind of damp in his enclosure. I read being underweight could be an issue with worms, previous owners have not had him wormed, do I go buy some now from the pet shop or shall I wait until my vet visit? Finally, could his lack of appetite be due to it being winter? He has never been hibernated before, I certainly have no plans to do it this year when he is like this!
Vet visit
I have found a vet specialist and I am just trying to get an appointment for a check up. There seems to be conflicting info about visiting the vets, as in sometimes if they are not a specilist they give the wrong advice or may try and administar a vit A injection which I should refuse? I also need to ask their advice on worming or maybe get them to worm tortellini. Any help here appreciated.
All in all Tortellini is way more alert and active, and hopefully way more happy in his new home over the last few days, but as I am new to all this some reassurance on what I have done so far and some help trying to get his weight up and get him eating would be massively appreciated. I also don't know if I am expecting a change in him too soon and if I need to give him a few more days to adapt to his new life. Just to confirm, the main questions I was hoping to get answered are the following:
- Can I use a substrate mix of sterallised top soil, sand and limestone grit? And can I use hemp bedding/substrate?
- What should the depth of substrate be for my 4 year old Horsfield who is 14cm long and lives in a tortoise table?
- Shall I add a humid hide box/dampen his substrate or leave it as dry as possible?
- Shall I go get some wormer now?
- Shall I give him daily baths?
If you have got this far, thank you for reading, and hopefully you can help Tortellini!
Background story
My Horsfield is called Tortellini and I have been told he/she (they are unable to tell me the sex but I call him he) is 4 years old. When we decided to adopt him 3 days ago it was because he was living with family that we were visiting that hadn't done much research after they had to adopt him from someone else who apparently hadnt taken too much care of him historically. His heat lamp had a faulty connection so often would only be on for 3 hours a day and temperature of his enclosure was around 18 degrees/65 Farenheit. He was in a tortoise table & the substrate/bedding being used was a mix of hemp and grass pellets and was piled up pretty high (I would say probably 6 inches of substrate in a 8 inch high table). He was permanantly in his shell burried deep below the substrate so it was completely covering him/you couldnt see him. He didn't ever move. He also wasnt eating any fresh food or dry pellet food left down for him, they actually hadnt seen him eat for weeks and believed he may have been eating his bedding as that was all they could think of.
His home & Substrate
We took Tortellini home (we live in the UK and it is going into our winter here, he lives indoors as we have no garden). I gave him a bath & as soon as he got into the water he stuck his tail out and went right back onto his rear legs, so I am taking this as a sign that he was likely massively dehydrated? I then cleared his table out and scrubbed it clean before drying it completely out and then adding new bedding as I believed the pellets in the previous bedding could be very dangerous (I since realised maybe I was getting confused with people who say pellet food is very dangerous) but I thought it should be changed anyway. The new bedding I added was from a pet shop, and was a mix of sterallised top soil, sand and limestone grit... plus i mixed this in with some left over hemp bedding we had (picture attached of this substrate mix currently in his table). I have since read comments regards sand, (and also hemp doesnt appear to be that popular?) so I am waiting for a delivery of Coco Coir/coco peat and orchid bark chips to replace it. If anyone thinks I am ok still using some of the pet shop substrate (sterallised top soil, sand and limestone grit) and any of the hemp bedding mixed in with the new stuff I am waiting for then please let me know, as I hate to waste anything! I have not piled the substrate up as high as before, its about 3 inches high at the moment with a bit more in his covered bed area as he likes to dig. I have read that Horsfields may need extra substrate to dig more so than other breeds, so please let me know if you think I should add more.
I have attached a picture of his tortoise table set up. Tortellini is very small and fits in the palm of my hand (his shell measures 14cm in length) so hopefully this is big enough as he seems to have a fairamount fo room to wander at the moment. I keep his table as close to a window as possible, not where it is in the attached picture. I have tried to create some mounds in his table to create different elevations and he has a water dish. I am waiting for a terrocata dish to arrive for his food, at the moment his food is just in the corner on top of some substrate until the delivery comes, but he hasn't gone anywhere near it (will come onto that in a moment!). I have a thermometer for his covered area/cool spot and keep this at 22/23 degrees (71/73 farenheit) all day and I test his basking spot and that comes out at 35 degrees/95 farenheit so I think I am ok with temperatures from what I have read? The light bulb I have is a 60w combination bulb of heat and UV. I keep the light on for 8 hours during the day and at night his table goes down to around 18 degrees/65 Farenheit.
I had read that Horsfields do not like any kind of damp or humdity, but have also read that owners like to dampen the substrate and add humid hide boxes, so I'm confused whether to do that or not, especially considering he may be poorly??
Food
Tortellini has not ate anything at all for the past 3 days I have had him, and we don't believe he has ate for a few weeks prior to that unless he was eating his bedding, so this is obviously really concerning. I have left him some rocket and some green leaves but have taken away the pellett food after doing some reasearch. I have also added some calcium powder, however as I said nothing has been touched by him. I am trying to find some dandelion leaves for him.
Underweight/dehydrated
His shell measures 14 cm long yet we weighed him last night and he was 225g, so very underweight I believe. I gave him another bath, keeping him in some warm water up to chin height for 20 mins and when we fully dryed him and weighed him again he had gone up to 230g. He was also alot more active and alert after this bath. I found a post which had suggested regular baths can be very stressful, but I think I should probably be giving him daily baths at the moment due to being so underweight? This is another reason why I think a humid hide box and dampening his substrate could be beneficial, but I haven't done that yet as I thought I needed to avoid any kind of damp in his enclosure. I read being underweight could be an issue with worms, previous owners have not had him wormed, do I go buy some now from the pet shop or shall I wait until my vet visit? Finally, could his lack of appetite be due to it being winter? He has never been hibernated before, I certainly have no plans to do it this year when he is like this!
Vet visit
I have found a vet specialist and I am just trying to get an appointment for a check up. There seems to be conflicting info about visiting the vets, as in sometimes if they are not a specilist they give the wrong advice or may try and administar a vit A injection which I should refuse? I also need to ask their advice on worming or maybe get them to worm tortellini. Any help here appreciated.
All in all Tortellini is way more alert and active, and hopefully way more happy in his new home over the last few days, but as I am new to all this some reassurance on what I have done so far and some help trying to get his weight up and get him eating would be massively appreciated. I also don't know if I am expecting a change in him too soon and if I need to give him a few more days to adapt to his new life. Just to confirm, the main questions I was hoping to get answered are the following:
- Can I use a substrate mix of sterallised top soil, sand and limestone grit? And can I use hemp bedding/substrate?
- What should the depth of substrate be for my 4 year old Horsfield who is 14cm long and lives in a tortoise table?
- Shall I add a humid hide box/dampen his substrate or leave it as dry as possible?
- Shall I go get some wormer now?
- Shall I give him daily baths?
If you have got this far, thank you for reading, and hopefully you can help Tortellini!