tacotort654218
New Member
Hi Guys, I need some expert advice on how to handle my sick tortoise
He is a 22cm SCL radiated tortoise, and lately has been eating less and less, until 2 days ago where he completely stopped eating. We brought it to a vet and she said that it has a high chance that he got a respiratory infection & dehydration, so antibiotics is prescribed and she told us to force feed him for a total of 8ml of semi-solid food per day and 4ml hydration + his medication (we also mentioned that he has a loose stool). We tube fed oxbow critical care 2x per day, and enclosure temps are bumped up to +/-35deg C
We also started recording his weight daily and got the following
Sunday: 1820gr (this is our routine weighing day)
Wed: 1800gr (first time we recorded his weight daily)
Thurs: 1750gr
Recently I've done a lot of reading and I recalled Sam Pascucci from Florida iguana & tortoise breeder said in his YT video that we should give 20ml-30ml /kg of hydration to a dehydrated tortoise. So that makes it 45ml of hydration??
Another source also told me that 4%-5% of body weight fluid is necessary, so in our case its 90ml??
So which guideline should I follow? and so far we've force feeding the tortoise orally with food and hydration just like what our vet recommends. is that a problem? or does the hydration needs to be delivered subcutaneously? (I'm not sure if I can deliver subcutaneous fluid, so daily vet trips are necessary if subcutaneous is the way to go)
Let me know if I'm doing anything wrong. I don't mind criticism, I just wanted what's best for my torts ✌
References: https://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/nursing.html
He is a 22cm SCL radiated tortoise, and lately has been eating less and less, until 2 days ago where he completely stopped eating. We brought it to a vet and she said that it has a high chance that he got a respiratory infection & dehydration, so antibiotics is prescribed and she told us to force feed him for a total of 8ml of semi-solid food per day and 4ml hydration + his medication (we also mentioned that he has a loose stool). We tube fed oxbow critical care 2x per day, and enclosure temps are bumped up to +/-35deg C
We also started recording his weight daily and got the following
Sunday: 1820gr (this is our routine weighing day)
Wed: 1800gr (first time we recorded his weight daily)
Thurs: 1750gr
Recently I've done a lot of reading and I recalled Sam Pascucci from Florida iguana & tortoise breeder said in his YT video that we should give 20ml-30ml /kg of hydration to a dehydrated tortoise. So that makes it 45ml of hydration??
Another source also told me that 4%-5% of body weight fluid is necessary, so in our case its 90ml??
So which guideline should I follow? and so far we've force feeding the tortoise orally with food and hydration just like what our vet recommends. is that a problem? or does the hydration needs to be delivered subcutaneously? (I'm not sure if I can deliver subcutaneous fluid, so daily vet trips are necessary if subcutaneous is the way to go)
Let me know if I'm doing anything wrong. I don't mind criticism, I just wanted what's best for my torts ✌
References: https://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/nursing.html