Baby sulcata attacked by husky

[Louise&Fluffybabytorts]

Recently there was a husky that came over to my house and then someone left the door open to my room and the husky ran in and my bigger tortoise Louise a 1 year old sulcata was in her cage and the husky takes the thing in its mouth and runs around with it. We saw he had something in his mouth and grabbed the tortoise out. The tortoise has a few marks from the teeth of the dog but is all right. But, now the tortoise barely comes out of its shell and only comes out its hides when it hears my voice. I want to try to help her get over this and be a happy little tortoise again but I don't what to do. Please if anyone has any suggestions on how to help her please message me thank you.

 

[Toons1978]

It seems to be suffering from, quite literally, shell shock. While the physical damage from the husky was only superficial the psychological damage was clearly more significant. The only useful thing you can give your tortoise is time. Tortoises have great memories, especially when it comes to where the best food grows and traumatic incidents. If they forgot how scary nearly being eaten was they may not take steps to avoid whatever it was that put them into harms way in the first place. As an example of their memory and subsequent shyness I'll tell you about my cherryhead, Kiwi.

I got her in July and she needed medical attention and a month of follow-on care at home. This involved tube feeding and orally dosing with antibiotics. This was done by me holding her head out and opening her mouth while the wife dosed the girl. Up until no kidding three weeks ago, all she did was hangout in her hid box, come out to eat when the coast was clear, then beat feet back into her box. More recently she has begun to bask in the mornings like everyone else and catching some tungsten rays after eating as well. She even took a leaf from my hand earlier this week.

They may not be as mentally advanced as a human, but ask anyone and they'll agree they are still quite psychologically complex. So just let your tortoise do its thing until its comfortable doing more.

 

[Louise&Fluffybabytorts]

It seems to be suffering from, quite literally, shell shock. While the physical damage from the husky was only superficial the psychological damage was clearly more significant. The only useful thing you can give your tortoise is time. Tortoises have great memories, especially when it comes to where the best food grows and traumatic incidents. If they forgot how scary nearly being eaten was they may not take steps to avoid whatever it was that put them into harms way in the first place. As an example of their memory and subsequent shyness I'll tell you about my cherryhead, Kiwi.

I got her in July and she needed medical attention and a month of follow-on care at home. This involved tube feeding and orally dosing with antibiotics. This was done by me holding her head out and opening her mouth while the wife dosed the girl. Up until no kidding three weeks ago, all she did was hangout in her hid box, come out to eat when the coast was clear, then beat feet back into her box. More recently she has begun to bask in the mornings like everyone else and catching some tungsten rays after eating as well. She even took a leaf from my hand earlier this week.

They may not be as mentally advanced as a human, but ask anyone and they'll agree they are still quite psychologically complex. So just let your tortoise do its thing until its comfortable doing more.

Okay thank you

 

[Destben]

My tort wasn’t attacked but I had to give her shots when she got sick and it has taken months for her to get comfortable being out of her shell around me again. Just be patient they don’t seem to forget but they get better over time. Just make sure she’s comfortable and feels safe.

 

[Louise&Fluffybabytorts]

Okay