Baby Sulcata had "growth" on face, now a crater

[Sangster]

New to the forum but not to forums in general. Haven't introduced myself yet, but will in the correct section.

Last week we went to the Central Florida Turtle and Tortoise club annual auction and left with a baby sulcata. He's maybe 2" in length and weighs 57g. The size of maybe a hacky-sack.

I'll start off with some husbandry details:

We have him housed in a 2ft x 4ft plastic storage bin for now. We use cypress mulch as substrate and mist it once or twice a day. Humidity hovers around 80% (not very hard here in Florida). Cool side temp is 80-82, warm side is 88-90, basking temp is 98-100, night time temp is 78-80.

The heat light/UVB light is a 100w Powersun UVB. Also use a 60w CHE to maintain cool side and night time temps. I use an digital temp gun to check basking/cool side/warm side/shell temps. Also have a regular thermometer/hydrometer on the cool side under the CHE to make sure the minimum temp in the bin doesn't drop below 78-80.

Diet is mostly spring mix. I also keep some moistened grassland tortoise pellets in there but haven't seen him touch it yet. I've only ever seen him eat the spring mix.

He gets a nice warm soak once a day and seems to enjoy it. He'll stick his head right in the water and drink a bunch. He hasn't pooped in the water yet, he saves it for his basking rock, lol.

He is active but doesn't really each much.

So, now on to the issue.....

Shortly after we first brought him home we noticed a small bump on the side of his face. We didn't really think anything of it until yesterday i noticed it was swollen and ugly looking. Here's a pic of that:

Today in his bath he was rubbing his face on his leg and the "growth" came right off except it left an ugly looking crater in his face. It doesn't seem to bother him and he even let me put some neosporin on it.

Here's what it looks like now:

It's ugly. It doesn't go all the way through and it never bled. Will it grow back? Has anyone seen anything like it?

I imagine if it doesn't heal up quickly or gets worse I'll need to take him to the vet.

Any suggestions, thoughts, etc?

 

[ChuckandAsh]

RE: Baby Sulcata had "growth" on face, now a crater

Take him to the vet.. I've never seen that before but I'm not an expert..

 

[jeninak907]

It looks like an abscess. I have had a couple lizards get those, they died shortly after because we thought we could home-remedy them.. I would go to a vet ASAP.

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

Ohh poor baby. Does he act like it hurts? Is there any drainage?

It almost looks like a staph infection. I don't think torts can get those though so it is probably a very similar bacterial infection.

I would absolutely not wait to have him seen by a vet, it looks like he needs to be put on some sort of antibiotics right away

 

[mainey34]

Yes, absolutely.... I would take your tort to the vet....ASAP... and your basking temp should be 100-105

 

[Yvonne G]

It's probably nothing to worry about. My first thought was that he had a foreign body stuck in there that formed an abscess and as the abscess got old/ripe, it eventually sloughed off. More than likely it will heal up and in a month or so you won't even be able to tell it was ever there.

For your peace of mind, it would be good to have a vet take a look at it. They might give you a dose of antibiotics to be sure there's no residual infection.

 

[DaisyDuke]

RE: Baby Sulcata had "growth" on face, now a crater

Definitely take him to the vet as soon as possible.

It could be some kind of abscess. Some other infection, something that is eating away at the area, could be nothing, etc, etc.

Nobody wants to scare you but the truth is it can be anything and needs to be checked out.

Beautiful tort Please keep us updated.

 

[LuckysGirl007]

RE: Baby Sulcata had "growth" on face, now a crater

Awe! Poor little thing! Please do keep us posted I will be thinking of him today.

 

[yagyujubei]

Personally, I would wait for awhile before a vet visit. I'm not saying you should or shouldn't go. It looks to me like the situation has resolved itself, and as long as he's eating well and showing no symptoms, I would wait. There are many though, that don't mind spending $100 for peace of mind. I think that now that the piece has fallen out, that the dent will start to 'fill in". Might take a little time.

 

[DaisyDuke]

RE: Baby Sulcata had "growth" on face, now a crater

The post says that he's active but doesn't eat much.

If I had that happen to my face I'd pay the money to get it checked out. I feel the same of my animals. But that's me

On another note. I once had a rabbit who grew a whole new lip. We noticed a cut on his face. At first he was fine but then wasn't eating well at all. We put aloe Vera on it twice a day and over a short amount of time this big chunk came off as new lip was growing in. After a few weeks he was fine.

I still think better to be safe than sorry though.

 

[Sangster]

So this morning I checked him out and the hole has scabbed over already. I put some more neosporin on it and will update here after work. He did go crazy this morning with the spring mix. He ate more in the 15 minutes i watched him than he has in any one sitting yet. I wonder if the growth or whatever it was was painful when he opened his mouth and now it's feeling a bit better. If it doesn't look better tonight, I'll make a vet appointment.

 

[Jacqui]

So this morning I checked him out and the hole has scabbed over already. I put some more neosporin on it and will update here after work. He did go crazy this morning with the spring mix. He ate more in the 15 minutes i watched him than he has in any one sitting yet. I wonder if the growth or whatever it was was painful when he opened his mouth and now it's feeling a bit better. If it doesn't look better tonight, I'll make a vet appointment.

I would guess it did bother him. I am in the boat of folks who think the problem has resolved itself. Just watch it close to be sure.

 

[dds7155]

I would always agree with emysemys,, i think her years of hands on Experience is enough for me

 

[Laura]

give him a good soaking...

 

[laney]

RE: Baby Sulcata had "growth" on face, now a crater

He is a cute little dude,

I would imagine it feels less irritating to him now. Are you managing to keep the dirt from sticking in it?
Sounds positive that its healing over

 

[lovelyrosepetal]

I would also listen to Emysemys. She knows a lot about tortoises and helping them get better. She is awesome.

 

[Sangster]

RE: Baby Sulcata had "growth" on face, now a crater

So it does look MUCH better tonight! Kind of surprised how much it has healed over in 24 hrs. I gave him a good long warm soak tonight and the put some more neosporin on it I've he dried out. He is eating like normal now and more active.

 

[Yvonne G]

I would also listen to Emysemys. She knows a lot about tortoises and helping them get better. She is awesome.

LOL! Nice save!

 

[Tom]

Looks like an access to me. Personally, I would treat that myself. If you go to a vet, I wouldn't let him/her give any injections. So many of them go in the back read some book and then want to give your tort a vitamin A injection. This is often fatal and it does nothing helpful anyway.

On another note: Time to broaden the dietary horizons. Start by soaking a single pellet of the Zoomed food. Then finely chop up the spring mix, and thoroughly mix in the mushed pellet. Mix it so well that he cant eat around it. Over time start adding more pellets. You can also look for some additional greens. Santa Barbara mix is good, or you can try escarole, endive, and a whole host of others. Weeds and grass are best. Try chopping up some tender young grass on top of the food and mixing that in too.

 

[Sangster]

RE: Baby Sulcata had "growth" on face, now a crater

Update: The little guy is doing great, never had any side effects, and is all healed up. Eating like a pig still and gaining weight steadily. He's on a 50/50 spring mix/pellet diet and loves it all.