nutria305
New Member
Greetings everyone.
I recently was gifted two baby red footed tortoises by a neighbor who breeds them. Maybe about two months ago. They are named Kiki and Pepa.
We live in an area of dry tropical forest, about 730 meters above sea level most days are in the 80s-90sF, in South America so this pretty much their natural habitat with equatorial sun.
I have an organic garden with all sorts of weeds and use a small pen to not lose them while they are small. The pen is moved around daily to different areas so they could feed. At night I put them in an enclosed area because they are very small and local cats and possums may try to eat them. They eat local cactus fruits, papaya, guava, figs, hibiscus flowers and leafy "weeds" from the garden.
A week ago we had a fire ant attack and both tortoises were bitten by various ants. At first they both were in shock, would not come our of their shells and did not accept food. Since then, Kiki seems to have fully recovered, is walking around and accepting food as she was prior to the attack. Pepa does not come out of her shell and does not accept food. I´ve tried submersing her for short periods of time (1-2 minutes) in room temperature tea of Mexican pepperleaf (Piper auritum) and a little of panela (a natural, unprocessed sugarcane sweetner), which is a local medicine here, but it has not worked in terms of returning to her normal behavior prior to the attack. When submersed she walks around until she is able to get out of the dish but will not bring her head out all. Please, any recommendations on how to help Pepa recover.
I recently was gifted two baby red footed tortoises by a neighbor who breeds them. Maybe about two months ago. They are named Kiki and Pepa.
We live in an area of dry tropical forest, about 730 meters above sea level most days are in the 80s-90sF, in South America so this pretty much their natural habitat with equatorial sun.
I have an organic garden with all sorts of weeds and use a small pen to not lose them while they are small. The pen is moved around daily to different areas so they could feed. At night I put them in an enclosed area because they are very small and local cats and possums may try to eat them. They eat local cactus fruits, papaya, guava, figs, hibiscus flowers and leafy "weeds" from the garden.
A week ago we had a fire ant attack and both tortoises were bitten by various ants. At first they both were in shock, would not come our of their shells and did not accept food. Since then, Kiki seems to have fully recovered, is walking around and accepting food as she was prior to the attack. Pepa does not come out of her shell and does not accept food. I´ve tried submersing her for short periods of time (1-2 minutes) in room temperature tea of Mexican pepperleaf (Piper auritum) and a little of panela (a natural, unprocessed sugarcane sweetner), which is a local medicine here, but it has not worked in terms of returning to her normal behavior prior to the attack. When submersed she walks around until she is able to get out of the dish but will not bring her head out all. Please, any recommendations on how to help Pepa recover.
