justuszerg
New Member
I noticed him seemed to be less energetic last Saturday (3/19) and had low appetite this Monday (3/23). Confirmed something must be wrong today after feeding him (I feed my tortoises every other day). He had low interests in his food and ate perhaps less than 20% of his meal. I will take him to the vet tomorrow and hope the community can advise me what might be wrong.
Winter in my area is harsh for tortoises and I lost a redfoot last December due to RI. Lesson learned and I built the current setup for my remaining three tortoises (two leopards and one redfoot):
Their enclosure is semi-enclosed that can hold temperature relatively steady from 80F to 85F during the day (from 8 am to 5 pm) when lights are on. A thermostat controls temperature between 76F and 78F through two ceramic heat emitters at night. I cover the enclosure with a blanket to reach that desired temperature range:
Humidity in the enclosure fluctuates from 55% to 85%, depending on the frequency of misting. I use compressed coconut chip for the bedding.
I feed my leopards mixed greens such as turnip, dandelion, bok choy, supplemented with Mazuri LS diet every other day. They receive warm soak about 2 to 3 times a week.
The three tortoises has their own separated area and occassionally the block between the two leopards is removed so that they can enjoy a larger space. At this moment, the 3yr old leopard in larger size has lost appetite and the other one at the same age in smaller size is doing well.
Per my observation, symptoms on the larger leopard are lost of appetite, less energetic, and seems to have watery eyes and a bit of swollen eyelid when eyes are closed (relative to the healthy smaller leopard, but cannot be certain). I feel temperature and diet do not cause the issue. I suspect the large leopard is constipated because:
1. I recently installed curtain-style hide areas for the leopards because they sometimes tip over their wooden hide placed on the bedding. I installed the new hide on 3/6. On 3/11, I noticed that some curtains were chewed off, it is highly likely that the large leopard did so. The curtain is made from some leftover weed barrier. I immediately trimmed off the curtains that are too long laying on the bedding. No more chewing off is found since then.
2. The large leopard is found to nibble on the coconut chip bedding sometime. He seems particularly like to nibble on the bedding right below its mercury vapor light, so I placed a piece of tile there to prevent that. I am not sure if he really ate a few or a fair amount of the chip. The chip looks like:
I also suspect possible bacteria infection because the bedding in the enclosure is always wet and humid and the ventilation of the enclosure seems to be poor. I flip and mix all of the bedding at least 1 time a week. The enclosure cover opens a few times a day. The enclosure is not fully sealed. It has large gaps in the front and on the side of the cover. The tortoises has been living in the enclosure since Janurary. I really wish to have them walk around in my house but room temperature is too low for them during winter in my area. What mysterious to me is that both leopards share the same environment yet one is having issues while the other one looks health.
That's all the information I can think of to provide. Please let me know if you need to know more to help me out. I really appreciate your suggestions on what is happening on my leopard.
Winter in my area is harsh for tortoises and I lost a redfoot last December due to RI. Lesson learned and I built the current setup for my remaining three tortoises (two leopards and one redfoot):
Their enclosure is semi-enclosed that can hold temperature relatively steady from 80F to 85F during the day (from 8 am to 5 pm) when lights are on. A thermostat controls temperature between 76F and 78F through two ceramic heat emitters at night. I cover the enclosure with a blanket to reach that desired temperature range:
Humidity in the enclosure fluctuates from 55% to 85%, depending on the frequency of misting. I use compressed coconut chip for the bedding.
I feed my leopards mixed greens such as turnip, dandelion, bok choy, supplemented with Mazuri LS diet every other day. They receive warm soak about 2 to 3 times a week.
The three tortoises has their own separated area and occassionally the block between the two leopards is removed so that they can enjoy a larger space. At this moment, the 3yr old leopard in larger size has lost appetite and the other one at the same age in smaller size is doing well.
Per my observation, symptoms on the larger leopard are lost of appetite, less energetic, and seems to have watery eyes and a bit of swollen eyelid when eyes are closed (relative to the healthy smaller leopard, but cannot be certain). I feel temperature and diet do not cause the issue. I suspect the large leopard is constipated because:
1. I recently installed curtain-style hide areas for the leopards because they sometimes tip over their wooden hide placed on the bedding. I installed the new hide on 3/6. On 3/11, I noticed that some curtains were chewed off, it is highly likely that the large leopard did so. The curtain is made from some leftover weed barrier. I immediately trimmed off the curtains that are too long laying on the bedding. No more chewing off is found since then.
2. The large leopard is found to nibble on the coconut chip bedding sometime. He seems particularly like to nibble on the bedding right below its mercury vapor light, so I placed a piece of tile there to prevent that. I am not sure if he really ate a few or a fair amount of the chip. The chip looks like:
I also suspect possible bacteria infection because the bedding in the enclosure is always wet and humid and the ventilation of the enclosure seems to be poor. I flip and mix all of the bedding at least 1 time a week. The enclosure cover opens a few times a day. The enclosure is not fully sealed. It has large gaps in the front and on the side of the cover. The tortoises has been living in the enclosure since Janurary. I really wish to have them walk around in my house but room temperature is too low for them during winter in my area. What mysterious to me is that both leopards share the same environment yet one is having issues while the other one looks health.
That's all the information I can think of to provide. Please let me know if you need to know more to help me out. I really appreciate your suggestions on what is happening on my leopard.
