HELP : suddenly my st is sick

[bibiana]

dear frenzzzz, hope someone cld help me with my sick st. I have a baby st abt 2" size.

I soaking it every morning under the sunlight for approx. 20-30mins. It crawls n nibbles the grass a little but when i bring it back indoor, placed it at a spot it doesn't move, it doesn't hide into its shell, all limbs are just hanging, eyes are not swollen but shut most of the time and sadly its not been eating.

What shud i do.?!?

 

[egyptiandan]

Is your star tortoises's shell soft at all?

Danny

 

[bibiana]

yes its shell is soft., fyi there are no vets are knowlegable abt st n im afraid to take it to the vet coz a fren of mine tooks hers to the vet, it didnt help at all

 

[dmarcus]

What are your temps and what is the diet your feeding your tortoise?

 

[SILVERSTAR]

i would give it a warm baby food soak preferably carrots or maybe squash or sweet potatoe,if the shell is soft i would offer cactus when it will eat im only suggesting that cuz of the high calcium,im kinda a rookie at offering advice but that is wut id do if it were in my care,one of my stars is also around 2-3inches but slightly larger and when i got mine it was about as small as you can get them unless you hatch yourself,and he hasnt been problem free ive gotten rid of runny noses a few times for him and i personally still think his shell is not hard enuff but i didnt worry about it for awhile cuz i was told its sumwut normal for a baby tort to have a soft shell at very young age and i still worry about it even tho i feel im doing everything i can.The winter was hard on mine trying to keep him warm enuff without drying him out but if its too wet and it gets cold-trouble,i wanted to ask if it was wild caught or captive bred?

 

[Sky2Mina]

Hello Bibiana, welcome to the forum and where are you located?

If you're somewhere in Asia, I'm guessing your Star is probably wild caught.
Could it be Parasites? Is there a possibility to check with a vet? How long do
you keep the little guy?

Hope your star recovers!

 

[bibiana]

frenzzzz, im feeling depressed n devastated at the moment.... my dearest pet "starry" just passed away ...
dont know why... i put her under morning sun, she did not move for 30mins when i approach her i saw tons of ants all over her i suppose her was too weak to stay away frm d ants....
i shud have jez leave her inside her tub under heatlights instead... shud hav not put her out on the grass under the sun dis morning... im feeling so regretful for what i did to her....
had her for almost 2years but she is now gone forever...
my mind is still on her evry second... remembering the times i watch her waking up stick-out her head walking around then i'll pick her up for a warm bathe, later putting her under morning sun, watch her walking grasping grass to eat later i'll take her into her tub to continue eating n resting under her hiding place..
s.times she makes sound as if she is talking (she used to have two friends - my girlfriend has two st, she let me take care of dem when she goes on holiday)... i suppose she really missed her friends feeling so lonely b4 she passed away...
omg im really sad for what has happened to her.. i cant stop crying i feel so guilty... oh GOD i jez cant forget her... my memories w her remains forever... :'((((

 

[Laura]

so sorry you lost her..
maybe we can help you figure out what happened..
You had her for 2 years.. was she a baby when got her?
what was her diet like? did she get calcuim? water? How warm was she kept? Do you have pictures of her area where she lived?
Do yo have other tortoises?

 

[dmmj]

Sorry to hear about that. I honesty don't think putting her outside killed her, she may have just passed away, not trying to be harsh but ants eat dead things that is what they do, she probably passed and then the ants found her.

Once again my condolences

 

[bibiana]

hi laura, i had her wen she ws really l'ltle. i put her in a storage tub {3' (l) x 2' (w) , 1' (h)} with daylights during de day n nightglo lights at nite. temp s approx. 38C., i feed her jbl agivert sticks, spinach, carrots, etc mixed w vitamin n calcium powder but she doesnt really like calcium when she smells it so usually i wil handfeed her a little first then put her in her food dish plate for her to continue eating.
since my girlfriend took her st back, my st refuse to eat much. she seems to look lonely.
cud she b depress for being lonely for losing a friend.?!? or was she really sick.?!?

---

---

hi dmmj u mean she ws probably dead when i put her under the sun dis morning.?!? can it die of no reason.. like sudden death.?!? :'(((

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yesss i mixed her veg with calcium powder but when she smells it she doesnt eat much, normally i wil handfeed her 1st b4 putting her on her food dish plate.,

she doesnt have running nose, eyes are not swollen just shut most of the time

 

[Sky2Mina]

I'm so sorry to hear that. RIP

I guess your star was sick, that is why she died. It takes a lot longer in reptiles for symptoms of a illness to actually show - so when it shows, it is, many times, already very serious.

Sorry again. Poor little star.

 

[TortBrain]

Hi bibiana,

Nice to see some fellow countrymate here.

Sad thing is that your ST had left your side. Sorry to hear that.

Out of curiosity, your ST is with ya for 2yrs, and only 2" at size? Got it from local petstores?

 

[Zouave]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Bibiana:

I'm so sorry that your tortoise died. You asked dmmj if a tortoise could die for no reason. When you first started this thread it was because your star was "suddenly sick." So there actually WAS a reason it died, we just don't know what that reason was.

If you get another one, don't feed it too much spinach. Spinach binds the calcium to it and the calcium gets pooped out with the waste products.

You can rest assured, the tortoise died first and the ants came later. It wasn't your fault.

 

[TortBrain]

One of my baby ST was covered with ants when it died that night too.

 

[radhika]

Hi Bibiana,

I am realy soory to hear that. U say ur st was there with u from last 2 years and still it was only of 2". then I must say there was some serious problem with it. A Star of 2 years must be at least of 3" to 3.5".

Its shell was soft, eyes closed most of the times, dont take proper food, do not move that much and was very week... I am sorry to say but according to me, probable your st was suffering from parasites. I am sorry that we can help it but u can help the other one with your girl friend. Please try and get there stool test for the parasites, there may be chances they are also infected, if so we can take some preventive messures.

Sorry one again for ur loss.

 

[River14]

Bibiana, im sorry for your little Star.

Ok I have been thinking. Im not sure if your star was sick or not but in Malaysia it should never have been inside at all. Everything it needed was outside especially humidity and sun.

I am very fascinated that you observed that the BB went down hill when its partner friend was removed.

I have seen this myself.

You see little stars and maybe others too have an impulse to eat when they see things moving. This happens when tortoises start munching all at the same time, food gets pushed nd shoved all over the place inducing everyone to have a good feed.

When there is only one and its indoors too, the food is static and the hatchling ignores it.

I only had one and it ate like it was on deaths door, so I promptly after a week of this sad observation got another one. Thinking it was lonely, and guess what it turned into a little tiger. Grabbing food with its little legs and munching like the best of them.

I also noticed same time that when the food started moving as they nibbled that the eating response became irresistible and they tucked in.

Also with slightly less desirable food like hibiscus leaves if I jiggle them about the eating response begins immediately and they start snapping in the air.

So all in all your little Star might not have even seen its food. They dont have good close up vision but excellent near distance vision so it doesn't help matters.

Outside at grass the wind moves things about and that seems enough for them to be happy to launch an attack on a blade of grass. ( :

All in all my observation is that I think hatchlings do better in groups even just 2. Later they maybe OK?

I cant vouch for this absolutely its just an observation of my own hatchlings progress. Maybe someone else has also seen this.

The other thing is my hatchlings had a hard thick carapace since I got them. I assume this is normal. I think a soft shell is a bit disturbing. In the very beginning maybe but a week or so (not sure exactly other people here will know) later it should be hard already I reckon. Maybe it was a badly bred little thing and might just have coped if it had a partner or three???