My first Red Foot rescue… a couple questions

Twiggz

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Looking for some advice here. I picked up a 2yo red foot from a student in san jose last night. He posted an ad on CL "free to a good home". He seemed eager to hand her and all of her equipment over to me as soon as I stopped by. I'm not sure about the feeding history, but he gave me a bottle of tort food. It looks like he picked up everything at a pet store. The Substrate was Cyprus mulch and it was soaked. He had a mist setup to spray every hour into the rubbermaid enclosure. No heating element included, and one those horrible coiled florescent bulb was included.

As for my personal Tort experience, I have two Reds that I picked up from Turtle terry July '13. I've fed them the typical varied diet, let them out for natural light as weather permits and keep the humidity at decent levels while inside. Never had an issue and they are growing healthy, smooth and are always hungry.

I know I should keep the rescue separate from my others, but for how long? Should I take a stool sample to a local vet just to verify before even considering having them together?

Now for my bigger concern, I fed the Rescue some mixed greens and a little hard boiled egg since It was protein day for my other two. Today I set up a small temporary outdoor pen for her to stretch her legs and get some sun. I went out to check on her every so often. The last time shocked me, there were two green silver dollar sized puddles of diarrhea around the pen and one that was white like she might have vomited the egg. I hosed out the pen, and came back 30min or so later and there were two more smaller puddles of green. Sorry for the gross details but I'm concerned.

So my thoughts are:
The egg was new to her system and she can't handle it yet.
She's stressed from the move last night.
Or she's sick and I need to panic.

My other two never had the runs, just a little soft when they got a couple cherry tomatos. The stuff that came out of this new tort was baby food loose.

What do you guys think? Should I monitor more before running to the vet, or go asap? I'm only going to feed her greens for now, incase the egg did upset her system.

Thanks, here are some pics. Obviously its too young to know the sex, but my son insisted we name her Amy. So for now, its a her :)

This is the food that was included... I'm tossing it.


 

G-stars

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Definitely keep her away from your other tortoises. At least until she gets better and you have made sure she's not infested with parasites. I would keep her nice and warm to boost up her immune system until you figure out what she has.

Most quarantine for about 6 months. I would quarantine her longer if you suspect she has something. Until it's ruled out.


— Gus
 

kathyth

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Hi,

I agree with Gus and would take her to the vet if there are other issues.
She's a cutie!
 

wellington

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Before rushing her to the vet, give her time to settle in and get used to better food. The bottle of food he gave you was probably the main diet. It could have to do with the diet you are giving her, which I'm sure she is not used too, plus the new home.
I have always heard/read 3-6 months quarantine. Even after that time, things could still be there that we will never see.
 

Twiggz

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Thanks everyone. I'll continue to keep her separated and monitor her closely before taking her to the vet. So far she's very active and curious, so she doesn't act like she's sick. I'm actually impressed how little she hides from me and my son, she's not timid at all.
 

Twiggz

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Update: No more runs! She's starting to nibble at the greens that we put in her enclosure and nibbled on a piece of banana. Obviously she's still getting settled, but at least I'm not as worried as I was. Still very active and curious.

Questions about taking a stool sample to the vet. How "fresh" dies it need to be? I assume they can still see the parasites a few days after, but is it better to try to get a sample that day?
 

Twiggz

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Another update, she's still healthy and is always hungry. Found out hard boiled egg give her the runs. It happened when we gave it to her again. I guess its something that just doesn't agree with her system. So for protein we will give her chicken or low fat cat food.

Oddly this one's tastes are a lot different from my other two. This one does not like dandelion greens at all and only nibbles at fruit. She loves to eat grass when I put her outside. My other two have never even tried grass, and race each other to fruit or dandelion greens. But hey, at least she's eating the greens my other two don't like.

I have an appointment with the vet on Monday. Hopefully I can get a fresh stool sample.
 

Twiggz

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Results are back from the fecal test. They called my wife instead of me, not sure why. They told her they found a strange parasite in her intestine. Not sure of the name yet, Ill find out when I go to pick up the medicine. They told my wife its a "friendly" parasite. I'm guessing its not life threatening at least.

I'll give her the medicine and have another fecal test in six weeks. Sure am glad I kept her away from my others. Thanks for all the great info everyone!
 
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