My tortoise have soft shell

[jinmin17]

Hello, I have a star tortoise that have not eaten for days. I bring it to the vet and she told me that he have soft shell syndrome. She give him a injection of calcium and antibotic.
After 3days, He is still not eating! Please help me. The vet asked me to add calcium into his diet but my tortoise is not consuming them!

Please help me! he is very dear to me. He is less than a year old.

How do I force feed him?

 

[kimber_lee_314]

What kind of antibiotic and how long have you been giving it to him? What are the temps? Are you soaking him in warm water?

 

[jinmin17]

Hi. I bath him with warm water than I feel warm for human to take a bath.

I not sure what is the antibiotic but he have been on it since Saturday and today is the last day. How do I convince him or force him to eat something?

 

[jobeanator]

is he drinking at all when your soaking him? if you have any mazuri, id try to put some in when hes soaking and if he drinks he'll eat the little pieces in the water when drinking. id raise the temps also in his enclosure

 

[seanang168]

Yes feed him with mazuri as it contains good nutrients to build up his health. Though may take a while before the star would want to eat it. Make it soft with water and include it with his normal green diet.

I sprinkle my greens with calcium powder. Another thing is to make sure he gets sunlight. Also soaked him with lukewarm water daily this helps to increase his activity.

Let him out of enclosure often too so that he gets more exercise.

 

[nawalmok]

mine oso develop soft shell. want eat for a few day. went to vet. didn' get any injection as my babies is very, very young.. i feed them with finely chopped cactus pad. hibiscus leaves & flower, a bit of banana (only once) all mix with calcium powder. 30 min sunbath every day & soaked them in pottasium magnet mixture.. thanks to god after waitin for 10 days, my babies now gettin better. they eat like pig, active & nomore sunken eyes. what a relief.. but shell still soft but not like the first day

 

[jobeanator]

i make sure i soak mine everyday for 15-20 min a day... mine are about 4-5 months old, still really small. i also give him a calcium supplement everyday when i feed him since they need it when there soo young.

 

[elegans]

I am so sorry. I have only been able to save a few tortoises from this. It is not one thing that causes this problem. It is a combination of problems that lead to this. Most times it is not possible to save the tortoise in question. It is important that you step back and look at the "BIG" picture. How did this really happen, why did this happen I know that this is painful but you will usually figure it out if you are willing to be honest with yourself. Many people, including myself had horrible starts with stars (smuggled wc babies of course) sold to me as CB USA. Stars are not hard to keep at all as long as you start with good animals and have the conditions that they need. Which by the way are far more forgiving than most people on this site imply. I wish you the best with your tortoise. Soak daily (which I would never do under normal circumstances), keep 85 F + and feed the **** out of. Best wishes Douglas

 

[jinmin17]

what is the temp of the water he needed to be soak in?

He is still not eating but started to move around? How long can a tortoise last without food? He have not eaten for going to 10days.

 

[nawalmok]

i soaked my babies for 15min to 20 min in lukewarm pottasium magnet mixture water. dunno the temp.. try gv him fruit or hibiscus flower. finely chopped..

 

[Yvonne G]

Since the baby's not eating, I suggest you add a few drops of vitamins to the soaking water. I use liquid bird vitamins. Even if they don't drink the water, they DO absorb some of the nutrients through the thin skin under their throat and under their tail.

 

[elegans]

I soak my babies every 3 days in cool water for 12 to 15 minutes. No supplements needed if the animals are healthy. I have added trace minerals and vitamins to the water when I received animals that were not in great condition. But this was just temporary. Good luck with your animals Douglas