Hello, my name is Brenna Dunlap. I wish I would have posted weeks ago, not sure if it would have changed much, because our little guy was sick & it just seemed no matter what we did he really wasn't getting any better. On November 10, my boys & I got our first baby tort-"little Boaz". We had his habitat already preset up for his arrival & even had his vet picked out. I know I'm probably going to get a few hits on this one, but (strike one)he arrived in his fedex box to us in Saint Mary's ga from a pet store in Miami fl. He seemed not as active as expected & a little cool, but after he warmed up he was roaming his 30gal tank checking things out, eating, drinking, looked good. Well, here comes strike two-our 15lb terrier decided she was feeling a little threatened by him b/c she decided to jump in to his enclosure & take him. Luckily we caught it quickly but obviously not quickly enough, but he was alive & a small part of his plastron was gone by his right front leg. It took us an hour to get a hold of the emergency vet, an hour away, they told us there was nothing we could do, but reading on this forum I knew he had to be put on antibiotics. The next morning his vet did just that injectable fortaz every 3 days, probiotics in his water, & his habitat was changed to linens to keep his wound clean, & silvadein on his wounds twice a day. He also on this day was showing slight signs of respiratory infection, drainage in nose, puffy eyes, but she didn't know if it was for sure or not. Could be stress from the bite. Two days later we are blowing bubbles from his nose, eyes look worse at his check up. Continue with meds as instructed come back in a week or sooner if need be. We came back and forth to the vet every 3-7 days for 2 mos, adding an oral antibiotic, anti fungal & fecal. Finally we were done no respiratory infection, we were in the clear for two weeks but continued the meds for those two to make sure. Wounds were healing, not awesome but slowly. He hadn't gained anything, we had been yo-yo-ing up & down from 29-35 grams. So out of left field he decides he's not really hungry anymore, not defecating hardly, & sleeping 24/7??? Pseudohibernation is what the vet calls it. His heart rate was slowed, his X-ray showed no signs of being constipated but his bones were very light. I had to up his calcium that I gave him from once a day to twice a day. I got him up every morning put him in front of his water (he drank) often fell asleep there, or in front of his food. At 2, he went outside for sun time for 30-40 min & fresh grass/greens, even if he just sat there we sat there for his sunshine. This is where I feel like I failed him. Not being knowledgeable in knowing the signs of failure to thrive. I've seen it in puppies/kittens, but it is different. Him falling asleep in his water I thought was maybe I wasn't soaking him long enough so he was trying to let me know. Him falling asleep in his food-honestly I'm not sure, we as people when we get sick can be hungry but can't eat, that's why I took him to the vet. But sleeping all the time, if your not eating, there's not going to be energy to move, right?? But what I saw my poor guy do Wednesday was heart wrenching, honestly, & I couldn't get him to the vet fast enough. I went to check on him after the gym & he was still by the water, but looked like he had almost dug a hole, like he was trying to move but couldn't. When I went to pick him up, he was limp like. He couldn't hold up his head hardly& his eyes I noticed was like they couldn't close. I took him outside for a sec for sun/fresh air. No, head nodding, moving, nothing. I contacted the vet & while waiting to hear back from the dr, within an hour he started gasping for air. We had just finished his outside enclosure the day prior, he spent 2.5 hours outside, what went wrong, was all I could think! In the car for the 55 min drive to the vet, we made it in 40, to have him put in the O2 chamber & kept overnight for meds & observation. That evening they called me, he was unresponsive but still had a heartbeat. Next morning, he had passed. I need to know what I could have done differently. My heart was there every step, finaces wasn't a problem, I read & did everything I thought I was supposed to be doing with the exception of my dog. (Which by the way never touched our mud turtle, guess just didn't like the tort). I want another one, but I want to make sure that I'm not setting myself or family up for failure or heart ache again.