New owner of a Cherry Head

[Randi]

I'm new to the site. I've owned reptiles my entire life and as of two weeks ago, I added a baby Red Footed tortoise. I am looking for some advice.


Her story started off when she was shipped to Petsmart. A friend works there and told me about her. The tortoise had been in quarantine since December. She started developing fungus on her plastron. I found out she lived in a 5 gallon tank with very moist soil. Had no UVB either. The environment is more or less what caused it. She has been to a vet since December. The only thing they had left to recommend was injections. The store no longer wanted to keep her there and care for her so they decided to euthanize. My friend contacted me two weeks ago to ask so I took her. She's 48 grams. She's living on Cypress Mulch in a 20 gallon and getting bathed daily. Her hot side is 91F and her cooler side is 87F. She has an undertank heater. Her heat light is 100W. She has a high output UVB light. Her humidity is about 60 to 80 percent. She wasn't eating at the store but the first night she was here she ate for hours. She eats numerous times a day here. She has quite severe fungus. I've been debriding the plastron but I'm wondering if there's anything I'm not doing and should? I'm waiting for antiseptic to arrive this week and I was going to buy athletes foot cream today. Thanks for any tips that can be offered. Thanks for the time

 

[naturalman91]

they're condition's caused this yet they wanted to euthanize her? that's messed up

 

[Jabuticaba]

Hello and welcome!

S/he is cute! Good job on getting her to eat! It's a good sign. I couldn't tell you anything about fungus issues, but I'm sure others will be along with helpful advice.

Good luck!


May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[Randi]

She apparently ate nothing almost while at the store. They only offered kale?

I give spring mix, two types of pellets and she eats for a long time. She eats three times a day until today. She hasn't been very hungry but I'm assuming s/he may be leveling off?

 

[christinaland128]

That's very noble of you to take her. Poor thing! Here's a great website I follow to care for my Reds. https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/nutrition/good-foods-list

 

[Randi]

Weighed her on the 6th and she was 46.4g and today she is 50.9g

 

[Randi]

That's very noble of you to take her. Poor thing! Here's a great website I follow to care for my Reds. https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/nutrition/good-foods-list

Thanks so much for the link! I have a giant list but it's good to know how they rank for nutrition thank you all for the support. Tortoises are way different then turtles haha

 

[kathyth]

Great save!

 

[bouaboua]

Hello and Welcome.

 

[Randi]

Any one here experienced with tortoise shell rot?
Read a lot of stuff but there are so many opinions and treatments.

I was going to do betadine scrubs for the first three days with athletes foot cream and then chlorhexidine baths and scrubs for four or more days with atheletes foot cream. Yay or nay?

 

[mike taylor]

Do the betadine scub one time, then the next day scub with the hand soap doctors use, then use the foot cream till is gone . This should fix him up . Then you need to keep humidity up without wetting down the substrate. So he's not sitting in it or make sure is can get somewhere in the enclosure to dry . To wet of substrate causes this problem .

 

[Randi]

I know what the cause was but it wasn't like that in my care. It lived on soaking wet soil until three weeks ago. I brought it home then and it's on cypress mulch now.

I mist on one side mainly so s/he has the option to be on the drier side.

Thank you for the advice on cleaning up the rot!

 

[Randi]

I have an update

The first picture was her plastron when I got her three or more weeks ago and the second picture is from this morning! I think there's some progress being made

 

[CharlieM]

Wow!!! Looks great. Lucky tort to have found you.

 

[N2TORTS]

you have done a wonderful job! .......Hats off to a caring individual ^5
Happy Tort~N

JD~

 

[Randi]

Thanks so much! I appreciate that. I wanted to make her better and give her a great life.

I haven't even medicated yet.. I just give her baths daily, numerous times a day. I scrubbed every three days. She shot out her poop at me like a rocket launcher! Hahaha. May put some cream on her plastron, just didn't wanna stress her by leaving her in a container over night to dry

 

[Marashina'smom]

they're condition's caused this yet they wanted to euthanize her? that's messed up

I have the same sad story but mine was Petco. Luckily my husband is a manager there and when he came back after being on furlough due to covid 19 he learned that she was going to be euthanized for a URI. She came home and is thriving. Thank you for saving her