New to this site and Need Russian Help

Joined
Jul 21, 2019
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
Yuma AZ
Hopefully I am posting this correctly!!
Hi I am new to this site and have a Russian. She is about 8-10 years old. We found her about to cross the road and get hit a couple years ago. We took her to the vet and they said she was definitely a pet that had gotten out. We kept her as there were no homes in the area she was found.
We were in San Diego California but moved a year ago to Yuma AZ she was in a stock tank and a couple months a go we diced to make her an outdoor enclosure on our property for more space.
We got a heat wave and hadn't seen her in a couple weeks so we decided to look for her and found her very deep down in the dirt which was great she kept her self cool but she was actually not doing well.
We have been trying to help her recover but just dont know how to help her better.
Her skin got very thick and dark to the point of black and hard. A film covers her eyes so she can not see. We are hopeful her eyes are still there but she definitely cant see which is causing her to not eat! We have been soaking her a lot as that helps soften the skin but its just not coming off and her head is not changing because we don't soak her head under water obviously. And now her bottom shell is showing signs of too much water so we need to let her dry out.
She is other wise healthy. We have been trying to squeeze blended lettuce in her mouth and have successfully gotten some in because she has had a couple runny bowl movements She moves when we set her down and sometimes very active sometimes not.
I believe it we could just get the skin covering her eyes removed she would eat, I have seen her open her mouth a couple times to drink the water as well.
We don't know if she got burned or if her body just went into survival mode.
We have also reached out to many animal vets here and the option for a Tortoise vet is not there. If anyone has an ideas, We want to help her and appreciate any input!!
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,405
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Get some Gerber strained carrots and mix half and half with warm water. Use a container with a small foot print, but tall sides so he can't climb out. Place him back into his enclosure NEAR, but not directly under the light and leave him in there for at least an hour. If you do this faithfully for three days in a row, the eyes should open at the end of that time.

Are you sure the hard, black skin isn't dead skin, dead limbs?

Go to a vet and ask them to show you how to tube feed a tortoise. Then buy some Oxbow Critical Care and the tube feeding supplies from the vet and tube feed the tortoise. But remember, they have a very slow metabolism, so you can't give him a bunch today then another bunch tomorrow. His stomach will still be full from the first day. Of course, if, at the end of three days, his eyes are open, you won't need to tube him, as he'll eat on his own.

But your description of the skin worries me. The only time I've seen skin like that is on a dead limb.
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2019
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
Yuma AZ
Get some Gerber strained carrots and mix half and half with warm water. Use a container with a small foot print, but tall sides so he can't climb out. Place him back into his enclosure NEAR, but not directly under the light and leave him in there for at least an hour. If you do this faithfully for three days in a row, the eyes should open at the end of that time.

Are you sure the hard, black skin isn't dead skin, dead limbs?

Go to a vet and ask them to show you how to tube feed a tortoise. Then buy some Oxbow Critical Care and the tube feeding supplies from the vet and tube feed the tortoise. But remember, they have a very slow metabolism, so you can't give him a bunch today then another bunch tomorrow. His stomach will still be full from the first day. Of course, if, at the end of three days, his eyes are open, you won't need to tube him, as he'll eat on his own.

But your description of the skin worries me. The only time I've seen skin like that is on a dead limb.


Thank you! I’m not sure what you mean by dead limb? It is likely dead skin or dead something as if gets black and hard and we don’t know how to remove it, or if it hurts her or if the skin under is sensitive or even another lay of skin. We are new at this and never had a tortoise before i appreciate any input you have.
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2019
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
Yuma AZ
4F05949D-BEB7-4CB5-988A-71EB09C66C89.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • F00598CF-2C6F-4DDC-BD18-884C9918EE70.jpeg
    F00598CF-2C6F-4DDC-BD18-884C9918EE70.jpeg
    1.2 MB · Views: 28
  • 9912D072-322B-47AC-9C3F-AA8794B44AB4.jpeg
    9912D072-322B-47AC-9C3F-AA8794B44AB4.jpeg
    1.4 MB · Views: 28
  • A5C15B2D-ED17-4AEF-8DD3-E586D07D6C11.jpeg
    A5C15B2D-ED17-4AEF-8DD3-E586D07D6C11.jpeg
    1.4 MB · Views: 25

katieandiggy

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2018
Messages
1,022
Location (City and/or State)
Suffolk, United Kingdom
The tortoise obviously does not look well at all. Are you sure that the black skin on the front legs is not just dead skin from shedding?

How long since you saw the tortoise looking well/eating etc?

Please try the carrot soaks asap. And consult a vet in the meantime.
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2019
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
Yuma AZ
The tortoise obviously does not look well at all. Are you sure that the black skin on the front legs is not just dead skin from shedding?

How long since you saw the tortoise looking well/eating etc?

Please try the carrot soaks asap. And consult a vet in the meantime.

Thank you, We will do the carrot soak today! It was about 3 weeks missing then we dug her up and it’s been about 4 weeks since we found her. I believe it is dead skin but it doesn’t seem to be shedding off. Is there any product we can run on her to encourage shedding?
So total about 7 weeks since we last saw her healthy and eating.
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2019
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
Yuma AZ
Am
Get some Gerber strained carrots and mix half and half with warm water. Use a container with a small foot print, but tall sides so he can't climb out. Place him back into his enclosure NEAR, but not directly under the light and leave him in there for at least an hour. If you do this faithfully for three days in a row, the eyes should open at the end of that time.

Are you sure the hard, black skin isn't dead skin, dead limbs?

Go to a vet and ask them to show you how to tube feed a tortoise. Then buy some Oxbow Critical Care and the tube feeding supplies from the vet and tube feed the tortoise. But remember, they have a very slow metabolism, so you can't give him a bunch today then another bunch tomorrow. His stomach will still be full from the first day. Of course, if, at the end of three days, his eyes are open, you won't need to tube him, as he'll eat on his own.

But your description of the skin worries me. The only time I've seen skin like that is on a dead limb.


Hi, Am I placing her in the carrot and water mix for a period time or an I just rubbing the mixture on her face/eyes? Thank you very much I will be doing this starting today the next 3 days as you suggested.
 

Ben02

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2018
Messages
1,830
Location (City and/or State)
Brighton, Southcoast, UK
She’s been burnt by the looks of it, is she housed inside or outside? You can see the raw pink skin and the obvious dead black skin.
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2019
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
Yuma AZ
She’s been burnt by the looks of it, is she housed inside or outside? You can see the raw pink skin and the obvious dead black skin.

We don’t know. We have been thinking maybe something in the dirt burned her. She was in a stock tank in the garage during winter and on the patio in summer until a few weeks before she went missing as we built her a bigger outdoor enclosure. We thought we were giving her more room to roam but are sick that this happened to her. I wish we had never built the outdoor space. We have only been here a year and we are wondering if the previous owner put something in the dirt that we weren’t aware of.
Do you feel the black skin with eventually shed on its own?
I will have my husband try the toothpick this evening. Thank you for the help!
 

Ray--Opo

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Oct 14, 2017
Messages
7,017
Location (City and/or State)
Palm Bay Fl
Am



Hi, Am I placing her in the carrot and water mix for a period time or an I just rubbing the mixture on her face/eyes? Thank you very much I will be doing this starting today the next 3 days as you suggested.
Soak her in the carrot mix for at least 1/2hr. Try to put a heat source above while soaking just to keep it warm not hot. Fill the tub so it's just below the chin. Also get her to a vet. This one needs help.
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2019
Messages
19
Location (City and/or State)
Yuma AZ
Soak her in the carrot mix for at least 1/2hr. Try to put a heat source above while soaking just to keep it warm not hot. Fill the tub so it's just below the chin. Also get her to a vet. This one needs help.

I got her an appointment with a tortoise vet tomorrow up in San Diego which a couple hours away from where we are.
Hopefully she has some answers for us.
 

Bountyboy

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2019
Messages
79
Location (City and/or State)
Philadelphia PA
Hello and welcome to the forum. I hope he gets well fast and soon I started reading this post and had to put my phone down his story and pics touched my soul. I hope you find the help you both need keep us posted please
 
Top