New Tort Friday!

[Mgridgaway]

There's nothing quite like saving 50% on a Redfoot!

I picked him up during petco's black friday sale. He was a little cold after being ousted by a 6-7" inch Redfoot who was hogging the heat mat, but after a ride home sitting on Toasty toes and a warm soak he's perking right up. I haven't done any measurements, but he's a good weight and looks to be right 4". He has some pyramiding, but I was expecting it.

I was told they'd been there for about a month. I was actually surprised because their diet was actually pretty spot on, but the humidity and ambient heat weren't great.

Pics to follow soon!

 

[tortoise-kid]

Oh thats awesome, Its always a great feeling to get a new tort.

 

[Torty Mom]

Yayyy! Congrats! Pictures, pictures! I would also get a fecal done to check for parasites! I bet he is happy to have his own heat lamp now!!

 

[Mgridgaway]

Here we go! I believe he may have some very slight shell rot. I will post pictures later to confirm

 

[Torty Mom]

Awww he is a cutie!!! He looks great!!! Have you decided on a name yet?

 

[CLMoss]

He is beautiful! Best of luck with you new Tortoise!

 

[Mgridgaway]

Thanks for the compliments

His name is either going to be Harper (boy) or Magpie (girl). Both are silly inside references my girlfriend and I have

 

[terryo]

He's really beautiful, and has no great pyramiding to speak of. A load of humidity and some good eats will fix him right up. Great find and congrats!

 

[dmarcus]

Congrats on the RF...

 

[Mgridgaway]

I was actually pretty glad that the Petco employee seemed to know reptiles pretty well. She talked about how she used to raise iguanas and had been given a red and green one recently only to find out that they were a breeding couple. Now she's reading up on how to take care of iggy babies.

More posts to come soon! Probably tomorrow though

 

[Tropical Torts]

Wow he's a cute little fella, Congrats!!

 

[bigred]

Glad you went and got one. I was thinking about it but I knew if I went down there I would buy one. Thats the only good thing about black friday is half off on torts. Thats the only shopping Im really gonna enjoy

 

[l0velesly]

Nice looking RF!

 

[Mgridgaway]

Thanks all. Right now I'm having a slight problem getting his eyes open. I actually had the same problem yesterday when I first got there. As soon as he gets some water on him they open up fine but it's like they sorta glue shut when he's had them closed for a while. Thoughts? I'm going to continue the daily warm soaks and give him vitamin A rich foods to see if that helps. Would Terramycin be the next step if the problem doesn't correct itself?

 

[Madkins007]

Give the warm soaks, higher humidity, better heat, etc. several days to help. If it does not at that time, a bit of antibiotic eye ointment would be the next logical step.

Another thing to consider is boosting the moisture level of foods. Soak greens in cold water for about 15 minutes before using or storing them, mist foods just before serving (which can simulate dew), etc.

Vitamin A is rarely an issue with tortoises- box turtles are the big concerns here. They have a very specific vitamin A dosage that is a bit tricky. A bit of occasional multivitamin will usually take care of any A issues you might have.

 

[Mgridgaway]

Thanks for the continued advice Madkins. I'm already doing most of what you say but a little reminder doesn't hurt

His stool is also a little worrisome. Yesterday he did several light brown pellet-shaped droppings, but today during his soak his droppings were pretty loose, but I can't be sure if they're diarrhea because I didn't see him go (he could've walked over them and broken them up). At any rate, the light brown pellets are nothing like Darwin's Dark Brown/Green solid poops that I'm used to. I'll be adding some timothy hay for fiber for future feedings.

Also, here is the plastron. Am I correct that the white spots on the lower right are shell rot?

 

[Redstrike]

Those look like small areas of rot forming, yes. I had similar regions on my two cherryheads, these tortoises seem pretty sensitive to rots. I put an antifungal clotrimazole ointment on for ~9 days and it cleared up. Lightly scrub it with some povidone iodine the first day or two as well prior to putting the anti-fungal cream on.

 

[Mgridgaway]

First treatment of povidone was applied a few hours ago! He squirmed a lot so I tried to make it quick so he wouldn't get stressed out.

In other news, we decided to name him Harper no matter what since it works for both sexes. I just hope his issues clear up!

 

[DesertGrandma]

He is sure a cutie. Hope you can get him up to 100%. Good luck!!

 

[Mgridgaway]

Day 3: Eyes still have trouble opening by themselves. Today I'm feeding him a wet slurry of various greens, veggies, and timothy hay in order to help hydrate him and give him a good dose of nutrition. Afterwards is a forced electrolytic soak followed by a second swabbing of povidone iodone and a few hours in the recovery ward. After that I'm leaving him alone for the rest of the day so that he can relax and de-stress.