My home has always been a sanctuary for animals… I have never been able to turn unwanted and neglected creatures away. I especially have a very big soft spot for reptiles. However this is the first tortoise I have ever acquired, it’s a sulcata hatchling. I am not sure what his habitat was like before I received him or what they were feeding. I was unprepared for this lil guy and had very lil knowledge of them. I pulled excess supplies I had for my other reptiles for his enclosure. It took him a few days to adjust to the new environment, but he started eating, was pretty active. I was doing a lot of research (unfortunately most every site contradicts each other on what you should do) so I could get a better idea of what I was dealing with. Unfortunately one night the temp drops down extremely low and his heat source went out… an of course this was the night I was not home… the house was freezing (I had a week b4 this happened). He has stopped eating for the past few days, he keeps his eyes shut (but I have gotten him to open once after a warm bath but only for a few mins), and he really hasn’t moved much. He still moves his head around and will respond if you touch him. Basking spot has been around 105 - 120 (I have been playing with the temp to see if he respond to the increase). The cool end of his cage increased it to around 85. I have been soaking him in baby food and I have tried adding pedialyte to it. The only vet close enough that will even look at reptiles knows nothing about them ( I know this because I use to work with him get with dogs and cats sucks with reptiles.. He doesn’t even have any type of set up to keep sick ones there, so no heat source for them, just a box in a cold exam room and when I was there I was the only person that would check on them threw out the day.). Im afraid that a long roap trip will stress him out even more to find another vet. So im at the end of my rope!! I really don’t want to lose this lil guy. Any help would b great. I have had box turtles with URI before and have always treated them with baytril (subq) and Amikacin A (im). Has anyone ever had a vet use this on there tortoise??? As small as he is I know the dosage will b almost nothing. He has no drainage from his nostrils and does not do open mouth breathing. He however moves his head up and down occasionally as if he had hiccups (not sure if that’s normal).
Thank you so much!!!
Thank you so much!!!