No one can explain what’s wrong.. help!?!

crimson_lotus

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I was thinking the same thing as Yvonne. This thread looks similar, but it doesn't seem like any answers were brought up:

https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/weird-growth-on-tail-on-butt-pics.10905/

I would also consider a new vet. Calcium injections, or vitamin injections are just unnecessary and torts can easily overdose considering they cannot remove the excess via bowel movements like mammals
 

Sacr

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I was thinking the same thing as Yvonne. This thread looks similar, but it doesn't seem like any answers were brought up:

https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/weird-growth-on-tail-on-butt-pics.10905/

I would also consider a new vet. Calcium injections, or vitamin injections are just unnecessary and torts can easily overdose considering they cannot remove the excess via bowel movements like mammals


Yeah that’s what her butt looked like.. From the tiny bit I’ve read it doesn’t look good especially since she’s so young. Thank you guys! I think I found what’s happening now. . I can’t really afford much more vet treatment. So I’ll have to figure out what to do next. Do you guys think it’s even worth it to finish the antibiotics? The prognosis isn’t too good it looks like
 

crimson_lotus

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Yeah that’s what her butt looked like.. From the tiny bit I’ve read it doesn’t look good especially since she’s so young. Thank you guys! I think I found what’s happening now. . I can’t really afford much more vet treatment. So I’ll have to figure out what to do next. Do you guys think it’s even worth it to finish the antibiotics? The prognosis isn’t too good it looks like

If I were you I would let the pet store know. Wherever they are getting their tortoises, it seems their whole facility could be infected.

The baytril will help the little guy with his respiratory infection, so I would keep it up to make them feel a little bit better.
 

Tom

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What a mess. Your posts contain a litany of fatal mistakes. I'm going to list them all. I don't do this to be mean, but so that you have a better understanding of what is going on and how the "treatment" from the vet has compounded things and made them worse. The chances of this baby surviving are slim. Prepare for this eventuality.

  1. You most likely bought from a source that started the baby too dry. Once the kidneys are damaged by the original breeder, nothing will save the baby. No vet and no amount of money can bring back functioning kidneys. When their kidneys are damaged by early dehydration, they can survive and seem normal for weeks or months. Here is what was most likely going on in the first place: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/
  2. There is no way humidity was 70% with an open topped tortoise table.
  3. No red bulbs.
  4. Outside when temps are over 100 in the Nevada desert is a likely death sentence unless they have someplace much cooler to retreat to. A hide is not likely enough.
  5. 120 degree basking spot is way too hot. 95-100 is all you need.
  6. Coco coir is too messy for sulcatas, but that's just my personal preference and not the source of these problems.
  7. Little baby tortoises cannot handle calcium injections, and there was no clinical reason to give one.
  8. Many turtles and tortoises die or have skin slough off due to vitamin injections, and there was no clinical reason to give one. This is a mark of a vet that is reading from a handbook or website in the back room and has no idea what they are doing.
  9. Baytril is a drug from yesteryear and should not be injected into tortoises. It is very basic in composition (Meaning high Ph like bleach, opposite of an acid.) and in addition to being extremely painful, it causes necrosis and skin sloughing at the injection site. Again, this indicates a vet that doesn't know what they are doing and is referring to old vet handbooks or web info. Imagine injecting bleach into yourself.
  10. The nose bubbles could be from cold temps, all these unnecessary vet "treatments", or from something else.
  11. The skin sloughing could be due to the calcium, vitamin, or Baytril injections, or it could be a secondary infection taking over a baby that is extremely immuno-compromised.
  12. The stress and pain from all these expensive vet treatments has likely accelerated the death of this baby. We look up to vets, but sometimes they do harm when they don't know what they are doing.
Everyone wants to "do something" when they see their baby suffering. The problem is that most of what people try to do, like going to the vet and spending lots of money, only makes it worse. If this baby had damaged kidneys from being raised wrong, nothing could have saved it, but the things your vet did certainly made it worse. I would have told you to house it correctly, keep up the correct temps, soak daily, try not to stress the baby, and hope it is one of the ones that pulls through. I would have told you NOT to go to a vet. There is nothing they can do for the symptoms you presented.

For future reference, please read these:

See number one here:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

This is how babies should be started:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-incubate-eggs-and-start-hatchlings.124266/

Correct care info:
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/


This is a lot to read and take in. Please come back with questions after you've had a chance to go through all this and consider it.
 

TammyJ

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I agree with everything Tom said and he knows what is right.
I hope your baby is still alive, and that you will do everything that Tom has advised. You are obviously very caring and want your little guy to survive, so give it a go without the "vet"! Good luck and stay with us.
Your little one may need some good probiotics like Benebac or Nutribac to help him restore his digestive system to normal after those probably destructive antibiotics.
 

Croc_50s

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Hi everyone! I really need some help and advise for my baby sulcata. Even though we don’t know the gender cause she is so young we call her Pam .Pam is 3 or 4 months old. We got her from a pet store a little over a month ago. She started to have some issues and I was able to take her to a vet last week. I took her to where everyone recommended. I’m not thrilled with the vet. So Pam has a bunch of things going on. She’s lethargic, seems weaker, won’t entertain food at all. I haven’t seen her go into her water dish at all for almost a week. She’s had these bumps on her butt that dried up and fell off. However the skin is now peeling off her butt. She also has a bump on her face that keeps changing. It gets smaller then bigger and then it looks like it’s almost gone then it gets big again. I haven’t seen her poop. I did see bubbles come out of her nose once and I haven’t seen them since.not sure if this matters but she’s lost 4 or 5 nails, idk how.
When we first got her the tortoise table she was on was only eco earth and it was humid probably around 70%. I kept her outside a lot when it was warmer high 90- low 100s. Her little container was also the eco earth. She always had water and a hide. I have never been able to get her to eat hay or pellets no matter how I prepared them. So I gave her greens that I checked were ok. I did not give any calcium. I read a lot of mixed stuff about it so I wasn’t quite sure what to give and how much.
I now pay attention to the lights and heat on her table more that she is inside because it’s cooler out. Her cool side is about 80and under her lamps it’s 105-120 ish if I have both lamps on. She has a red heat bulb and a white bulb that heats and has UV. Per the vet the majority of her table is eco carpet and tile and only her hide is the eco earth. She has multiple water dishes. I’ve been doing warm water soaks. Hell I’ve even tried carrot soaks.oh and per the vet only her hide is humid.

The vet gave fluids and a calcium injection. She is getting baytril injections every other day. She also has a cream for the spots on her butt and face. She is too small for blood work and I can’t afford $150 for X-rays on top of all the meds and exam and treatments the vet did. The vet said she is not sure if Pam is just super sick or it’s a congenital thing. There could be infection all through out her causing everything and she thinks she might have metabolic bone disease. The vet has no clue what is happinging with her skin. I’ve searched for similar stuff and I can’t find anything.
She has a bunch of shots to go(over a week). I’m not sure what to do honestly. Should I try and force feed ? If so how? Does anyone know what could be up with her skin? Should I be worried to touch her if know one knows? At what point should I euthanize? How fast does MBD take to set in? Help?? Let me know if I’m missing any details. Sorry if it is also sporadic I’m just so stressed and worried.

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I would get rid of the eco earth and let her dry out a bit and if possible give her some prickly pear cactus and he fruit as well as a couple of rose blooms which will add some vit. C. Also mullberry leaves are very good for them, very nutritious but not too wet. The cactus has some healing propertoes as well. It's worth a shot. I don't know whether this will help but hope it does.
Mine acted a bit sick like that when he was little and he is now 50 lbs and chases us when we mow the grass. Lol He thinks that the mower is the enemy.
 

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