We had a captive bred Spur-Thighed female called Wanda for 30 years since she was 3 years old. She got sick on sunday and died at the vets a few hours later. We are heartbroken as the day before she seemed the picture of health, marching around and following me round the garden, eating and exploring the garden and yard at our new house.
We are not fully sure why she died and as it was too late when she got to the vets she didn't have any diagnostics done like x-rays etc so we aren't 100% sure. The situation and symptoms made us think it was either sudden acute pneumonia or a plant she ate that might be toxic but some of the symptoms didn't fit any one explanation.
The symptoms she had was muscous from her mouth initially, then later she started gripping her neck with her front legs as though it was uncomfortable then later she started raising her rear end and writhing from side to side and pushing her head in like she was straining but just did one pee but kept up this behaviour and slowly getting weaker and sicker. Before she got too sick she had tried to eat a dandelion leaf but then looked uncomfortable as though her throat was sore. We had trouble getting rapid vet care as we are new to the area and it was sunday and with Corona virus lockdown we had a few desperate hours trying to get help.
The reason I mentioned the possibility of toxin when she was exploring the garden she started eating a plant we didn't recognise. We pulled her off it immediately so she only got a couple of small leaves, later on we tried to identify the plant and think it might be a Japanese anemone which sounds like can cause internal irritation, but the vet felt the symptoms were too soon and the amount eaten not enough (vet we had wasn't the most experienced tortoise vet as he was self-isolating). The previous owners of the house had pets too and said they never used any poisons, weedkillers etc in the garden, only pulling weeds by hand. We moved in the autumn so really sure there was no source of chemicals in her food.
Her diet was dandelions, sowthistle and mix of other tortoise friendly garden weeds with romaine lettuce, watercress etc. She had had pneumonia many years ago but not so acute and recovered totally with no recurrence after treatment at the vets. She was kept outdoors of dry days and indoors at night and on wet or cold days, outside she had a shelter for rest and shade and a conservatory to keep warm in. At our previous house she had a purpose built large enclosure but at the new house was on a large fenced off area (around 8x8 feet in size) of the yard and allowed supervised walks in the garden regularly.
The only red flag with her health was she didn't wake up from hibernation at her usual time so we had to get her up. Initially for a day we didn't allow her in too warm an area so she could wake up slowly then gradually warmed her up with a lukewarm bath, then a lamp the next day. She started eating enthusiastically and peeing and pooing ok so and seemed healthy so thought she had come through hibernation ok . She hibernated double boxed in the garage. The previous house she was in the basement which prob was drier, temperature was similar in both houses. We did wonder if the garage was too damp but not sure as our monitor failed.
The only other factor in her health is the breeder didn't get her early diet right and she had slightly deformed shell and an undershot beak that despite some trimming and cosmetic work at the vets was never totally corrected. The beak never stopped her though and she was a very enthusiastic eater indeed. You could tell the diet she had with us was better as the new growth over the past 30 years was nice and symmetrical.
Anyway, the big puzzle was the raising of her back end, straining and writhing behavior. If it was pneumonia why would she do that? If egg bound etc why would she have mucous from her mouth? It didn't add up unless the vet was wrong and it was the plant she ate?
We are puzzled and very sad. We had just started ordering seeds to grow more food for her and planning to build her new enclosure while we are locked down due to the corona virus and enjoy spending time with her but suddenly she was gone and we are puzzled why and if we did anything wrong that led to the death of our dear tortoise friend.
We are not fully sure why she died and as it was too late when she got to the vets she didn't have any diagnostics done like x-rays etc so we aren't 100% sure. The situation and symptoms made us think it was either sudden acute pneumonia or a plant she ate that might be toxic but some of the symptoms didn't fit any one explanation.
The symptoms she had was muscous from her mouth initially, then later she started gripping her neck with her front legs as though it was uncomfortable then later she started raising her rear end and writhing from side to side and pushing her head in like she was straining but just did one pee but kept up this behaviour and slowly getting weaker and sicker. Before she got too sick she had tried to eat a dandelion leaf but then looked uncomfortable as though her throat was sore. We had trouble getting rapid vet care as we are new to the area and it was sunday and with Corona virus lockdown we had a few desperate hours trying to get help.
The reason I mentioned the possibility of toxin when she was exploring the garden she started eating a plant we didn't recognise. We pulled her off it immediately so she only got a couple of small leaves, later on we tried to identify the plant and think it might be a Japanese anemone which sounds like can cause internal irritation, but the vet felt the symptoms were too soon and the amount eaten not enough (vet we had wasn't the most experienced tortoise vet as he was self-isolating). The previous owners of the house had pets too and said they never used any poisons, weedkillers etc in the garden, only pulling weeds by hand. We moved in the autumn so really sure there was no source of chemicals in her food.
Her diet was dandelions, sowthistle and mix of other tortoise friendly garden weeds with romaine lettuce, watercress etc. She had had pneumonia many years ago but not so acute and recovered totally with no recurrence after treatment at the vets. She was kept outdoors of dry days and indoors at night and on wet or cold days, outside she had a shelter for rest and shade and a conservatory to keep warm in. At our previous house she had a purpose built large enclosure but at the new house was on a large fenced off area (around 8x8 feet in size) of the yard and allowed supervised walks in the garden regularly.
The only red flag with her health was she didn't wake up from hibernation at her usual time so we had to get her up. Initially for a day we didn't allow her in too warm an area so she could wake up slowly then gradually warmed her up with a lukewarm bath, then a lamp the next day. She started eating enthusiastically and peeing and pooing ok so and seemed healthy so thought she had come through hibernation ok . She hibernated double boxed in the garage. The previous house she was in the basement which prob was drier, temperature was similar in both houses. We did wonder if the garage was too damp but not sure as our monitor failed.
The only other factor in her health is the breeder didn't get her early diet right and she had slightly deformed shell and an undershot beak that despite some trimming and cosmetic work at the vets was never totally corrected. The beak never stopped her though and she was a very enthusiastic eater indeed. You could tell the diet she had with us was better as the new growth over the past 30 years was nice and symmetrical.
Anyway, the big puzzle was the raising of her back end, straining and writhing behavior. If it was pneumonia why would she do that? If egg bound etc why would she have mucous from her mouth? It didn't add up unless the vet was wrong and it was the plant she ate?
We are puzzled and very sad. We had just started ordering seeds to grow more food for her and planning to build her new enclosure while we are locked down due to the corona virus and enjoy spending time with her but suddenly she was gone and we are puzzled why and if we did anything wrong that led to the death of our dear tortoise friend.