Please help with my sick Sulcata

[narattah]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum. I have a 12" female Sulcata which has some problem. Her reproductive organ is reddish color and swelling. It does not eat and be active as much. She's been like this for more than a week already.

I house her outdoor on grass in this tropical weather here in Thailand. I do not soak her at all, only provide her a water bowl and watery veggies. She does not seem to poop at all so I suspect it might be some kind of a gallstone?

Can anyone tell me what might have caused this and how to cure it?
I'm planning to take her to the vet sometimes tomorrow.

Please see the pictures below.

Thank you.

 

[pongpagong]

you better bring her to the Vet as soon as possible...

 

[Laura]

I dont know if its too late or that is just some swelling.. but I would get it moist and use sugar water. Sugar helps reduce swelling and the water will help moisten the area.
She is very pretty. It would be a shame to lose her.
Where do you keep her? What do you feed her?

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Prolapse, I would take her to a reptile vet soon.

 

[dmmj]

a prolapse, which I believe it is an old one and may be to late to fix, but it def. needs to see a vet sugar water might help but it might be to late now. vet ASAP

 

[narattah]

Hi Laura, I keep her outdoor with other big sulcatas. I feed her morning glory, lettuce, cabbage, some local chinese veggies which I don't know the name in English.

I will take her to the vet tomorrow, do you think this can be cured? I hope she will be ok

 

[dmmj]

I can't say I can only speak with my own experience with a prolapsed penis with a softshell, I waited to long and he did not make it. but remember I can't say for in your case, it will be up to the vet to decide.

 

[Kristina]

That tissue is in bad shape, and in the least is going to require trimming and suturing.

In the future, if you see something like this, you need to keep the area moist and do not allow it to dry out like this, and get to a very immediately. It may be too late for this girl.

 

[Seiryu]

I feed her morning glory, lettuce, cabbage, some local chinese veggies which I don't know the name in English.

I am sorry to see your tort is in bad shape.

Also. Morning glory is extremely toxic. Where did you hear to feed that? I would stop feeding that immediately to all of your torts. It probably has very little nutrition for a sulcata anyways.

That alone can be the cause of many, many issues.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

A Sulcata her size needs to be soaked regularly. Why don't you soak her? And why didn't you get her to a Vet as soon as this happened? She is depending on you to take good care of her and you didn't this time. She needs a Vet immediately. And if she lives she needs to be soaked regularly.

 

[narattah]

A Sulcata her size needs to be soaked regularly. Why don't you soak her? And why didn't you get her to a Vet as soon as this happened? She is depending on you to take good care of her and you didn't this time. She needs a Vet immediately. And if she lives she needs to be soaked regularly.

I was told that a Sulcata this size does not need to be soaked, but providing a water bowl would be plentiful. Guess I was wrong. I also was told to just soak her in a warm water 2 times daily and I have been doing that until I found out from this forum that it really did not help that much. I am taking her to the vet this morning so hope she will be back all well!

 

[Sweetness_bug]

I wish her and you the best of luck. Hopefully everything works out

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Narattah:

I'm so sorry you are going through this. Its really too bad you didn't belong to the forum sooner and we could have offered our "words of wisdom" when they might have been able to help the tortoise.

From looking at the picture, I have to say that I'm pretty sure all of that red swollen tissue will have to be amputated. When a tortoise prolapses, whether is the penis, the bowell or the female parts, it has to be kept wet and not allowed to dry out. Once it dries out, it starts to die and can't recover.

I have had a couple of rescued male sulcatas that have had to have their prolapsed penis amputated. They live just fine afterwards and don't ever realize they have lost a part. I hope the same holds true for a female sulcata. Good luck with her, and please keep us in the loop.

 

[reptylefreek]

I hope the vet visit goes well. That is a BEAUTIFUL sulcata and I hope she recovers. We have some great information and advice here on the forum and I think you could benefit greatly from it. Good luck to you.

 

[Candy]

What happened at the vet today?

 

[laura808]

how did it go? man, what a horrendous experience

 

[narattah]

He is now being admitted at the vet for couple of days. The vet said that she is still fine, but is very dehydrated as I did not soak her at all in the last few weeks. She still eats and walks ok. Now I learned that even a Sulcata this size needs to be soaked periodically. It seems like the intestines do not function very well due to lack of water and so when she tries to poop it won't come out but the intestines. So it is not the organ swelling.

The vet will try to see if the intestines can be put back inside, if not they may need to be amputated. So she should heal after that.

 

[Laura]

I saw all your picstures in the other threads.. I think you need to slow down a bit and get your species all in proper enclosures and learn more about them. You seem to be in a bit over your head. Got too many too fast.
its a very easy thing to do. Very addicting.. But having so many, even tho you can do it, doesnt mean its best for the animals..
Newspaper is easy to clean, but it isnt the best to keep them on, Forrest dwelling torts like Red foots, should not be kept with Desert Torts. They require different food and heating humidity etc. They also carry different types of parasites.. What may not harm its host, may be very harmful or even deadly to a different species.
You obviously love the animals, and you are doing well, but things need to be a bit different. glad your sulcata is ok. for now.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

I agree, as we spoke ealier. I am glad your sulcata is in the care of the vet.