Possible Shell Rot, really scared:/

[RevAshV]

I had two baby red footed tortoises. I live in South America. I found one single drop of blood in the enclosure the other day but examined them, assuming it was a foot or something, and found nothing. This morning I woke up and brought them into the sun, and i noticed the female was not moving, with all extremities out, including her head, with closed eyes. I immediately realize that she smelled abnormal, and very very terrible. I sat with them for a few minutes. She then started secreting some sort of cloudy, yellow-ish fluid. I thought it was coming from her tail, but upon closer inspection i realized that along the side of her shell, she had a very tiny hairline crack, in which the fluid was oozing from.. I assume that this is shell rot. Since I got them, she was never very active and never ate a lot. The male, who is usually very active, today was much more interested in hiding underneath me than being in the sun, and he seemed to back up and lot with his head in his shell. He was however, moving around fairly normally later on, but he did not open his eyes very much. The under side of his shell is slightly soft, but nothing that seems TOO concerning. He is a baby, but I am concerned that he was with her so long that he may have shell rot as well, if this IS shell rot. Any advice I can get would be HUGELY appreciated. I don't want him to die as well:/

 

[wellington]

If you could give us more info about the type of enclosure, heating, light, etc and also a pic of top, bottom, etc.

 

[dmmj]

Yellow ooze coming from the shell is usually an infection of some kind.

 

[Yvonne G]

That's not shell rot. It sounds to me like the tortoise is dead. Once a tortoise dies, the body starts to rot and the gasses build up inside, eventually splitting the shell along a growth seam and oozing out.

Shell rot isn't contagious, and unless she died from some sort of disease, I doubt he caught anything from her.

I'm so sorry your tortoise died. Can you show us some pictures of their habitat?

 

[RevAshV]

I will take some pictures of the enclosure later on, I am not there currently. I had them in a fairly small enclosure, I have since upgraded the other turtle to a bigger one. I was using some rocks on the bottom lined with newspaper to make it much softer for them. They have a small bowl of water, but since it is a rather deep bowl there are small rocks in it to keep them from drowning. I have a little plastic container on the edge to give the turtle somewhere to hide, this enclosure is about 2 feet long ish, by about 1 1/2 feet.
I have since taken the rocks out of the bottom of the tank and now there is grass on one side and newspaper on the other. There is a small very shallow dish for food, and a screen over top. I do not have a heating lamp, as they are rather hard to find here in Brazil, and my climate is rather humid, and about 80-85 degrees every day. at night i keep the windows closed and it's rather warm in the evening still. They get sunlight during the day next to a beautiful big open window, and A couple of times a week I take them outside in the sun for hours and hours to get some more heat. The living one still has a fairly soft underbelly, nothing that seems too troubling, he is rather small, still only about 2 inches long or so. The top of his shell looks like there is a small amount of peeling but nothing that seems worrying either.

Again i will post pictures later on once I am near him.
Thank you for all of your help!

 

[RevAshV]

his eyes are also not opening. for about a few days. he still seems kind of active, but in the sun when he normally walks constantly, he is trying to hide.

 

[wellington]

Are you using any kind of coil type CFL lighting over the enclosure? If so, they are known to cause eye problems. Remove it if you are using them.
Sorry about the loss of your tort. Hope this one does good for you.

 

[ascott]

You say the enclosure is next to a big open window? Have you made sure that during the entire day that the sun does not shine directly into or onto the enclosure as the day passes....

Where did you acquire the tortoise from? Pet shop, private person, wild, etc???? Also, simply because you leave water in the enclosure does not guarantee the tortoise is drinking from it....are you offering shallow warm water soaks each day? What are you offering the tortoise for food?

 

[Lira]

@RevAshV I hope your lack of activity on the forum does not mean that your other baby also died! Sorry to hear about the loss of your first tortoise. What part of Brazil are you in? I know where you can source a heat lamp here. I don't have one as I live in a hot climate but our reptile vet recommended a UVA/UVB lamp for Lira, you can source those online. If you are worried about drowning try a paint tray, one of those ones you use with a paint roller. That is what I use as a pool because the flat part makes a safe kind or pool deck/ramp for the tortoise to get in and out.
Here's a link to some online stockists of Heat and UV lamps.
lista.mercadolivre.com.br/lampadas-para-répteis-repti-sun

 

[RevAshV]

I managed to get him eating more and his eyes were opening. he sneezed once last week but seemed okay. then every other day his eyes were closed, open, closed, open, but he seemed okay. I've seen him eating, soaking, drinking, "running" around. Then today i woke up and he is out of his shell, stiff and not moving:/

 

[RevAshV]

I just got them from someone down here.
I am in Rio,

 

[RevAshV]

he was so cute:/

 

[Lira]

Oh, he was so cute! Sorry that you lost them. R.I.P litte guys!!!

 

[Lira]

Maybe they had an illness when you got them? Who knows?

 

[RevAshV]

I'm not sure. I guess something happened because I didn't mistreat them or anything. I did everything I could. I even spent most nights sweating with the window closed when it got down to like 70 outside at night, just to make sure he stayed warmed. I cleaned his cage every couple of days. He had fresh water and food daily. I don't know! Thanks for all your help guys. I think it'll be a while before I get more. I'm a little bit traumatized.
R.I.P. Bonnie & Clyde
.

 

[Lira]

They were very cute! Sounds like you did all you could.