Freddyguy2018
New Member
I recently purchased a friendly baby sulcata tortoise at an exotic pet store but after one day he started showing some signs of a possible Respiratory Infection. When giving him a warm soak I noticed he was making squeaking noises and moving his head slowly into his shell while rubbing his eye. He’s been shedding quite a bit recently and has some nice new skin underneath near his eye which looks white and unbothered so it didn’t worry me as much as seeing him blow a little bubble out of his nose. After googling for a few hours it seemed apparent the little guy could be sick. I’m not sure if I could’ve done anything wrong that would make him sick in such a short time frame. The store owner couldn’t tell me how old he was or how much he weighed, didn’t have any thermometers in his container to measure his heat or humidity, didn’t even look like they kept it humid in there it looked very dry and only had one small bulb keeping them warm. I wasn’t very impressed with this place but I thought I could give this neat little friendly tortoise a better life. We promptly brought him home with all the necessary tortoise equipment and set him up. Unfortunately we had to wait a couple days because it was the weekend and the vet was closed Monday as well since it was Labor Day. We got him into the vet and they prescribed him an oral antibiotic to use for 10 days. They gave us a lot of extra in case he gives us trouble taking it. He also had some shedding skin covering his nostrils which made it very hard to see them and was probably contributing to the squeaking noise so he showed me how to gently rub the nose with a warm q tip to help keep it open. It’s been 7 days of treatment and he’s still making some squeaking noises and I even saw him blow a little bubble today again…his overall attitude is fine though he’s still very active and eating quite a bit. Whenever I interact with him he’s always such a sweetheart and loves to climb on me. The vet advised me to give him daily warm soaks while on this antibiotic which is usually most if not the only time I hear him squeak which might just be him vocalizing? Do tortoises normally do that? Maybe he doesn’t like the water? It’s fairly warm but not enough to burn him. I do have some questions.
1. How often does a baby sulcata normally sleep? I have a tortoise camera set up to keep an eye on the little guy while I’m at work. He sleeps for a good chunk of his day but he gets up and walks around likes to climb his house and munch down on his greens. Is this a Normal day in the life for a baby sulcata?
2. What substrate would you all recommend? I’m currently using a cypress mulch but online it seems like everyone has varying opinions about what works best.
3. Is there anything else I can be doing to help him? I’ve fallen in love with this little guy he’s like my son and I want to give him the best life I can.
1. How often does a baby sulcata normally sleep? I have a tortoise camera set up to keep an eye on the little guy while I’m at work. He sleeps for a good chunk of his day but he gets up and walks around likes to climb his house and munch down on his greens. Is this a Normal day in the life for a baby sulcata?
2. What substrate would you all recommend? I’m currently using a cypress mulch but online it seems like everyone has varying opinions about what works best.
3. Is there anything else I can be doing to help him? I’ve fallen in love with this little guy he’s like my son and I want to give him the best life I can.