Redfoot tortoise /ill

[MBarros]

Good afternoon,

I'm new here, unfortunately I came across this wonderful forum after trying now for about two months to nurse back to health a small redfoot tortoise I purchased on craigslist. Hopefully someone here can help me through this stressful process. I was looking to purchase a Russian tortoise but when I saw this redfoot on craigslist I knew I had found the species I wanted to bring into my home. I struck a deal for 120 to purchase the redfoot tortoise and went to Petsmart to buy supplies and afterwards met the person in a walmart parking lot where I also purchased a large tree storage tub to serve as my enclosure until I can build a tortoise table. I asked the seller about the puffy eyes and she told me that it was normal because the tortoise was in a dry environment and they needed high humidity. Since she was so nice on emails and the phone I did not think much of it. I went home and placed the tortoise in the enclosure and left it alone for about 3 days, only spraying the enclosure and changing food and water. The tortoise would not eat/open eyes/hardly move so I looked up the symptoms and learned it was most likely an infection. I contacted the seller and basically got a sorry your problem now, so I decided to take the tortoise to the vet and he confirmed it had a respiratory infection. The tortoise was given a baytril injection and I was given eyedrops to use 3 times a day and told to check in two weeks on progress. Two weeks later another injection and it improved slightly. Unfortunately I’m now running out of disposable income and the tortoise has not improved. Has anyone dealt with these sort of problems before? I am angry I was fooled by a seller but I’m trying my best to save this tortoise.

Enclosure setup
Christmas tree storage box made some adjustments to make a screen top
60 watt heat light
Zilla UVB strip light
1 hide
Eco earth coconut fiber
I keep the humidity around 75%-80%
1 water “pool” near the heat light

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi M, and welcome to the forum!

So sorry your little guy is ill. I love that you have a Christmas Tree storage bin for the tortoise. These are great indoor habitats. You substrate, hiding place, etc. all sound good too, except I don't think 60 watt will get the bin warm enough, you may need one at each end. Because the tortoise is ill, you'll need to make the overall temp inside the habitat warmer than normal. I'd shoot for 85 to 90F And keep it moist in there. Don't let it get cool. This would be bad for the tortoise.

The usual routine for administering Baytril is one injection a day for 5 days OR one injection every other day for 10 days. I don't think the one injection here or there is going to do much good. But warm up the habitat and soak the tortoise every day. Because he's not eating, you can soak him in baby food water. I use Gerber strained carrots because that has the highest vitamin A content. Use a bowl/tub with high sides but a small foot print and add enough water to come up to the middle of the tortoise's sides (where the top meets the bottom is called the bridge). If your bowl is smallish, you can get away with using about a half jar of baby food, but if its a big bowl, use the whole jar. Just mix it into the warm water and leave the tortoise sitting there for about a half hour. Do this daily and you should start to see an improvement within 3 days. They eyes will open and then he'll maybe take a bite of food.

Good luck with getting the tortoise well. Can we see pictures?

 

[MBarros]

Thank you Yvonne, I will start the carrot/water treatment as soon as I am home. I am also considering moving the tortoise into a smaller tank/tub to be able raise the temperature. Most importantly it seems like I might need to find myself another vet or administer my own meds.

 

[wellington]

Hello,and Welcome

 

[sibi]

Hi and welcome. It's tough to get a sick tort. I'm surprised you vet didn't give your tort antibiotics for 10 days. Did the vet take a culture of any mucus? Baydril is what would treat a RI, but one or two shots wouldn't help much. How much experience does your vet have in treating torts?

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello ' M ' welcome to the TFO from AZ I'm sorry about your new tort but God bless

 

[mike taylor]

I agree with everything stated . What are you using to read temperatures? I would make one side at 85 degrees then the other side at 90 degrees . What kind of uvb lamps are you using? The cheap coil type lamps have been known to cause eye problems. Does your tort have discharge ciming from nose? I'm not reading a good reason why you think or your vet seems to think he has a ri . I think its the lighting that has been used and low temperatures are the big problem in this case . Here is a picture of an awesome meter to use to keep up with humidity and temperature for only ten dollars . I would also invest in a thermostat and che to keep temperatures day and night on track . You can get these two things at Petco for around sixty dollars . It will make your life a lot easier trying to maintain proper temps . Also red foots don't really enjoy bright lights so a 10.0 uvb tube type lamp is all the day time lighting they need . I would put this lamp on a timer . You can get one from Home Depot that plugs right into your wall outlet and you plug your fixture into it for five dollars. Almost forgot welcome to TFO where the people know what they are talking about!

 

[MBarros]

Hi,

My lighting is actually a 75 watt zoo med basking bulb and a zilla tropical UVB 25 t8 on a zoo med day/night timer. I read humidity with two analog hygrometers and temp with a digital thermometer.

I have soaked the tortoise (Bartholomew) in warm water mixed with baby food as advised. Now I'm somewhat scared to use the basking heat light so would you guys suggest ceramic infrared bulb or those black heat bulbs to leave on 24/7 and . As for the vet at banfield animal hospital in a petco, they were the only ones that would take me without having to wait a week and half so I'm not very familiar with their practice. He examined the Bartholomew and I told him what I had observed and how he moved his head up and down, kept his eyes closed and did not feed. The vet told me he had just treated a tortoise from petco that had the same problem successfully this way. I did not have a reason to doubt him because just a few months before I had performed a fecal exam on a new bearded dragon my gf had adopted and discovered it had pinworms and we took it to this vet for a second opinion and his exam confirmed my initial findings.