Rescuing a tortoise... Need some help??(warning-picture is graphic, not for the squeamish)

[Floof]

RE: Rescuing a tortoise... Need some help??

Hi...For your bookcase enclosure...get some 1" x 4" pieces of pine boards the length & width of the book case. Nail/screw them on top of the sides for an overhang so they can't crawl out.
Good luck
Patsy

I'd actually thought about that a few times... Only with cut up pieces of the leftover shelves... Lol. Do you think it would work, though? If there's 6" of substrate, that's still only 3"... Half her SCL, and the only thing holding her back would be an overhang.

Thanks for the suggestion, though--you gave me an idea! I have two shelves sitting on either side of the enclosure, as "hide spots." Now I'm thinking about moving one to the opposite side and making a second floor, using one of the leftover shelves as a ramp... =)

 

[tortoisenerd]

RE: Rescuing a tortoise... Need some help??

I still am VERY worried about the poop with the suspected blood in it. If there is poop with swirls/striations of red stuff, than that could be blood. When we had red poop the entire poop was red. I think you should call the vet first thing in the morning and see if anyone will take her. Anything that could have punctured her bowels? Those pellets should not change the poop's color,nor the other foods. So glad you ditched them as they are horrible! If you can post a poop picture, go ahead. You may want to start a new thread for this so it gets attention.

You want a very accurate SCL to use that graph--not about 6 inches. You will want to put her against a wall, head in all the way, and use a ruler or tape measure. If she is indeed underweight she should be allowed to eat her fill.

I like about 60% spring mix, 40% other stuff (1-2 things a week, rotating through the list). Recent things I have read may lead me to increase the spring mix even more as my other stuff is mostly all high in oxalic acid, and my Russian like the one in another thread has some pyramiding, although much more minor. I wonder if oxalic acid could be why. My tort is also prone to urates, so cutting back on the oxalic acid could be good, even if it means more lettuces. Dandelion/collard/mustard greens all have high oxalic acid content. Turnip greens are the only greens I commonly buy/find that don't have a high oxalic acid content. They are tougher to find, and not organic near me unfortunately. Sometimes I will only feed spring mix if the other stuff goes bad, so maybe this evens out. The more variety the better. That seed mix should be great.

Great advice on the bookcase. My opinion is that I like to spend more and get something that will last a long time and make me happy. That said, I would go for building from scratch. If you did plywood it would definitely be under $50. I did pine and the materials were under $100. The more substrate the better. I would even go for 12 inches if you could, but it also depends on the substrate cost. My 3 inch tort likes 6-8 inches of substrate so he can completely burrow. Substrate as deep as the tort is long is a minimum in my opinion for a Russian as they LOVE to dig. It sure gives them something to do.

 

[K9KidsLove]

RE: Rescuing a tortoise... Need some help??

Hi...I don't think you need 6" of substrate. You just need enough so he can bury himself if he wants to. And all the area doesn't have to be even that deep...just maybe down the center, then more shallow around the sides. In fact, it would be better for him for you to make some little "mountains" for him to go up & down.
Good luck
Patsy

 

[Floof]

RE: Rescuing a tortoise... Need some help??

Could dry timothy hay have punctured her bowels? I had a small pile in there for her to burrow in, it might have caught on her food... I since removed it all--didn't bother replenishing it after having to change it all out once a day. As for the vet, being rural really sucks right now. The nearest "good" vet is a few hours away. I'll see what I can do...

I think I'm going to stick with the current plan. I'll build her a bigger table from scrap when I have the space for it...

 

[Floof]

RE: Rescuing a tortoise... Need some help??

She pooped again today, so I snapped some pictures. Now I'm even more confused, though! There was one chunk on the paper towel, and most of it was in the water dish... The stuff in the water dish just looks like she hadn't completely digested some of her food.

On the paper towel (this is color accurate):

In the water dish:

After draining the water from the dish:

Her first defecation with me, three or four days ago, was completely digested. Are my temps not high enough, or is there something more going on?? This whole thing is just nuts... =P

 

[Kymiie]

Im no expert so dont panic when i say this as someone will be alsong soon to correct me as i may very truly be wrong...
But i would suggest its maybe worms or something like that :S xx

 

[Floof]

Kymiie: I'd much rather it be worms than punctured bowels!

The back of my mind keeps pointing out that she also ate a couple chunks of squash the other day, though butternut isn't a very stringy squash.

 

[Kymiie]

Has she got a vet visit soon?
What may have caused punctured bowels?
Well it looks wormified to me but then i dont know how food acts when punctured bowels accur
xx

---

#reading what tortoise nerd put:

In crushes cage i once found red water... I got told it was maybe dioreah so the vet told me just in case itwas for 1 day to feed him brown bread (not white) and / or real fruit yougart!
It worked i never saw it again, but then there was no proof he had doarreah, i just saw it and couldnt think where it was from.. So there we go.. maybe try that?

Bread needs to be watered thought as it sticks to their beaks lol it wont get eaten properl and i fed him yougart on a spoon xx

 

[Floof]

Punctured bowels were suggested a few posts ago because I described the poop as looking bloody. I don't know what could have caused punctured bowels...

I'll try some bread or yogurt, though--I can see the logic in it. I wonder if something like Nutribac would help, too? Folks on my favorite corn snake forum recommend using it to help replenish the beneficial bacteria in the gut after a regurgitation, which I would guess is essentially the point behind the bread and yogurt.

The vet visit is still "up in the air." We live far enough away from the vet that we even have to mail in our fecal samples, so visits are an expensive day trip... (I hate to be "that guy," but it's true--and we're quite broke ATM.) I already plan to send a fecal sample in on Monday (usually means results on late Tuesday/early Wednesday), but a visit is rather unfeasible until December.

TBH, the poo kind of reminds me of when we rescued the beardie.. His poo was rather undigested despite perfect basking temps, but eventually went back to "normal" as his bowels got used to "real" food and we treated him for his MBD. I still couldn't tell you what caused the undigested greens in his poo (which was much greener than this since there was nothing red or orange in his diet aside from butterworms and a little squash), but it did work itself out.

 

[Kymiie]

I totally understand, my nearest tortoise vet is in buckly 1 hour 15 min drive, i used to go every 3 month for checkups as i had a bad experiance with a hatchling and lost him and so i wanted to do right by crush but everytime i went he was fine so im not going to go as often untill really needed!

Well yeah if she has been treated bad then maybe a new lifestyle will make this better for the! Poor princess!
You planning on keeping her?

Hope eveything goes well i love a happy ending xx

 

[Floof]

Chances are, yeah, we're keeping her. My dad's a sucker for four-legged reptiles... He fell deeply in love with my beardie, and I figure the same thing is going to happen with Zoom.

Thanks again, Kymiie. =)

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't see anything in the pictures to suggest a punctured bowel. More than likely you were seeing the red color because of something the tortoise ate. It takes a week or so for the food to get from the mouth to the other end. Also, if the tortoise isn't warm enough the food doesn't digest properly. And if its grass and leaves, they usually come out whole even in a perfectly healthy tortoise.

The only thing I would be concerned about from the picture would be that the stool seems to be quite soft. It should be a nicely formed poop pellet. And if you break it apart, you would see strands of grass or leaves inside.

Don't worry about the poop for now, just get the tortoise on a good diet of dark, leafy greens, grasses, clovers and weeds, and it will take care of itself.

(I've heard of using Bene-bac, but don't know about the product you mentioned)

Oh...and, your tortoise does look like a pretty young, captive bred Russian to me. And I think - female.

 

[Floof]

Thanks, Yvonne! You have certainly puts my mind at ease.

My friend told me she'd been having diarrhea, and her first (otherwise fully digested) stool with me was very soft.

Ah! That reminds me. When I asked the friend how big Zoom was when they got her, she held her fingers apart about 2 or 3 inches. If it helps any. =)