Sick Babies

[hnnhflns]

An acquaintance gave my husband and I 3 baby tortoises to watch while they went on an extended trip. We have a 3 year old sulcata and year old european marginated, so we thought that we would be great candidates foe the extended babysitting.

The torti we are watching are a Herman's (hermie), a red foot (tomato), and a russian (yuri). I gave them the names to keep track of them.

The guy shows up with the babies, and tells me they are a year old. I can tell right away that he is either lying and they are just hatchlings or they are severely malnurished. None of them weigh more than 65 grams, their shells are sunken in on the bottoms, and they are still very soft. Luckily Hermie and Tomato seem to have fared better than Yuri and are active and eat when food is offered. Yuri's eyes were completely shut when they arrived 10 days ago, and I just now got him to at least partially open them.

My immediate thought was that they are all malnurished, so I have been feeding dark leafy veggies (kale, spinach, and dandelion) with vitamin sprinkled on top, as well as mazuri tortoise chow. The Herman's and Red Foot are eating well, they are more active, and seeming to do better. They get soaks in warm water twice a day and they are actually drinking the water. It looks like the two of them will make a great recovery if I can get them to put on some weight.

Yuri is who I am worried about. After days of intense care and fretting over him, he has finally started opening his eyes. I wasn't sure if it was a vitamin A deficency or dehydration that was causing the problems with his eyes, so I treated for both. He still moves around, but doesn't eat much. He gets soaks and eye drops just like everyone else does. His eyes are cloudy though, which is something that I have never come across. Is this normal for tortoises whose eyes have been shut for so long? Is it a bacterial infection? Has he gone blind? I am really worried for him. I know that turtles can have double lidded eyes, do tortoises as well?

It makes me sick that his owner let him get like this!

 

[kathyth]

These tortoises are very lucky to be in your care.

I would keep Yuri isolated from all other tortoises and keep his enclosure nice and warm 85-90, to help build his immune system.
You might try to put some pumpkin ( plain) in his warm water.
I don't know what to say about the eyes. Others will have advice in that.
Can you post a picture of him?

 

[WithLisa]

The guy shows up with the babies, and tells me they are a year old. I can tell right away that he is either lying and they are just hatchlings or they are severely malnurished. None of them weigh more than 65 grams, their shells are sunken in on the bottoms, and they are still very soft.

I don't know about RFs, but for Hermanns and Russians this is a normal weight. My Hermanns are 14 months old, weigh 40-45g and they are not malnourished. I think the sunken in bottoms are a sign of dehydration.

Since the shells are soft I would not feed spinach and kale, they are high in oxalic acid.

Tortoises have double lidded eyes, but I don't know if you would be able to tell if it's the third eyelid or the eye itself. I would take Yuri to an experienced vet.

I hope they get better soon!

 

[Yvonne G]

If I could see a picture, a close up, of the eyes it would help.

 

[hnnhflns]

Yuri has been getting his Mazuri mashed with some baby food sweet potato mixed in.

Here is a pic of his eyes.

 

[Yvonne G]

Try soaking him in Gerber strained carrots mixed half and half with warm water. Leave him in the water mixture for at least a half hour, and longer is even better. You should notice a great improvement in about 3 days.

 

[hnnhflns]

Ok, thank you! I have been mixing powdered vitamins into their warm soaking water, but I will try it with the strained carrots.

I just feel so terribly for these guys, I am going to get them back in good health but their owner just wont care for them properly. It breaks my heart!

 

[Yvonne G]

Usually swollen eyes is because the tortoise hasn't been eating, either at all, or the correct foods. The first sign is a vitamin A deficiency, which shows up in the eyes, like your tortoise. Gerber strained carrots is high in vitamin A, and it is easily absorbed through the thin skin under the throat and around the cloaca.

 

[dmmj]

do you know if they were being housed together?

 

[danipaul71]

Try soaking him in Gerber strained carrots mixed half and half with warm water. Leave him in the water mixture for at least a half hour, and longer is even better. You should notice a great improvement in about 3 days.

Gerber carrots? Like actual baby food?

 

[Kori5]

Yes. It worked wonders on my Hermann. Yvonne's advice . I bought first carrot baby food and made a mix with warm water.

 

[danipaul71]

And it/they are doing much better now?

 

[Kori5]

Yes . He wasn't sick but had a tomato addiction and wasn't eating or active. I did carrot soaks for a while and changed a few things, made him a bigger enclousure, stopped using coil uv bulb, added a uv tube and he is sooo active now and eats really well. So please try . It won't hurt them.

 

[Yvonne G]

Gerber strained carrots is high in vitamin A and when mixed with a bit of water, you soak the baby for at least a half hour. After about three days you see a marked improvement in the eyes. They don't have to actually drink it, but they do absorb the nutrients through the thin skin on the neck and around the cloaca. I learned this trick about 30 years ago from a vet in Arizona. If I'm remembering correctly, his name is Jartchow. He used to have a column in the National Turtle and Tortoise newsletter. Way back then, there was no internet and the only way to get extra info on turtles and tortoises was to join clubs that put out newsletters.

I've been using the carrot baby food soaks for about 30 years, mainly on box turtles, but it works on all turtles and tortoises. But I have to caution you. While the baby food soaks will get the swollen eyes back to normal, and open, you still have to figure out why it happened in the first place. I'm guessing they weren't warm enough.