Thank you. My boyfriend and I purchased two hermanns hatchlings in May. They both were eating and exercising and seemed to be doing well. The end of June I noticed one was not as active or eating much. He slowly deteriorated. A trip to the vet, vit B shot and saline shot did not help as he passed two days later. The vet thinks they both came with this sickness. The survivor, Cecil, was doing well, eating, drinking. But all that stopped about two weeks ago. He was drinking and eating little bits butnow nothing. I put drops in his eyes, soak him in water, carrot baby food and pedialyte. Wont eat so any type of sipplement wont work. I am watching this poor baby die and I dont know what to do. His housing is perfect, we even moved our turtles to the warmest room in the house and shut off all the ac vents. Any advice please?
Zoo med tortoise house. Combo of Organic soil and sand. Hides, water is always available, we have a thermometer to maintain the heat source which is 95-100 degrees in the warmest spot. Cool areas have plants to hide under and we have been feeding organic leafy greens all specific for hermanns, grazing outside everyday on dandelion and clovers, neither tort liked the pellets and refused to eat them. We sprinkled calcium on their food a few times per week and soak them at least 3-4 x week.
I see a few possibilities. I'll list them and see if you think any were contributing factors.
1. Living as a pair is very stressful and the chronic stress could have contributed to a weakened immune system.
2. The sand in your substrate could have caused an impaction. Though it does not happen every time someone uses sand in their substrate, I have seen it happen many times.
3. What type of UV bulb did you have inside? Coil type cfl?
4. What was the source of these babies? Some people start them too dry and the chronic dehydration can kill them weeks or months down the road, even though every thing seems normal. How much did they grow while in your care?
Thanks Tom. They haven't grown much since we got them the end of May. The survivor hasnt eaten in almost 2 weeks so she has def not grown. She FINALLY drank today, soaked her in baby carrot puree and water and she drank a good amount. Still not eating. We got her from backwater reptiles in Cali. I honestly dont know how she is still living. She is so weak.
We did not add a lot of sand to her housing. It is more organic dirt. We always fed them on a flat rock where it is clean or in a dish. They ate a lot outside as well. We do not use any pestisides in our lawn or garden area at all. I am looking for some way to help her. Get her back to health. Get her to eat! She looks like she wants to eat then turns away.