some questions about my newly adopted star

[jimbojam]

hi all,

this is my first tortoise and it was adopted. It is a male star and he should be 10+years already. From all my readings from the internet, the previous owner had him kept wrongly. He is kept in a small plastic bin and his bedding is newspaper. He is being fed tortoise pellets and vegetables. kept indoors with no uvb, no calcium supplements etc. i got him just a month ago.
He is now also kept indoor as i live in a high rise building. Also in a plastic container but much bigger then his previous one. His bedding is cypress mulch and a uvb light attached. I took it to the vet for a check up and the vet says he should be ok. but coz there some unknow history the vet was unable to really tell me if anything wrong. but she say i should give him calcium and he is too skinny. he weigh 680g when i got him. Now he is 757g. A few questions:

1. His back legs are not normal. According to the owner(had passed away)'s family, when the owner got it, it was walking fine until don't know which year he started dragging his legs and from then on he does not walk but drags his legs. His shell is still hard, a little bumpy but i don't know if it's normal as stars usually have bumpy shell? Does he has metabolic bone disease? what else can i do for him? for the past one month i noticed that his left leg seem to had gotten a little better. it seems stronger as he sometimes could stand a bit higher on this leg but his left leg is still the same but overall he is still dragging his back legs to move around. Will he ever recover to walk normally? Anyone had the same problem also?
2. I intend to start supplementing calcium to his food but there are different types of it. should i get the one that has d3 or without? As he now has the uvb light, if i get the calcium with d3, will it be too much d3?
3. He has a small dent in his shell. will this recover as well?

Looking forward to replies. thks.

 

[Neal]

1. Dragging the hind feet is a symptom of MBD. Besides the fact that I'm not a vet and could not possibly diagnose such a thing, I suppose it's possible that he has or had MBD from your description.
2. If you have the UVB tube, I would say calcium with d3 would not be critical. I know you're in a high rise, but do you have the ability to open a window to allow unfiltered sunlight through? Doing something like that for 30 minutes a couple of times a week would give you a little extra insurance that his UVB needs are met.
3. This will not recover. He will always have that dent, but that doesn't mean he will not live a good life now that he is in your care.

It sounds like you're doing a good job with him. Keep up the good work!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

It sounds like all those years of poor diet has caught up with the tortoise. They need calcium and sunshine (or a good UVB light) in order to have strong bones and healthy shell. So, yes, definitely suplement with calcium powder. If you have a balcony where you can put the tortoise out in the sun for an hour or so every day, that would be a good idea. Because my tortoises get a little sunshine weekly, I use the calcium without D3, so I can't really tell you what to do about the D3, but I hope you figure it out. I also have a tortoise that has weak back legs, and also due to a calcium deficiency. It is taking a very long time to clear up this problem, so don't expect it to be healthy overnight.

Good luck with the tortoise. How about posting a picture. We'd love to see your tortoise.

 

[jimbojam]

thks for the replies. when i got him i actually put him beside the window for the sunshine until i get the uvb light but nowadays it seems to rain all day. when i'm not working it rains and when i'm working or not free it doesn't rain and makes it so hard for me to sun him. and it doesn't help that my balcony doesn't have much sunlight. i had to wait til about 3pm onwards then the sunlight will shine through my bedroom window and by that time either i'm not at home or it start raining. so i guess for now i can only relie on the uvb light. i will definitely get the calcium supplement. a few more question:
4. do i add the calcium daily for now since he is like tat or still add only twice weekly?
5. and the uvb light i only on it for a few hours daily as he had never had it before i afraid that he had not got use to it. i intend to slowly increase the numbers of hours of the uvb. or do u all think i should just put it on for 12hrs now? i only got the uvb light 2weeks ago and now its on for 7hrs daily.

Yvonne-your tortoise with the weak legs is also dragging its leg like using its knees to walk instead? how long is it before he showed a slight improvement?

 

[Yvonne G]

No, he doesn't drag his legs, but he can't stand up and lift his shell, so he pushes himself along on his plastron.

I started feeding him human calcium tablets two years ago. Occasionally now, after two years, I see him stand up on his back legs, but he still pushes himself when he walks.

 

[jimbojam]

ic. they sure are slow to respond and slow to show symptoms also. anyway, as long as he is eating well and happy, i'm glad. He can take as long as he wants to recover or not recover as long as he is happy.

 

[jimbojam]

this is my star. he likes to sleep this way.

 

[Yvonne G]

He's very pretty, and not badly pyramided at all. Add more substrate so you have it about 3 or 4 inches deep, then moisten it a bit. Very pretty tortoise!

 

[Star-of-India]

A beautiful animal really.

 

[Joo]

this is my star. he likes to sleep this way.

Pretty!

 

[Tom]

What type of UV light are you using? The cfl types can damage their eyes and should not be used. Long tubes are not effective unless used correctly. Mercury vapor bulbs are usually good and easy to use.

I house my stars exactly like this:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

These tips might help too:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

I typed this up for sulcatas, so just use a lot less emphasis on grass for a star:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/for-those-who-have-a-young-sulcata.76744/

 

[jimbojam]

This for the info. I am using a bulb from zoo med. I can't remember the exact name coz I threw the box away. I change the bulb like every six mths. I didn't use the mercury bulb coz I had placed his container on a unused computer table and right beside the window for him to get the natural sunlight. His container is the biggest size that I can get on the table. It can get pretty warm in the late noon so I am worried a mercury bulb will get too hot for him, thus I opted for a non mercury one. He gets free roam of my flat usually 2-3 times a week for 6-9hrs each time when I am at home to compensate for not being able to give him the correct housing space. He loves to walk around and is so friendly. He especially loves to walk in the kitchen and walking up n over the feet of people when they are busy cooking. I weighed him about a couple months back and he is about 860g. He seems to keep putting on weight and I wonder if he will get too fat? How do i know? He now sort of walked a bit stronger on his hind legs but still very weak, especially on his right leg so he looks like he is limping when walking but he sure can walk fast. One moment I saw him beside me and he is gone the next minute and he managed to climb up my shoe rack and fell asleep.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Does he have trouble walking in his enclosure or only on your tile floors? Most tortoises slip and slide on smooth floors like that. I'm not sure if that will hinder his mobility recovery or not, but it isn't an ideal way to get him exercise.

 

[jimbojam]

He can't walk properly on any surface. I was worried the floor is too slippery too but i had observed that he walks the same on carpets or non slip area and even grass area so i guess it dosen't make a difference? He is a lot better already. When i first got him, i could hear his shell hitting along the floor when he walk but now he no longer hit his shell on the floor. So guessed he is making a bit improvement.