sulcata question

[scotth42]

i have a sand soil substrate i have put some cypress mulch on top of the soil on the cool end where her hide is.but you think i should do the whole enclosure? the soil under the light does get very dry i mist it but it does nothing very dusty i have hay on top of that i will put the mulch over the soil and a bit of hay ontop.the bubbles are barely noticeable but she makes a wheezing noise every now and then when the lights are off.i put the heat emitter on brang the temps up to 77 degrees but the wheezing noises got worse when i turned off the heat she doesn't do it as much. she still is very active and has a huge appetite. but the noises and bubbles have been going on for a month now. they don't get better or worse.i will change the substrate tomorrow. my leopard was acting strange for awhile until i put the mulch in now he seems to be more lively now.

Your enclosure needs to be large enough so that you can have a warm end (around 85 to 90 degrees) and a cool end (room temperature). Just think about YOUR temperature. You are 98.6 degrees. In order to digest his food, your tortoises has to be able to get his temperature up in the 80's. I think once you get the habitat more humid and get his temp up the wheezing will slack.

Yvonne
[/quote]her basking area is between 90 to 105 she can get to 107 if she wants her cool side is in the upper 70s i put mulch down on the basking side without the hay i split the enclosure so it's half sand soil with the mulch on top on the basking side and just sand soil with hay on top on the hide side his enclosure is 7ft by 3ft at night i could use the heat emitter and get it up to 80 but she seems to like it cooler. she lovin the moister side to she spending all her time over there. should i do the mulch over half or do the whole enclosure it gets hard to spray it with the hay on top.i finally got a callback from my vet so maybe she will put her back on the meds monday

 

[Crazy1]

Scott, I know this is difficult and exasperating. Vets tell you she is fine. then she is sick. Give you Baytril injects for 7 days and she is better, then 14 days later she is getting worse. People on the forum tell you to see the vet, don't see a vet, change the humidity, check temps and lights etc. This is the world of a new tort owner as difficult and exasperating as it is. It should not be this hard, yet for a lot of us it is. Please know that we all are trying to help by giving you our experiences and suggestions.

If you choose to take your tort back to the vet, talk with your vet (or check the links and see if there is a reptile vet in your area). Let her know you have been talking with other tort owners and you have concerns, that the Baytril did not get rid of the RI. That you feel you may need a longer dose regimen, 14 days.
Cultures don't only tell if something (dog, cat, human, tort, pig) has an infection it tells what type of infection it is and what medications will treat it. Vets like MDs do cultures to find the correct medication without guessing, usually only if they have been given a med and it has not worked or the infection is chronic and reoccurring..
If she was doing better when she received the Baytril, it could have been a stubborn strain that needed more time on Baytril to rid her of it. When she is on Antibiotics make sure to keep her temps up a little.

Also work with her habitat to help keep the RI from coming back. RFBT and Yvonne have given you good advice on habitats for Sulcatas.

Here are a few links to Reptile vets in TN.
http://www.anapsid.org/vets/tenn.html
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/tennesse.shtml
http://www.arav.org/Members/TN.htm

 

[scotth42]

Scott, I know this is difficult and exasperating. Vets tell you she is fine. then she is sick. Give you Baytril injects for 7 days and she is better, then 14 days later she is getting worse. People on the forum tell you to see the vet, don't see a vet, change the humidity, check temps and lights etc. This is the world of a new tort owner as difficult and exasperating as it is. It should not be this hard, yet for a lot of us it is. Please know that we all are trying to help by giving you our experiences and suggestions.

If you choose to take your tort back to the vet, talk with your vet (or check the links and see if there is a reptile vet in your area). Let her know you have been talking with other tort owners and you have concerns, that the Baytril did not get rid of the RI. That you feel you may need a longer dose regimen, 14 days.
Cultures don't only tell if something (dog, cat, human, tort, pig) has an infection it tells what type of infection it is and what medications will treat it. Vets like MDs do cultures to find the correct medication without guessing, usually only if they have been given a med and it has not worked or the infection is chronic and reoccurring..
If she was doing better when she received the Baytril, it could have been a stubborn strain that needed more time on Baytril to rid her of it. When she is on Antibiotics make sure to keep her temps up a little.

Also work with her habitat to help keep the RI from coming back. RFBT and Yvonne have given you good advice on habitats for Sulcatas.

Here are a few links to Reptile vets in TN.
http://www.anapsid.org/vets/tenn.html
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/tennesse.shtml
http://www.arav.org/Members/TN.htm

all those vets are on the other side of the state from me Knoxville is like 3hrs away and would be the closest. I'm thinking of putting her up for adoption maybe somebody could give her a better home with a bigger better place to live with vets that know how to deal with them she is active and eating well and a beautiful tort i called my vet at 9 am they said she would call me back and i have heard nothing.i have a healthy baby leopard and a 2yr old russian i just hope they never get sick before i can move out of this place back to Fla..

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

scotth42 if you would like to adopt out your tortoises I would be more then happy to take her in and nurse her back to heath. Other wise do some of the things suggested she may turn around and get better quicker then you think.

 

[scotth42]

scotth42 if you would like to adopt out your tortoises I would be more then happy to take her in and nurse her back to heath. Other wise do some of the things suggested she may turn around and get better quicker then you think.

how would we go about doing this i think dhl is the only way to ship from here thats if they still do

 

[Crazy1]

Scott, I am sorry you are having sooooo much trouble with your little sully. I know whether you keep her or adopt her out you will make the right decision for both you and your tort. Best of luck to you both. Sorry those vets are all so far away. Good Luck to you both keep us updated please

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

I guess it would be ok to keep talking about this in the thread. I will leave that up to the moderator.

DHL is really good at shipping tortoises. It may still be to cold to ship though. You have to check not only your temps but the temps of the city your package would be routed threw.


Here is a link to the thread about how to ship tortoises

 

[scotth42]

I guess it would be ok to keep talking about this in the thread. I will leave that up to the moderator.

DHL is really good at shipping tortoises. It may still be to cold to ship though. You have to check not only your temps but the temps of the city your package would be routed threw.


Here is a link to the thread about how to ship tortoises

where you interested in taking her? let me know if not maybe you know somebody
that's interested today i didn't see any bubbles from the nose but the makes this whistle though the nose sometime other than that she active and eating like a pig

 

[scotth42]

Scott, I am sorry you are having sooooo much trouble with your little sully. I know whether you keep her or adopt her out you will make the right decision for both you and your tort. Best of luck to you both. Sorry those vets are all so far away. Good Luck to you both keep us updated please

i was wondering i put mulch on the hot side to get the humidity up i sprayed it a bit but now she won't go near the hot side on the mulch and she started digging like crazy all day on her cool end she seems to be bothered by something. she never dug like that she trying to dig thought the wood this is annoying she won't stop why would this be? she has always dug a bit til she hit bottom the she stopped now she keeps going.

 

[Jentortmom]

I personally keep my young sulcatas on aspen. They each have a section in the middle that has cypress bedding that I mist and stir up daily, they also have a humid hides. I never see them in the cypress unless they pass through to the colder side, or the water dish. I do however see them under there humid hides. I mist those often and keep them under the heat lamp and that is where they sleep. When I used soil and had it moist my small sully was miserable, the only place s/he would sit was on her hay pile. A suggestion that was made previously, and I have been told about is the humidifier, I actually am going to purchase one to put in my tort room as it is dry here and I was told they would do much better with that going to help moisten up the room and beable to keep there aspen. It might be worth a shot. I know it can be very frustrating and I hope you get it solved. You might try your local herp society as mentioned before, maybe they could take a look at her and tell you what they think - maybe she doesn't have RI, just needs a little moist air.

 

[scotth42]

this tort just started digging for some reason i can't figure it out something is stressing her seems to be the mulch
she won't bask under her light she just digs on the soil side she never did this until i put the mulch in. my leopard seems to have improved after putting in the mulch weird?

 

[Redfootedboxturtles]

Thats weird I think my reply was deleted. Or maybe I just didnt press send.

Any way scott. I suggest that you make a humid hide spot. Not just a humid section in the pen.

Humidity is good, even for desert tortoises. But they need to be able to get away from the humidity if the want to.

I also mentioned if you need someone to be there for you and adopt your tortoise it would be an honor. You care a lot about your animals and that is awesome! I would love to see her get better and just stay with you with out any problems. But if you need to give her up let me know.

 

[Crazy1]

It still seems Scott has some questions regarding his Sully. I see no problem with continuing it in this post.
However if you decide to adopt your sully out I would suggest you pm each other then let others know if it has been adopted out in this post.

 

[scotth42]

It still seems Scott has some questions regarding his Sully. I see no problem with continuing it in this post.
However if you decide to adopt your sully out I would suggest you pm each other then let others know if it has been adopted out in this post.

yes my tort is on it's way to his new home in fla to one of my relatives that will get him to the right vet and when i move back i will get him so he will be ok.i want to thank everybody for the help and tips my leopard and russian are healthy and eating great with no problems i just hope they never have to go to a vet til i move lol

 

[Jentortmom]

Well I am glad you are able to keep her, even if she beats you back to FL.

 

[Crazy1]

Scott, sounds like you found a good fix for the both of you and I am sorry RFBT that you didn't get her but I know you only wanted what was best for both of them. You have a big heart.