Tom's Cure

[Balboa]

Soooooo this cropped up in Tom's Leopard 2010 Thread and I found it pretty interesting.

Wow, great topic!

I just wish to say one thing. I have a Leopard tort, i have him for 8 month now, and before i got him he was cca 6 month's ( i think.. ) old and 2.8 inches ( i hope the converter cm to inch did it right ). The first few months i gave him food every second day and he had the RND ( runny nose.. ) and was capt on a 30 and lower % of humidity, and the only food i was giving him were the grasses that grow on my yard, with a once per week 5 min souping. Then the summer came, he was out and he got a bit bigger ( just a bit, really..A BIT! ) and still had the RND. Then a ''miracle'' happened.

On the 2nd of this month ( 2.11 ) i fist saw your 'How to raise a baby Sulcata' and i was like..Hmm seems reasonable.
Since then I keep him in a 70-80% humidity housing, i feed him with spring mix and allso yard weeds, and I water him 3x a day + 10-15min of souping every day. And the little dude is getting bigger! I just cant believe it, I can ''see'' him grow in front of my eyes lol. And the RND is like 85% gone!! In 9 days he grow that much, that he did in 8 moths lol.
You just can't believe how happy I am, the poor guy is 1 year or maybe a bit more old and he is 3.1 inches. But not for any more, every day that passes he get's bigger!
Even tho, when i got him he had a bit of pyramiding, still not much but it was. But now, the new ''skin'' is smooth and it seems its not pyramiding any more.
Tomorrow i will go to the store and buy that gosh darn cable for the camera, cuz' i just cant find it,..and i will post some pic of him.

Nofx, I'm glad the info helped you, but I never intended it for an animal that is already sick. Your experience might help all of us learn a thing or two, so THANK YOU for sharing it. Just make sure you keep those temps above 80F (or 27C) ALL the time every where in the enclosure. Even at night. Ordinarily, people try to dry them out and keep them out of humidity in your situation, but maybe that has been a mistake on everyones' part. Including mine. Please keep us posted on this and be careful. I'd feel awful if anything bad happened because of something I recommended.

Now I sure hope Tom doesn't mind me lifting that, but I Didn't want to derail his thread, but really wanted to respond. My eternal apologies if I did bad.

This kind of plays into what I've been thinking about Leopards. I don't own one yet, but sure hope to someday.

Now with a redfoot, if you let it get too dry and cold, it can get respiratory problems. With all of our new learning pointing to Leopards (at least as babies) needing far greater hydration than previously thought, they might actually be at greater risk for disease, especially respiratory, if NOT kept humid.

Not that I think it really matters in this case, but I really challenge the notion that a Leopard IS a desert tortoise. Everything I've read about G.p.p. in any case suggests that it is not even really Savannah. Its more like really, really dry woodland, and seldom more than a days walk from forest.

Any thoughts?

 

[Tom]

Where I saw wild leopards was at the Cape Point Preserve in South Africa. It was mostly 2-3 foot high scrub brush and fairly dense. No trees to speak of, but many different species of brush. It was kind of like the scrub brush here in the CA desert, like what you see when you drive from L.A. to Vegas, but much more dense. It was very near the coast, and quite cool and breezy.

I don't know what to say about the above. I have yet to try the "wet" routine with a regular leopard. Its in the works though. I do really enjoy hearing about it when other people are trying some or all the elements of it with their babcocks.

 

[Nofx]

Like i said before, i didn't mean to post in that topic, my bad.

Any way. I had him in a very dry, hot and once a week water life. You may say a normal desert life. And he didnt get much bigger, even tho the food was only yard weed and all so his runny nose just wouldn't go away.
But now, well....he is getting better

I got the cable, so i will let the pictures talk.

You can clearly see the nose. No more RN!

Like i said, this guy is 1 year ( maybe even a few month's more ) old. The only thing that i regret is that when i got him i didn't measure him, not even a pic..damn me!

I will post more pic in the Introduction forum.



ps. Someone asked me in that topic what was my real name, well, how rude of me . Hi, im Niko

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Wow, what a cute little mug peering at the camera there.

What's this nubbin's name?

 

[Nofx]

Hmm a name, good question!
I really have no idea, maybe Mali. Witch means in my language little, small, to be small


Oh ye, i almost forgot, a few months ago i went to the vet, and he told me that he wont give him right away any antibiotics. He gave me some concentrate of vitamins and proteins ( something like that ) and he told me to give him once a week a drip in his mouth. So i did. Nothing happened.
10 days ago when i started to use Tom's advice, i allso started to drip in the Leo mouth 1 drip PER DAY, not week, but day. Even tho the vet told me that big torts should get 2 drips per week and small one, 1.

What do you guys think about my action?
Do you think that i should stop with this? He looks fine and healthy so far.

Here's a pic the bottle

 

[Yvonne G]

It is possible to over do it with vitamins. If the vet told you one drop per week, I'd take his advice.

 

[Neal]

Anytime I have seen my leopards noses bubble I give them a long soaking. This usually clears it right up. I think keeping them hydrated is the key, and humidity just helps them retain the water longer.

 

[ticothetort2]

His shell doesn't look to bad considering you had him in a dryer environment in the beginning. Glad to hear that his runny nose has passed!

 

[Neal]

I zoomed in on your first picture, and wow, that tortoise is border line PERFECT. Good job!