Tortoise in Bad Shape

[SamanthaPantaleon]

Howdy,

i just got a tortoise from a guy and he’s very sick. He warned me that his eyes were closed but I thought he would be okay. I have had him for 5 days now. He doesn’t eat. He doesn’t drink. His pee is dark brown. He hasn’t pooped. And his eyes are closed. He’s very sluggish in his enclosure. But he does like to move around outside in the sun.
i haveincluded a photo of his enclosure. He also has a little house that goes in there as well. He was a heating light and a reptisun compact bulb as well.

 

[MichaelL]

The only thing I can recommend is a trip to the vet. That may be the only thing that saves him at this point. Good luck!

 

[method89]

Get rid of the compact bulb... It's known to cause problems

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings. Fingers crossed, there are lots of things you can quickly do to try & get this guy going. Get rid of the CFL compact bulb, soak your tort in warm water (20-30 mins) every day (maybe twice per day if you can), get rid of the sand, make sure your other substrate is damp, get your temps 24/7 in the 80 degree range, sink the food dishes down into the substrate so it is level (sunken down in), switch up to a larger enclosure, get the humidity way up inside the enclosure.

Start reading & implementing info from Tom’s Sully Care guide - https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threa...se-a-sulcata-leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/

Good luck!

 

[Sarah2020]

I am not seeing any water. They should have water 24 x7 also wash the green veg in water to get liquid in. Have you bathed the tortoise. Sometimes they drink in the bath as in a small bowl of water 30 degrees for 20 mins or so.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

Let's see if we can't try to help you get this little guy's eyes open:

He's very thin (I can see this by looking at the 'elbow' portion of his front leg). I'm thinking he hasn't eaten in a very long time, and you have a long row to hoe and maybe no success when you reach the other side. He's quite ill.

The reason he seems active when you put him outside is because he senses he's not in his enclosure and he doesn't know where the safe hiding place is.

Ok, here's what you need to do: Buy some Gerber strained carrot baby food and mix it 50/50 with warm water. You want to use a bowl with a small foot print but tall sides so he can't climb out. And the water needs to come up to the middle of his sides. Place the soaking bowl back into the enclosure NEXT to where the light shines down, but not directly under the light. Leave him soaking in there for at lease 45 minutes, and do this daily. You should see improvement after three days.

Tortoises won't eat if they can't see, so you need to get his eyes open, and the above paragraph is telling you how to do that. They also won't eat if they're not warm enough, so now we need to have you measure the temperature all over the floor of his enclosure. It needs to be 80-85F degrees, day and night. To achieve this, you need to cover that aquarium. Best way to cover it is to make some sort of framework that you can hang the light/heat from and cover the whole thing, lights and all, with a sheet of plastic or with aluminum kitchen foil. Of course, the best way to provide a covered enclosure is to buy one, but the foil or plastic will do in a pinch.

During the next three days, while you are soaking in the baby food mixture, learn all you can about how to care for this baby. Please read, then re-read this care sheet:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Sarah2020]

Keep us up to date on progress fingers crossed.

 

[SamanthaPantaleon]

He just passed away. I think his previous owner neglected him for too long. In the 5 days I had him we tried our best to help him. His name was Ricky and I’m so sad.

I’m thinking about getting a red foot tortoise. Any recommendations on sellers? Enclosure recommendations? Does he need a uvb bulb? What kind of bulb for the heat source?
if you have a red foot please share what works for you.

 

[The Tortoise Tree]

Trip to the vet, and lots of soaks.

 

[The Tortoise Tree]

Trip to the vet, and lots of soaks.

Oh, sorry

 

[Lokkje]

I am sorry about your loss but I’m glad you tried to help Ricky.

 

[SamanthaPantaleon]

Trip to the vet, and lots of soaks.

He passed away.

 

[The Tortoise Tree]

He passed away.

I am so sorry. I scrolled down , wrote a response, scrolled back up and then saw your thread.