Tortoise is having seizures !?

[Mistermatt]

My son has a Russian tortoise who we believe is around a year old. Tonight she started having some kind of seizures. She won’t stop hissing and flailing her arms and legs and will not bring her head out of her shell. She has been like this for a few hours now. The vet didn’t answer the phone. How do we help her ? What’s wrong.

 

[wellington]

Can she get her head out? What does her eyes look like?
What kind of substrate are you using?
What are her temps?
What kind of bulbs are you using
Humidity?
Diet?
Could she have something stuck in her throat?
Try giving her a warm water soak and see if it helps at all.
While soaking see if you can tell if anything is poking her, or something wrapped around her neck or legs. Or if she is gasping with her mouth like something stuck in it.

 

[Aloysius Taschse]

Like Wellington said, please give us more information. I'm certainly not an expert but this will help more experienced members diagnose it and then give treatment instructions. Does this happen randomly or does it happen when you do a certain action? Does the tortoise go back to normal and act normal after it or is it continuous? Good luck, this is an awfully weird situation and hopefully you are able to figure something out.

 

[Yvonne G]

Sounds like she's got something poking her. . . something sharp, pointed? red ant biting her?

It's not a siezure. You need to give her a close inspection. Pull all the legs out and inspect all the nooks and crannies.

 

[Mistermatt]

I just picked her up and she can stick her head out and calmed down for a min.
her eyes look normal and she doesn’t have any discharge on her face
She has coconut husk substrate
A red light which is usually on at night
The temp is at 80 right now (is this hot enough) not sure as far as humidity, the house is usually a bit on the cooler side
She mostly eats romaine lettuce . She has a turtle bone but never uses it.
I don’t see anything stuck anywhere or in her mouth

 

[Mistermatt]

This is def a new situation. She has never done this before. She will hiss on occasion when we pick her up but nothing like this. Attaching a video. No guess I can’t post one. :/

 

[KarenSoCal]

This is def a new situation. She has never done this before. She will hiss on occasion when we pick her up but nothing like this. Attaching a video. No guess I can’t post one. :/

Upload your video to YouTube, then post the link they provide you.

You need to look really closely at all the folds of her skin. Do you see any red areas? Anything that looks like a bug bite? Has she been pooping?

She needs a lot more variety in her diet.