Tortoise very sick :(

[zlamanna41]

Hey guys im no professional with tortoises but i try my best to keep my guy happy. Ive had him for 17 years. (Since i was 5)... my turtle is very ill. We went out of town for 3 days. Before we left one of my kids switched his uve bulb from the timer to permanently on, the news also predicted the weather to be way colder than it was so we had the heat set to 68 but when we got home it was 77 in the house. On top of all this the person who was supposed to come feed him never did. Now with his symptoms. Hes just all messed up and i feel like a terrible person his eyes are very swollen back legs are fully extended out and he wont retract them. He keeps opening his mouth slightly and his eyes don't looked focused. I gave him some apples earlier and he ate 7 small bites. Now he is slowly eating some very wet kale but he's only taken 2 bites in the last ten minutes and he keeps sitting there and closing his eyes between bites. His back legs also look swollen. I feel really bad for my guy it makes me feel like a terrible owner and i hope he's not in pain. I cant take him to the vet until this weekend and even then ill be using all the money i have to do so. But if its do his health its important. Im thinking maybe uvb overexposure or heat exhaustion. What can i do until this weekend to help him? Is there any hope he will get better? I use a powers in uvb bulb for 8 hours a day. Also before all this happend he did get puffy eyes every now and again.

 

[zlamanna41]

Powersun uvb is what i use sorry for the choppy spelling my auto correct is terrible

 

[Kori5]

Put him in a container with lukewarm water. It shouldn't pass the bridge from bottom and top shell. His head must be out. You can also add some baby carrot food in the water. Also pics would be useful. There are many experts here. What kind of a tortoise is he?

 

[Yvonne G]

Set the tortoise up in a smaller hospital enclosure. Make sure the overall temperature is 85F. Give him some shade from the Powersun. You can put in a plastic plant or something like that to give him respite from the light. Go to a feed store and buy a package of Terramycin Water Soluble powder. Add a quarter teaspoon of the powder to each quart of warm soaking water. Naturally, the smaller the soaking tub, the less powder you'd use.



It sounds like he has a respiratory infection. The Terramycin should help that.

What kind of tortoise is this? Once you have him back to normal, you need to go over your husbandry. Because you've had him for such a long time, you may have forgotten some of the important things required in his care. We have good care sheets for almost every species of tortoise.

 

[zlamanna41]

Ok thank you. He is a Russian