Hi i've just joined and wanted some advice!
I recently rescued two hermanns (male 6 and female 10) as they werent being looked after and were kept in a very small viv and never put outside.
The female seems to be pyramiding a little but is fine apart from that. But I am worried about the male. Firstly the tip of his tail is grey and hard, so I am thinking tail rot? Secondly his does not move his back legs much at all, when he walks he drags them.
Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?

They are kept in a viv at night and put in a large garden in the day and am in the process of building a tort table. They are fed mostly on grass and weeds now, though I know the lady used to feed them on alot of fruit. The food is supplemented with nutrabol.

I would also appreciate some advice on exactly what heating and light they need and when it should be on.

I will post some pics soon, thanks!

This post was last modified: 05-11-2008 04:02 PM by Gem.

I can't talk specifically about Hermann's, but I will say that the back leg thing sounds like metabolic bone disease. He needs some calcium and vit.d You probably should take him to the vet to get it started via injection, just for a jump-start.

My sister always cares for the sick babies for me, and several months ago I gave her a very soft desert tortoise baby. It only took her a month to get him hardened up. She has some sort of liquid calcium that she bought in the drug store (for human babies), and she gave him that every day with an hour outside in the sun every day, even if it wasn't sunny. Talk to your vet about the best way for you to get calcium into your guy.

Yvonne

Yeah I read about that MBD on the internet. Thanks for the advice! I just need to find a good reptile vet now! Can you advise about the light and heating they need at all?

Hopefully someone with more experience with your kind of tortoise will answer those questions for you...as I don't use UVB lights on my tortoises. Reason being, they are all outside, even the ones that are in indoor habitats. My indoor habitats are on the carport and I always open the lids for fresh air and sunshine, even on days when there is no sunshine. So I just use a regular incandescent bulb.

Yvonne

Here is some great info that might help.
http://africantortoise.com/pyramiding_in_tortoises.htm

Depending on the substrate they were housed on he could have lack of strength in the back legs as well. If you are putting them outside in the garden everyday, then you do not need a uvb bulb, a regular heat bulb will be fine. I would recommend taking him to the vet for a check up to find out what is going on with him.

You say he has been fed correctly, supplemented and kept outdoors for a fair amount of time so it would be unlikely to be metabolic bone disease. Do you have any side (profile) shots of him? If a tortoise has been kept short of water it could well have developed bladder stones. One of the symptoms of this is dragging the hind legs. Have his urates always been liquid? An x-ray would reveal any stones.
Hope this helps
Sue

He has only been put out regularly since I have had him which is only 2 and half weeks now, and he was fed a diet high in fruit and has only been supplemented for a month because the previous owner obviosuly hadn't done her research. When I collected them they were on paper bedding in a glass viv, which meant that walking was very difficult as it was slippery. I also noticed when I collected them that the water was in a plastic bowl which just tipped straight over when they tried to drink so they may well not have been able to have a proper drink.

He did have an x ray when with his previous owner, but the vet she took him to was not a reptile vet so I don't know whether he would have noticed any stones.

I will take him to a reptile vet I have found an hour from me to get him checked out.

Thanks for all your advice guys! The poor little guy hasn't had a very good start to life!

Gem, sounds like things have started to look up for them already in your hands. I hope the vet has good news. Please keep us posted and we will have you and your new shelled friends in our thoughts.