# Stethoscope - heart beat



## Schatzi011 (Feb 27, 2015)

Do any of you own a stethoscope? I used to live next to a few veterinarians and would regularly use their stethoscopes to check out my parrot's heart beat/lung function/etc. I have never used one for tortoises before though. I was thinking of buying my own stethoscope. Anyway, wondering if any of you guys have experience with this. Thanks.


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## Yvonne G (Feb 27, 2015)

What would you hope to learn from using it? Do you know the normal-sounding heart beat and heart rate of a tortoise? Can you distinguish lung sounds that may be respiratory infection? If you think it would be helpful to you, go for it, but I've been taking care of turtles and tortoises since the '70s and have never needed to listen to my tortoises through a stethoscope.

I just re-read my post and realize it sounds a bit negative. That's not how I meant it at all. I'm all for anyone trying to learn more about their tortoises.


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## leigti (Feb 27, 2015)

I'm not sure you could hear much. I have one, I will try it out and let you know how it goes


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## Grandpa Turtle 144 (Feb 27, 2015)

It could be a great idea : if you listen every day or Evan once a week you could learn what the lungs sound like every day or the heart sounds like every day and if and when something changes you would know . You never know what you can do until you try !


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## Schatzi011 (Feb 27, 2015)

Leigti, that would be great if you can let me know if you hear anything. I like to be vigilent about my animals, sometimes too much. But if I listen to his heartbeat and lungs regularly, then I would be better about detecting changes. 
I weigh Hercules only once per week, but I weigh my parrots every day (been doing it his whole life). When one of my parrots got sick, the very first sign to manifest itself was a drop in weight. Sometimes these animals are so sensitive and early detection of problems can mean the difference between life and death. Anyway, I think that adding in a stethoscope might give me a bit better abilities for early detection. Also, I'm a scientist and the more I can document and track, the better I feel.


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## deadheadvet (Feb 28, 2015)

Pretty much a waste of time. The way you can find out the heartbeat, rhythm, you need a doppler which I use. You place the doppler between the carapace and inside the front arm. If you are worried about respiratory sounds, then look for open mouthed breathing and likely an x-ray is needed.
So I know what the next question is going to be, how much is a doppler?
About a thousand bucks.


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## leigti (Feb 28, 2015)

Schatzi011 said:


> Leigti, that would be great if you can let me know if you hear anything. I like to be vigilent about my animals, sometimes too much. But if I listen to his heartbeat and lungs regularly, then I would be better about detecting changes.
> I weigh Hercules only once per week, but I weigh my parrots every day (been doing it his whole life). When one of my parrots got sick, the very first sign to manifest itself was a drop in weight. Sometimes these animals are so sensitive and early detection of problems can mean the difference between life and death. Anyway, I think that adding in a stethoscope might give me a bit better abilities for early detection. Also, I'm a scientist and the more I can document and track, the better I feel.


I will do it this afternoon and let you know. I think what deadhead vet said is probably right, I was going to try to listen up around the front legs somewhere. But my tortoise is small and the stethoscope head is big but I will give it a shot. I wonder how it would work on the bigger tortoises? Where you could get the stethascope head down under the shell more. I read somewhere that for a zoo to determine if a tortoise is dead they actually do an ultrasound to see if the heart is beating. I bought a scale and weigh my tortoise and Boxturtle occasionally, mainly just to get a general idea of how they're doing. I think this is much more critical for babies but mine are adults. But that's okay I kind of like to get some objective data. Four instance I swore my box turtle was not eating at all, but she gained 23 g over the last three months. So I guess she is eating  i'll report back this afternoon.


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## Schatzi011 (Feb 28, 2015)

Deadheadvet, as long as we are learning, is anything really a waste of time? 

Thanks Leigti. I'm curious. Due to my math side, I not only plot his growth, but run prediction equations and extrapolate for fun. Every week when I put in his weight, I refit the equation and check the accuracy. The data is quite fun to work with and Hercules is used to the weighing routine. We'll have to figure out a better method when he gets heavier though!!


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