Overheating and death

FLINTUS

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Very sadly, after redoing the enclosures yesterday and adding my two new erosas to the rest of the group, my thermostat malfunctioned. 3 of the 8 are now probably dead. This came as a result of receiving back my main very expensive thermostat system(Microclimate Prime), which had been sent off for repair, to find it was not working. However, rather than using the heater with the built in thermostat, since it's getting colder, I thought i'd use the more powerful tubular heater with a plug in thermostat. I checked this morning, and everything has gone wrong. All the plants dead(temperatures I would guess 35-40 degrees Celsius), 5 tortoises severely dehydrated, and 3 almost certainly dead. Having worked to get my collection to this stage, I now have to rebuild it and start again. Therefore, I would warn people against buying plug-in thermostats that are not specifically labelled for reptiles, even if it is for the tubular heater, without getting good feedback first.
If anyone has suggestion on what to do with the possibly dead tortoises it would be much appreciated. They are currently bathing just above room temperature(about 23 or so degrees), with cooked mushrooms in the water.
@Jacqui @juli11 @Anyfoot @tortadise @Benjamin
 

dmmj

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words fail me what else can one say? I'm sorry sounds hollow but I am sorry this happened
 

Anyfoot

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Very sadly, after redoing the enclosures yesterday and adding my two new erosas to the rest of the group, my thermostat malfunctioned. 3 of the 8 are now probably dead. This came as a result of receiving back my main very expensive thermostat system(Microclimate Prime), which had been sent off for repair, to find it was not working. However, rather than using the heater with the built in thermostat, since it's getting colder, I thought i'd use the more powerful tubular heater with a plug in thermostat. I checked this morning, and everything has gone wrong. All the plants dead(temperatures I would guess 35-40 degrees Celsius), 5 tortoises severely dehydrated, and 3 almost certainly dead. Having worked to get my collection to this stage, I now have to rebuild it and start again. Therefore, I would warn people against buying plug-in thermostats that are not specifically labelled for reptiles, even if it is for the tubular heater, without getting good feedback first.
If anyone has suggestion on what to do with the possibly dead tortoises it would be much appreciated. They are currently bathing just above room temperature(about 23 or so degrees), with cooked mushrooms in the water.
@Jacqui @juli11 @Anyfoot @tortadise @Benjamin
OMG Ben. That is a sad state to be in. All you can do for now is bathe them all. Nearly dead or alive. Just bathe the lot.
As for avoiding this situation again and for others, I'm a believer of using more than one heat source. If you need lets say 300watt of heat, use 3 x 100watt or 2 x 150watt. This way no one supply can over heat the enclosure, also if one supply goes down for any reason, the other(s) will stop it getting too cold. (Except power cuts obviously).
My heart goes out to you my friend. :(
 

Jacqui

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OMGosh was shocking and heart breaking this is to read. You must be feeling shock, devastation and guilt, but don't feel guilty. You can not change was has happened. Other then soaking and not doing a drasticly fast cool down, I just have no ideas. *hugs*
 

juli11

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I had a similar problem 2 days ago..
My females of S. carinatus were under their pot which is normally their covert. They ram the pot so that the pot fall down and they can't go out. I don't know how long they stayed under it but one of them is dead and the other one sit in s bole she isn't still ok.. But that's turtles..

If I understand it right your temperatures get to high so that the tortoises hydrated?
If yes my tip is to put them in a small terrarium with a humidity of 100% and much water.. Maybe a temperature of 23-25C. How do they look do you have a picture?
 

Yvonne G

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Aw, darn it Ben. This is an awful thing to have happen. I've lost a tortoise or two to overheating, so I understand how helpless you feel. I'm so sorry this happened.

It's so hard to tell if turtles are actually dead. I go through all the tricks and if I still can't tell, I wait until the body goes into rigor. I hope they're not dead, Ben, and that soaking them helps them revive.
 

juli11

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Thank you everyone.
They've been soaking all day but no luck.
Yes @juli11 the enclosure became way too hot, and they probably dehydrated.

Hmm okay. But that's my only tip
what you can do. But I think that they don't have a chance if they look like that especially as the last one..
 

Pearly

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I am so sorry to hear this horrible news! Equipment malfunction has been my worry since I got the babies into a closed chamber. I know how you must feel. Long time ago my (then LITTLE, maybe 5yrs old) got 2 gold fish at the carnival. She was so happy I decided to keep them, stopped by the store to pick up a fish bowl (wrong! I know that now) and food, dechlorinator atc. Washed the bowl and put the fish in it. The next morning both fish were dead. I can't tell you how sick I felt inside knowing that I had somehow caused their demise. Those were living breathing creatures. I still remember that vividly, but also know that I never meant to hurt an animal and that experience has made me a better pet keeper. I now try to anticipate any possible issue and counteract potential problems. I know it will be hard for you to not beat yourself up for what has happened, but I hope you find a way to turn this into a positive experience in some other ways. Again, I am so very sorry for your loss
 

Pearly

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One more thing, as I'm still relatively new to tortoise keeping, I haven't heard of putting mushrooms into the bath water. That's very interesting. Could someone please tell me more about it or point to website where I could educate myself more?
 

FLINTUS

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One more thing, as I'm still relatively new to tortoise keeping, I haven't heard of putting mushrooms into the bath water. That's very interesting. Could someone please tell me more about it or point to website where I could educate myself more?
That's just due to this species. Being forest dwellers, they like their funghi, and when cooked they have a strong smell hat I was hoping might entice them out.
Sorry to hear about your fish too.
 

mike taylor

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Man Ben hopefully you can pull them through . Sorry it really sucks when crap like this happens .
 
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