Possible killed by the medicine ..?

nuzul arief

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Hi All,
I am very sad to let you know that my baby Sulcata (his name is Spot-approx. 6m) has died this morning. he got an RI for almost 5 weeks I think..fluctuated sometime looks ok (healing) but sometime looks getting worse.
here is some background hostory.. before he got sick, my istar got an RI and as per advice from this forum I bumped up the heating (re-positioning the light) and it works! my star healing. and then the next couple of weeks my sully started to get an RI as well, I tried to do the same way with my istar but as I mentioned above its fluctuated sometimes getting better either getting worse. his appetite reduced and for the last two weeks he ate very little amount, but when I get him basking on the morning sun he looks very happy walking around and chomping some weeds..
after 4 weeks of not completely healing I decided to purchase a recommended reptile medicine for cold, bubble nose. I started to gave him last night. and this morning I gave him again with his very weak condition..while soak him on the warm water.. after 10 minutes of soaking the sunrise coming and I taking him outside for basking while soaking as we normally did in the morning if we had a sunrise. I left him for 5 minutes before I check him and found he is not moving as usual. I grab him put on my hand I noticed he literally not moving at all, but I thought that was he fall onto sleep again. and then I took him inside put him on his enclosure, and after couple of minutes we realized that our little guy has gone. my wife started to crying, cant imagine when my 5yr son arrived at home from school he will surely very very sad as we bought those tortoises for him.
so my question is.. is it possible that the medicine I gave to my little guy killed him?
 

Yvonne G

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Possible, but we need to know what medicine. CAn you take a picture of the label?
 

Hutsie B

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so sorry you lost your baby. I don't know if the medicine did it or it was just a bad RI. I am glad your other tortoise has made it though.
 

Yvonne G

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Did you follow the directions? I imagine it'w pretty hard to figure correct dosage for a very small tortoise. Tetracycline is a pretty safe antibiotic.
 

nuzul arief

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Thanks Hutsie & Wellington..
Yvonne, yes the directions is 2x1 drop in nose for each day, also suggested to put small amounts on the soaking water.
my other question :
- is RI could be very serious that can kill baby tortoise?
- I wonder if he had a"hatchling failure", I kept him for 4 months now (purchased on august, and the seller estimated he is 2 month). last two months I noticed he is not gain any weight, fluctuated 2-4 grams only. some thread on this forum stated that one of the syndrome of the "hatchling failure" is not gaining any weight. so its lead me to another question if the syndrome can happen sometimes in their life..? for this example, when I got spot on august he seems normal and healthy, but after two months he started to loose appetite, weak, got an RI and so on..
 

Big Charlie

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It's possible your tortoise was too far gone by the time you used the medicine.

Are you absolutely sure he is dead? There have been cases where tortoises have revived after seeming dead.
 

nuzul arief

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hopefully we are wrong. 8.40am i left home with 90% sure that he is died. but I asked my wife to keep him in his enclosure, waiting me get home from work, and I hope miracle happen..
 

Bambam1989

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Thanks Hutsie & Wellington..
Yvonne, yes the directions is 2x1 drop in nose for each day, also suggested to put small amounts on the soaking water.
my other question :
- is RI could be very serious that can kill baby tortoise?
- I wonder if he had a"hatchling failure", I kept him for 4 months now (purchased on august, and the seller estimated he is 2 month). last two months I noticed he is not gain any weight, fluctuated 2-4 grams only. some thread on this forum stated that one of the syndrome of the "hatchling failure" is not gaining any weight. so its lead me to another question if the syndrome can happen sometimes in their life..? for this example, when I got spot on august he seems normal and healthy, but after two months he started to loose appetite, weak, got an RI and so on..
May we know what his weight was?
 

Bambam1989

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last time I checked only 50-52gr. but that was when he got an RI already
The reason I asked is because the majority of "hatchling failure syndrome" cases never make it past 50g.
Was he regularly going poop? Did you notice any heavy urates in the urine?
It seems unlikely to me that it was the drops, but I do think there may have been something else wrong besides just an RI.
 

nuzul arief

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The reason I asked is because the majority of "hatchling failure syndrome" cases never make it past 50g.
Was he regularly going poop? Did you notice any heavy urates in the urine?
It seems unlikely to me that it was the drops, but I do think there may have been something else wrong besides just an RI.
his last poop I found was yesterday after 2 days not pooping. no white urates. and as I mentioned he is lost appetite, but will eat weeds if we put him under the sun in the morning, unfortunately there was no sunrise this last two days.
 

nuzul arief

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Hi Bambam,
your statement above realized me that probably he got other health issue than just an RI, because my little guy seems never past 52gr.
I started weighed him when my digital scales arrived last nov and he is 49gr. I weighed him again every four-six days and fluctuated only 2-4 gr. but since he got an RI and lost appetite so I didn't expected any gain in weight.
 

Tom

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RI is typically caused by low night temps, or low temps in general.

If your baby had a dry start, that could be the cause of death too. They seem fine, eat well and act normal in every way, but they don't grow. Some will live for several months and then die.

You might have had multiple issues going on there.
 

nuzul arief

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Hi Tom,
yes its make sense to me now..
we plan to buy another Sulcata, so maybe its better to buy the Sulcata that weight more than 80gr to ensure they already in "safe" condition..?
pls advise
 

Tom

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Hi Tom,
yes its make sense to me now..
we plan to buy another Sulcata, so maybe its better to buy the Sulcata that weight more than 80gr to ensure they already in "safe" condition..?
pls advise

Just buy one from a breeder that soaks daily, keeps them warm day and night, keeps them on damp substrate with some humidity, doesn't mix species and offers a wide variety of foods to the new hatchlings.

At 80 grams, the tortoise would be in the care of the breeder for a long time. WHo knows what they would be doing with them. If they are doing everything right, then this would be a good tortoise to buy. If they are mixing species which is common over there, or feeding the wrong foods, then it might be another disaster waiting to happen.
 

nuzul arief

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Just buy one from a breeder that soaks daily, keeps them warm day and night, keeps them on damp substrate with some humidity, doesn't mix species and offers a wide variety of foods to the new hatchlings.

At 80 grams, the tortoise would be in the care of the breeder for a long time. WHo knows what they would be doing with them. If they are doing everything right, then this would be a good tortoise to buy. If they are mixing species which is common over there, or feeding the wrong foods, then it might be another disaster waiting to happen.
hmm well that would be the next challenge for me as you know that its not easy to get detail info like that from the breeder.. but will try..
ohya the seller where I bought my indian star told me that my sully possibly got an mbd
is that also possible the mbd disease can kill the torto Tom?
 

Tom

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hmm well that would be the next challenge for me as you know that its not easy to get detail info like that from the breeder.. but will try..
ohya the seller where I bought my indian star told me that my sully possibly got an mbd
is that also possible the mbd disease can kill the torto Tom?

If the tortoise got a decent diet ad some occasional sunshine, then MBD is very unlikely.

The person probably thinks that because of the because of the soft plastron which is symptomatic of systemic failure brought on by kidney failure which is brought on by early dehydration.
 

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