Walks on her " hands N Knees"

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Nov 10, 2018
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New York
Danielle my 8 yr old female redfoot keeps her rear legs extended almost always. We have been working with her to correct this and might be making progress.When handling her I gently manually manipulate her legs into a standing position N it seems to stimulate her urination N bowel movement. Might she have a kidney or bladder stone? A reptile vet is 100 miles away N the weather is to cold I think this time O' year to risk transporting her saftely. We became " family 2 yrs ago N have just recently begun to explore internet sites to gain knowledge of redfoots.Never thought I'd enjoy Tortoise company so much but my yellow lab N I have become quite fond of Danny N Danielle N just might move South as to enlarge our family.O by the way Hello everyone.This is my first posting N hope to share photos as we learn how!️ ️❤️N
 

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Joined
Nov 10, 2018
Messages
37
Location (City and/or State)
New York
They were in a small aquarium when I " rescued " them they live together so to speak.I am in process of moving but I have had them in a 4' x8' "turtle dome" and in the summer a larger dog kennel with a hide box made of slate that was equipt with proper lighting N waterhole earth floor with Cypress mulch shade areas sun areas. Really she had it best I could do.She was walking like this since B4 I took over her care .Now I have children's blocks that I strap under her bellie for a few hours a day that help to make her walk correctly, Almost that is.Her stance seems to Be improving but we take it slowly so as to not hurt her.I will get her to a vet for x-rays to C if there is some sort of blockage.What else might I do? I feed her sparingly Carrots, turnip greens,eggshells Cantalope,strawberries bannanas Dandilion greens,Flowers, cucumbers weeds and as I said sparingly with her grazing on her own. I am disabled since back surgery so They get all I can do for them and they have surprisingly become quite social with people. They get meat for protein and no tomatoes nor citrus no Appleseed's or cucumber seeds either.they outer edge of her she'll is translucent I think this is new growth. When I figure out how I will post picks but it is late I hurt N they R in hiding .Tomorrow is another day and without stressing them I will get pics.Thanks for your concern and good evening God Bless your
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2018
Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
New York
This last summer we camped out for 2 months or so and they were giveng free range from 5 am till dark N Danny even spent an evening "lost in the woods" of Northern NY. My dog tracked them down in the evening but until then they must have felt just as wild as they never we're Since birth .I could tell they loved it who wouldn't burrrowing in the leaves, feasting on slugs and greens.
Whitch is how we found Danny that next morning with a mouth full Of slug.They had it made all day until dusk. I sprinkle their food with a calcium supplement. And they have two cuddle bones they don't touch much at all
 

ZEROPILOT

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@TechnoCheese asked about your UVB source, because I think she's thinking the same thing I am. That this sounds like a lack of calcium issue.
Tortoises can not thrive without a UVB source. And some damage is irreversible. Please describe or photograph your enclosure and your lighting.
 

Anyfoot

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To strengthen the bone structure you need to get vitamin D into the system. It takes months before you see any benefit. I’ve had a couple that dragged the back legs and now stand tall.
Make sure you give them some animal protein. Feed some cat meat once a month. Make sure it’s low fat cat meat with vitamin D in the ingredients. After a couple months back off to feeding it every other week. Sprinkle nutrobal on the food 2 or 3 times a week. Soak your torts in warm water daily for now, try and get him to be active, putting him in water will help.
You need a uvb light too.
 

TammyJ

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To strengthen the bone structure you need to get vitamin D into the system. It takes months before you see any benefit. I’ve had a couple that dragged the back legs and now stand tall.
Make sure you give them some animal protein. Feed some cat meat once a month. Make sure it’s low fat cat meat with vitamin D in the ingredients. After a couple months back off to feeding it every other week. Sprinkle nutrobal on the food 2 or 3 times a week. Soak your torts in warm water daily for now, try and get him to be active, putting him in water will help.
You need a uvb light too.
By saying "feed some cat meat" anyfoot means cat food, like what you would give your cat.
Also "feed some cat meat once a month" I think might be actually once per week, then "back off to feeding it every other week". Am I correct, Anyfoot? Please let me know if I am messing up here!
Also, please understand that slugs may have parasites, I would actually like to know for myself if it's OK to let them eat slugs and snails at all. Mine occasionally do eat a slug or snail.
 

Anyfoot

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By saying "feed some cat meat" anyfoot means cat food, like what you would give your cat.
Also "feed some cat meat once a month" I think might be actually once per week, then "back off to feeding it every other week". Am I correct, Anyfoot? Please let me know if I am messing up here!
Also, please understand that slugs may have parasites, I would actually like to know for myself if it's OK to let them eat slugs and snails at all. Mine occasionally do eat a slug or snail.
Apologies, Yes. I meant once a week to boast protein and vitamin D levels, this will help with bone and muscle strength. But remember you need to feed vitamin C for bone to develop and strengthen. This is where nutrobal comes in. For bones to grow you need vitamin C and D.

I’ve fed everyday garden slugs(that are poisonous to cats) to all my torts for yrs and never seen any bad side effects. 2 of my adult males follow us around the garden because they have learnt where the slugs come from. No, not the garden, me and Dawn :D
 

ZEROPILOT

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By saying "feed some cat meat" anyfoot means cat food, like what you would give your cat.
Also "feed some cat meat once a month" I think might be actually once per week, then "back off to feeding it every other week". Am I correct, Anyfoot? Please let me know if I am messing up here!
Also, please understand that slugs may have parasites, I would actually like to know for myself if it's OK to let them eat slugs and snails at all. Mine occasionally do eat a slug or snail.
Shoot!
I thought someone finally had found a good use for cats.;)
 

Yvonne G

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I think Tammy was thinking about slugs being an interim host to a parasite. You can Google it and read about all the parasites that use slugs as an intermediate host.
 
Joined
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Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
New York
To strengthen the bone structure you need to get vitamin D into the system. It takes months before you see any benefit. I’ve had a couple that dragged the back legs and now stand tall.
Make sure you give them some animal protein. Feed some cat meat once a month. Make sure it’s low fat cat meat with vitamin D in the ingredients. After a couple months back off to feeding it every other week. Sprinkle nutrobal on the food 2 or 3 times a week. Soak your torts in warm water daily for now, try and get him to be active, putting him in water will help.
You need a uvb light too.
Thanks I was checking out my light and noticed that the new bulb I just bought is UVA but believe the old one that just blew was UVB.Lets hope so.I will get a UVB light tomorrow if you believe I should.My bad. She luvs the UV and so does Danny my male ( I am 99%sure he is a 7 yr.old male ).She doesn't seem to enjoy bathe time as much as he and I have a video of her " blowing bubbles " in her bathe that I think is just the cutest. I want to share it but am not as good at posting as she is at making bubbles! I have some friends that will help N I hope to have them join the forum soon. I like zeropilot's reply and wanted to post "I don't think I can bring myself to kill and slaughter a cat for meat.Do You think road kill is safe to feed her? But thought it might be seen as insensative and was afraid of offending someone until I read ZEROPILOT'S reply. Thanks for everybody's help.
Patrick
 

Anyfoot

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Thanks I was checking out my light and noticed that the new bulb I just bought is UVA but believe the old one that just blew was UVB.Lets hope so.I will get a UVB light tomorrow if you believe I should.My bad. She luvs the UV and so does Danny my male ( I am 99%sure he is a 7 yr.old male ).She doesn't seem to enjoy bathe time as much as he and I have a video of her " blowing bubbles " in her bathe that I think is just the cutest. I want to share it but am not as good at posting as she is at making bubbles! I have some friends that will help N I hope to have them join the forum soon. I like zeropilot's reply and wanted to post "I don't think I can bring myself to kill and slaughter a cat for meat.Do You think road kill is safe to feed her? But thought it might be seen as insensative and was afraid of offending someone until I read ZEROPILOT'S reply. Thanks for everybody's help.
Patrick
I feed cat meat not actual cat. Just need to be clear on that. Although my cats won’t lay near the torts because they try and bite them :D

I have a friend who does and always has fed road kill :eek:
 
Joined
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Location (City and/or State)
New York
I feed cat meat not actual cat. Just need to be clear on that. Although my cats won’t lay near the torts because they try and bite them :D

I have a friend who does and always has fed road kill :eek:
I am housesitting lately while I find a new place to live.Gave up my home because to much to maintain since back surgery.Here there are two cats that won't go NEAR my torts when I allow the torts to roam the house.Allthough I found it intriging today to find Danny my male redfoot cozying up with my yellow lab Hunter ( all the pretty girls call Hunter handsome) as he slept on his bed. I have to believe my tort Danny was sucking up body heat? Just maybe Danny has taking a liking to my dog!? Who knows? Only a tort would know for sure.
 
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