I recently adopted a 14 year-old male tortoise.

Michael619 said:

I just adopted a 14-year-old male tortoise from a neighbor. They had been keeping him outside, and when I found him it looked like his heat source had gone out. He was wheezing pretty badly. I’ve been taking him to the vet for the past two weeks. They started him on Orbax liquid daily, and he’s also received Baytril 50mg/ml injections at each visit.

I had an enclosure made for him and installed a 2x3 Stanley heating mat on top along with a Kane heating mat on the floor for him to lay on. I’m just looking for any helpful information that could improve this guy’s quality of life. Will these two mats keep him warm enough?

I really wish I had found this group sooner. Thanks in advance for any advice or helpful information. I’m located in San Diego.

Click to expand...

Yvonne G said:

Looks like it might be a leopard tortoise (hard for me to tell on my small Kindle screen).

You're doing the right thing with the heat, but you can also soak in warm water daily.

We have learned that Baytril is quite harsh, and most of us don't use it anymore. If you're not seeing a runny nose or labored breathing, I would stop using it.Orbax is for wounds or bacterial infections, so I would stop using that too. I think just getting him up to 80-85° day and night will do wonders for him (along with the soaks).

Click to expand...

Yvonne G said:

Looks like it might be a leopard tortoise (hard for me to tell on my small Kindle screen).

You're doing the right thing with the heat, but you can also soak in warm water daily.

We have learned that Baytril is quite harsh, and most of us don't use it anymore. If you're not seeing a runny nose or labored breathing, I would stop using it.Orbax is for wounds or bacterial infections, so I would stop using that too. I think just getting him up to 80-85° day and night will do wonders for him (along with the soaks).

Click to expand...

zovick said:

Your tortoise looks like a pretty nice Leopard Tortoise. Hopefully in your care it will get over the RI problem and become a healthy happy animal.

For future reference, Baytril injections are not really the best treatment for the RI. They are painful and can cause tissue necrosis at the injection site in addition to the fact that they need to be given daily.

Today, the best treatment/injections for RI would be ceftazidime. It does not cause either pain or tissue necrosis, plus it needs to be given only every three days for milder infections and every other day for more severe infections. The dose is 20 mg per kilo and it should be given until 5-6 doses have been administered.

Other people on this forum will most likely comment on your tortoise box and other husbandry questions.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

zovick said:

Your tortoise looks like a pretty nice Leopard Tortoise. Hopefully in your care it will get over the RI problem and become a healthy happy animal.

For future reference, Baytril injections are not really the best treatment for the RI. They are painful and can cause tissue necrosis at the injection site in addition to the fact that they need to be given daily.

Today, the best treatment/injections for RI would be ceftazidime. It does not cause either pain or tissue necrosis, plus it needs to be given only every three days for milder infections and every other day for more severe infections. The dose is 20 mg per kilo and it should be given until 5-6 doses have been administered.

Other people on this forum will most likely comment on your tortoise box and other husbandry questions.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

zolasmum said:

It's great that you have adopted him -what is his name ? He is obviously going to be a lot happier and healthier with you, and the more time you spend with him, the more interesting and responsive he will be.
All best wishes to you both
from Angie

Click to expand...

zolasmum said:

It's great that you have adopted him -what is his name ? He is obviously going to be a lot happier and healthier with you, and the more time you spend with him, the more interesting and responsive he will be.
All best wishes to you both
from Angie

Click to expand...

The_Four_Toed_Edward said:

Welcome to the forum!

Click to expand...

COmtnLady said:

Welcome to the Forum!

Nice looking tortoise! What did you name him?

You've gotten great advise above!




Have you had a chance to read theis yet? ~

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

This might help ~

Leopard/sulcata starter

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information below on how I’d personally tackle an indoor starter set up for a leopard/sulcata until they’re bigger. Hopefully it helps give people some ideas!” I know it looks like a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered...

tortoiseforum.org

We're glad you found us!

.

Click to expand...

Michael619 said:

I just adopted a 14-year-old male tortoise from a neighbor. They had been keeping him outside, and when I found him it looked like his heat source had gone out. He was wheezing pretty badly. I’ve been taking him to the vet for the past two weeks. They started him on Orbax liquid daily, and he’s also received Baytril 50mg/ml injections at each visit.

I had an enclosure made for him and installed a 2x3 Stanley heating mat on top along with a Kane heating mat on the floor for him to lay on. I’m just looking for any helpful information that could improve this guy’s quality of life. Will these two mats keep him warm enough?

I really wish I had found this group sooner. Thanks in advance for any advice or helpful information. I’m located in San Diego.

Click to expand...

Tom said:

I'm late to the party, but I see you've gotten great advice. Here is my two cents:
1. As you've now learned the hard way, most vets know very little about tortoises and tortoise care. They often misdiagnose, use the wrong treatment, and fail to address the CAUSE of the problem while focusing solely on treating the symptoms. Keep an eye on the injection sites. Baytril will often make the skin slough off because it literally burns them like bleach. If this happens, keep the area clean and maybe use some triple antibiotic on it to prevent infection. Vets learn their tortoise care info from the same wrong sources that everyone else finds and learns from. There is no semester on tortoise care in vet school. They are only human.
2. Having explained number one above, now let's look at the problem. It does no good to treat the symptoms if you don't fix the problem. So what is the problem? In most cases RI is caused by the tortoise being too cold for too long, especially at night, and especially when it's damp, like in your coastal climate at night. So if cold causes the problem, how to we solve the problem? HEAT! Going back to your original question in this thread: Only your thermometer can tell you if that is enough heat and if your box is adequately sized and insulated. Your box looks well made, but are the walls, floor and ceiling all insulated? It looks like they are not. The slatted floor is a BIG problem if it is not sealed and insulated underneath. Cold damp night air will be drawn up and into the box through the spaces between those boards. The box is also way taller than it needs to be. You are heating a 3-4 foot air column above the tortoise when the tortoise can only ever occupy the bottom 12 inches or so. Heat rises. It looks like some modifications are in order.

The door is too large and too tall. Make the door opening just a little larger than the tortoise. The smaller the door opening, the less heat you lose. At the very least, put a piece of plywood across the top half of the door to mitigate heat loss. Don't take my word for all of this. Put a thermometer in there and record the before and after. You'll see what I mean. I learned all of this by doing it and observing mt results and the results of others.

What is the temperature inside the box? Under normal circumstances it should not drop below 80 at any time on the floor where the tortoise is. Don't measure the temperature up near the ceiling. Measure it on the floor. Because your tortoise is fighting off infection, I would set the box thermostat to 86 day and night. I'd leave it that high for at least two weeks after all symptoms of sickness have disappeared.

During this time of high heat, it is very important to keep the tortoise hydrated, as Yvonne pointed out. You'll also want this to help flush the meds from the system. I would soak daily while the heat is turned up, and then taper off to a couple of times a week for general maintenance over the long term. Keep the soak water warm the entire time. You can soak in the sun, but do monitor the water temp carefully. Evaporative cooling tends to counteract the heating effect of the sun, and it tends to work just fine in most cases, but be careful and monitor closely.

Last thing I see is the water bowl. Those are great for snakes and lizards, but dangerous for a tortoise. Get a large terra cotta saucer and sink it into the ground so the rim is almost level with the surface. Your tortoise can easily drink from this and also climb in and out to self soak when it wants to, without the risk of tipping over.

All of your questions are welcome! Please feel free to ask them.

Click to expand...

Michael619 said:

Hi Tom,

First off, thank you very much for taking the time to write all of this out. It contains a lot of incredibly helpful information, and I really appreciate it. I honestly wish I had found you guys sooner, because I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I adopted Mr. Krabs.

He only received those shots three times, once per week. I could tell he really disliked them, as he would avoid me for about 2–3 days afterward. Since then, I’ve been carefully inspecting him for any signs of wounds or infection, but thankfully he appears to be doing well. Yesterday, while I was cleaning his enclosure and mounting the thermostat, he followed me around and sat right next to my foot.

The previous owner had him living in a wooden shipping crate turned upside down with a broken heating mat. At first, I thought simply getting him off the floor would be enough, but I’ve since realized there’s much more involved in properly caring for him.

So far, I’ve been able to maintain temperatures between 79–83 degrees throughout the night. I still need to find a way to better seal the bottom of the enclosure to prevent cold air from getting in. I also realized all of my thermometers were mounted in the middle of the enclosure rather than near the bottom, as you recommended. Again, thank you for pointing that out. I’m learning a tremendous amount from all of you.

My current plan is to relocate the thermometers closer to the bottom of the enclosure, increase the temperature to 86 degrees for the next two weeks, and soak him daily for 20–30 minutes in water between 85–95 degrees. I’ll also be monitoring the temperatures closely to make sure they remain stable.

I’m planning to purchase 2" rigid foam insulation (blue board) and install it underneath the enclosure floor to help retain heat. I’m also going to make the doorway smaller, just as you suggested.

I recently got him a terra-cotta water bowl as well. Although I haven’t actually seen him drink water during the three weeks I’ve had him, I’m hoping he’s still using it when I’m not around.

Thanks again for all of your help and guidance. I truly appreciate it.

Click to expand...