48hrs in and he's making me nervous (Update after vet)

[AnnV]

Re: 48hrs in and he's making me nervous

I only have three torts but they all ate shortly after arriving. And they all came thru the mail.
I even had one show signs of uri within 2 weeks of arrival, but he never quit eating.

This would worry me too, I am afraid to say.

 

[stinax182]

Re: good bye tortoise :-(

^^^ i agree. if anything, this forum is known for saving dying babies.

 

[Jacqui]

RE: good bye tortoise :-(

I'm not understanding why you are not keeping her. Is the sex of the tortoise, or the tortoise is very sick? If it's that the tort is sick, what exactly is the vet saying is wrong with it? Most vets, yes, even reptile vets are not very good at all with tortoises. If you tell us what the vet says is wrong, an experience member can tell you how to care for it.

I think one of her main worries (other then not wanting to do shots) if it is sick, she wants to take it back while it's under guarantee period. I can see where doctoring a tortoise can be a scarey thing to a new person (is to me at times, too).

 

[wellington]

RE: good bye tortoise :-(

Ha, that makes sense. I didn't think of that.

 

[Jacqui]

RE: good bye tortoise :-(

Ha, that makes sense. I didn't think of that.

Plus she got it for her young son, so she does not want it die on them.

 

[Tom]

RE: good bye tortoise :-(

I can see where doctoring a tortoise can be a scarey thing to a new person (is to me at times, too).

And VERY expensive, on a brand new tortoise, with no guarantee of survival.

I think it would be terrible to have your new tort pass away and be sitting there with a vet bill for hundreds of dollars.

 

[mike taylor]

Re: RE: good bye tortoise :-(

I can see where doctoring a tortoise can be a scarey thing to a new person (is to me at times, too).

And VERY expensive, on a brand new tortoise, with no guarantee of survival.

I think it would be terrible to have your new tort pass away and be sitting there with a vet bill for hundreds of dollars.

I agree! When I got my red foot it was sick . I payed two hundred for the red and two fifty for the vet a week later . If she can go back I would or most good breeders will pay vet bills if there animals were sick .

 

[e79]

Petco will pay the vet bills...but it has to be *their* vet which is another office/doctor and I don't know how good they are.

But yeah, I'm just not in a position to take on something like this my first week as a reptile owner. If that makes me a bad person, I'll own it. And yes, this is for my 2nd grader and certainly not what he signed on for either.

I just typed a long update on the RT fb group so I apologize if you're seeing this twice:

I want to make sure that any tort we get has a clean bill of health from a vet before we say forever and get attached.

He turned out to be a she and with multiple problems that the vet really discouraged me from trying to handle on my own though she did say it was possible if I was up for the challenge but that I needed to understand that it wasn't a guarantee that we'd have a healthy tortoise at the end of it.

This was the one we picked up based on a rec from my bro-in-law who's been in charge of it at Petco (I know, I know) since it arrived in March. She was active and eating a ton when we picked her up but has been the complete opposite ever since (today is day #7) and we couldn't get a fecal check because she hasn't gone since we got her home. The vet figures the stress of the move lowered her immunity and made underlying problems more visible.

Without a fecal check it's hard to know for sure and with all the visible stuff and knowing she's not a good fit for us it wasn't worth it to do blood work.

She said #1 that if she's been eating the way he said (and the way we saw) but is still this scrawny that there's likely a pretty severe load of parasites and/or worms...could even be other things e.g. renal issues.

Dehydration - the area around the eyes look good but, to the vet, she's obviously dehydrated and has been for some time...and the fact that she's been soaking/drinking for 20-30 minutes every day all week and still looks like this is a big red flag.

I thought the nostrils looked clear and there were no bubbles or wheezing or anything like that but sure enough, the vet covered one nostril to unplug it and a big bubble came out and BOY what a difference looking at that cleared one vs. the other one - I had no idea. She obviously cleared both.

She wanted to get a look inside the mouth but couldn't get her to open up no matter what she tried (so yeah, I'm really in no position to force feed purees to that).

I trust the vet because not only does she have decades worth of vet rep experience (she's also the expert the zoo calls in when their staff can't handle something) she's had her RT for almost 30yrs and used to breed them back before she had kids.

At the end of the day I've learned that no matter how many questions you ask on the internet or how many images you look at you can still really really REALLY suck at picking out a tort

I wanted to donate her to the rescue but my husband (who's already been grumpy about all of this) say it's wasting money...the upside is that if I bring the vet slip with me to return her that they'll have to vet treat her and can't just dump her back in and re-sell her.

So yeah. I nailed everything except the actual choosing of the RT but I feel 110% more educated now that I've seen it all in person with someone explaining it to me.

I think that's it??

---

If this was a beloved pet that would be a different story but for something we've had less than a week knowing it was a trial basis? I don't feel bad swapping her out for a better fit for our family.

 

[Jacqui]

e, I hope you know we are not judging you. Each of us have our own levels of what we can deal with. The important thing is to know your level, which it seems you do. I took in a rescue Russian last winter and it ended up having a serve problem. I worked with her for weeks and was really blown away when she died on me. Working with a sick animal can break your heart. I think your doing the right thing for you, your family, and situation. Hopefully Petco will get her the medical help she needs. Atleast you have learned from this (and maybe so have we). I hope the next go round, things work out the right way.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hey...you don't have to make excuses to us or to yourself. I think you've done the right thing. No one can fault you for giving the tortoise back...I certainly don't.

And just so you know what happened to your lengthy explanation, I've merged the two threads together. It helps others to understand about the tortoise when they can see the original thread at the same time as the new portion of it.

 

[e79]

I thought about editing/adding to this post *after* I posted the new thread but was in the middle of cooking dinner and you beat me to fixing it :giggle: I'm no stranger to message boards but I'm still finding my way around this one, lol.

And yeah, sucky as it is I know we're making the right decision...because of the holiday she's here with us until Monday but I told my son that he doesn't have to do anything with her or even look at her if he doesn't want to and he doesn't. Told me it'd be easier to detach and move on :-/ BUT he's glad that this adventure isn't over and that we'll try again as soon as we find a match

---

I mean, last night he was laying on the floor with it using a sing-songy voice to say how much he loved Mr. T and how he hoped he was healthy enough to stay etc. and now this - bah. He didn't cry but I can tell he's down so I'm trying to keep him positive by focusing on all the new stuff I learned and can share with him and that the vet had some ideas about a really good place to pick a tortoise from...and that every single thing we've done as far as tortoise care goes has been perfect. So we're ready, we just need to find an RT who is too <3

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Thanks Yvonne, the merged threads helped me.

e, I wish you the best in searching for a healthy tortoise.

 

[Lovenmysuber]

Awe man, glad you took her/him to the vet but sure wish you would have gotten better news. Wow, I wish we had vet like that by me, she sounds great! Can't wait to see you new addition when you do get one.