Yahsahra
New Member
Hello! I am not completely new here, but this is my first post, so I will start with the beginning.
At the beginning of june I bought from a local breeder a Sulcata that hatched on 14 february ( and he is, indeed, as lovely as his birth date!) so, he was almost 4 months old the day I took him in. I named him Kirin, the name of a Japanese folklore forest spirit (not aware of his potential gender at that time, I picked a name that would feel good on any gender ). So, the breeder lives few hundred kilometres away from my town, and me and my parents decided to drive there to pick up Kirin, since we didn't want him to travel alone in a dark box for hours! (i'm 21, but I don't drive, so my parents were kind enough to make this a family trip!) I had to pick between two tortoises, which he said were the smallest left, as the other hatchlings already sold. There was one, active, joyful, roaming, double the size, and there was Kirin, sitting inside his shell, sometimes wheezing. Before we judge the breeder's condition, he is, actually, the best caretaker I've seen among locals, but he might have let the smallest hatchling left in the same care schedule as the bigger ones, so yes, he was indeed a bit sick. I did research, I knew how NOT to pick a sick tortoise, I knew.... and yet... He looked at me with those tiny brown eyes from inside his shell my saviour complex triggered. We took him home, and he wheezed and sneezed here and there for the few days we had him, so I took him to a local vet ( he said he is not specialised in tortoises but consulted his books, and recommended to use cloramphenicol for 5 days, 15mg/kg and he was 130 grams at the time) Then, I took him to a specialised tortoise vet in the weekend (also few hundred kms away) , and she said all went well, just gave us some drops with the same substance, to clear debris. We did radiography too, and the illness didn't affect anything! So, he started getting better! Fatsforward from June to October He was beyond 320 grams last time I checked him, couple of weeks ago. I am so happy I believed in this little boy, and that he could recover. It's my first tortoise, I had chameleons before and they required intense care so I think I learned a thing or two on how to spot flu signs instantly.
He's thriving, he has two plastic boxes of 60 cm / 40 cm united by a bridge that is 20 cm long ( roughly a meter and a half length, yet this is a temporary enclosure, for his current needs) , one is humid hiding and the other is under UVB light / Heat bulb during the day with constant 30-32 celsius during the day, and during the night he has ~25 (especially now that its getting colder in the autumn) and his hygrometer says humid. Substrate is forest floor on the hiding area, and (I dont know if this is ok) he has those paper pellets substrate under the heated area. He gets his meals powdered with calcium, he gets soaks daily ( which my breeder said he soaks them once a week!!!!!!) and he's a sweetheart! He likes having his head pet and demands attention here and there, he also appears very curious on what I am doing when I am at my desk. No hand feeding yet, but the fact he doesnt hide in his shell or pee on me anymore when I handle him feel like great signs. I would never wish to stress him, therefore I let him eat at his pace instead of force him to eat when i feel like giving him.
Overall, I am looking forward to make his experience the best it could be.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story.
Btw, I always consult your posts so I always check before asking something, if it was already posted before. That's how I knew he might have respiratory infection back in june! And thats how I learned to properly soak him too.
All my gratitude to this forum and helping the two of us grow together
Love,
Sarah (and Kirin)
At the beginning of june I bought from a local breeder a Sulcata that hatched on 14 february ( and he is, indeed, as lovely as his birth date!) so, he was almost 4 months old the day I took him in. I named him Kirin, the name of a Japanese folklore forest spirit (not aware of his potential gender at that time, I picked a name that would feel good on any gender ). So, the breeder lives few hundred kilometres away from my town, and me and my parents decided to drive there to pick up Kirin, since we didn't want him to travel alone in a dark box for hours! (i'm 21, but I don't drive, so my parents were kind enough to make this a family trip!) I had to pick between two tortoises, which he said were the smallest left, as the other hatchlings already sold. There was one, active, joyful, roaming, double the size, and there was Kirin, sitting inside his shell, sometimes wheezing. Before we judge the breeder's condition, he is, actually, the best caretaker I've seen among locals, but he might have let the smallest hatchling left in the same care schedule as the bigger ones, so yes, he was indeed a bit sick. I did research, I knew how NOT to pick a sick tortoise, I knew.... and yet... He looked at me with those tiny brown eyes from inside his shell my saviour complex triggered. We took him home, and he wheezed and sneezed here and there for the few days we had him, so I took him to a local vet ( he said he is not specialised in tortoises but consulted his books, and recommended to use cloramphenicol for 5 days, 15mg/kg and he was 130 grams at the time) Then, I took him to a specialised tortoise vet in the weekend (also few hundred kms away) , and she said all went well, just gave us some drops with the same substance, to clear debris. We did radiography too, and the illness didn't affect anything! So, he started getting better! Fatsforward from June to October He was beyond 320 grams last time I checked him, couple of weeks ago. I am so happy I believed in this little boy, and that he could recover. It's my first tortoise, I had chameleons before and they required intense care so I think I learned a thing or two on how to spot flu signs instantly.
He's thriving, he has two plastic boxes of 60 cm / 40 cm united by a bridge that is 20 cm long ( roughly a meter and a half length, yet this is a temporary enclosure, for his current needs) , one is humid hiding and the other is under UVB light / Heat bulb during the day with constant 30-32 celsius during the day, and during the night he has ~25 (especially now that its getting colder in the autumn) and his hygrometer says humid. Substrate is forest floor on the hiding area, and (I dont know if this is ok) he has those paper pellets substrate under the heated area. He gets his meals powdered with calcium, he gets soaks daily ( which my breeder said he soaks them once a week!!!!!!) and he's a sweetheart! He likes having his head pet and demands attention here and there, he also appears very curious on what I am doing when I am at my desk. No hand feeding yet, but the fact he doesnt hide in his shell or pee on me anymore when I handle him feel like great signs. I would never wish to stress him, therefore I let him eat at his pace instead of force him to eat when i feel like giving him.
Overall, I am looking forward to make his experience the best it could be.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story.
Btw, I always consult your posts so I always check before asking something, if it was already posted before. That's how I knew he might have respiratory infection back in june! And thats how I learned to properly soak him too.
All my gratitude to this forum and helping the two of us grow together
Love,
Sarah (and Kirin)
