baby sulcata (2.5-3 months)

hollymc · Feb 27, 2009

i was just wondering how soft a baby sulcatas plastron should be? or his shell in general....i just felt him again and his costal is also a bit soft....

thank you for your help!
-holly

Maggie Cummings · Feb 27, 2009

Sometimes in a baby tortoise right in the middle of the plastron they may feel slightly soft if you push a little. But they should be hard every where else, and that soft plastron should be just barely soft. You maybe should be adding Calcionate as a supplement on the food...

hollymc · Mar 1, 2009

yeah i was reading on the sulcata station.org site that he is dehydrated

from what i was reading it sounds pretty severe. even though i soak him alot, they can still become dehydrated. so i have to call the vet first thing tomorrow to make an appointment. i hope hell be ok

but right now hes in a kiddy pool with a mixture of play sand, organic soil, and peat moss. i mist his bedding about 5 times a day. i have a paint tray with very shallow water in there for him. i have a box cut to put his hay in. and i have a plate of greens for him in there. its pretty humid in there. i also have a humidifier running. this morning i put him in his soak dish and had him in the bathroom while i was showering. he used to always try to crawl out of his dish, but now he just lays in there for long periods of time. he hardly ate this morning. i hand fed him a few pieces. his could barely open his eyes. my husband will be ordering a mercury vapor bulb. im going to try to feed him a little more. all he does is sleep. i also have a 5.0 uvb bulb on him. and a heat light.i also dust his greens with rep-cal calcium with vit d3 twice a week. my husband went out and purchased repticalcium with d3 which seems to be the same thing with less d3 though.i used a little of that of that today...but he didnt eat his food either way...well if anyone has any advice, id greatly appreciate it.

holly

Maggie Cummings · Mar 1, 2009

hollymc said:
yeah i was reading on the sulcata station.org site that he is dehydrated from what i was reading it sounds pretty severe. even though i soak him alot, they can still become dehydrated. so i have to call the vet first thing tomorrow to make an appointment. i hope hell be ok but right now hes in a kiddy pool with a mixture of play sand, organic soil, and peat moss. i mist his bedding about 5 times a day. i have a paint tray with very shallow water in there for him. i have a box cut to put his hay in. and i have a plate of greens for him in there. its pretty humid in there. i also have a humidifier running. this morning i put him in his soak dish and had him in the bathroom while i was showering. he used to always try to crawl out of his dish, but now he just lays in there for long periods of time. he hardly ate this morning. i hand fed him a few pieces. his could barely open his eyes. my husband will be ordering a mercury vapor bulb. im going to try to feed him a little more. all he does is sleep. i also have a 5.0 uvb bulb on him. and a heat light.i also dust his greens with rep-cal calcium with vit d3 twice a week. my husband went out and purchased repticalcium with d3 which seems to be the same thing with less d3 though.i used a little of that of that today...but he didnt eat his food either way...well if anyone has any advice, id greatly appreciate it.

holly

Is that a Zoomed curly type of bulb? If so I'd take it off him right away. I almost lost a little tortoise just last week after she was under that bulb and 3 days after I got rid of that bulb she was back to eating and her eyes were open again. She was only under that bulb for a few hours a day and she stopped eating and her eyes were closed. I'd write more but my race is starting...But i'd chuck that bulb...

hollymc · Mar 1, 2009

yeah it is one of the curly type. we were going to order the tube type asap....we need to order 4 of them though for our other reptiles. i have read that these are bad for their eyesight.

dcoolguy68 · Mar 1, 2009

hollymc said:
yeah it is one of the curly type. we were going to order the tube type asap....we need to order 4 of them though for our other reptiles. i have read that these are bad for their eyesight.

Same thing happened to my tortoise with those lamps, I returned it to petsmart and I told them to stop selling those cause it blinds animals and they just ignored me. For now take him out in the sun if you have any where ever you live, if not then you need to buy the mercury vapor bulb you want at a local pet store asap. Seems like you have everything else well prepared, excellent work on that. Good luck with your tortoise and keep us posted on his condition.

Maggie Cummings · Mar 1, 2009

I would get rid of that UVB light and just use a regular incandescent light until you can get a good UVB bulb. In this case a regular bulb is better then the Zoomed...I feel very sure that the bulb is most of your trouble. I just recently had the same problem and I took out the UVB bulb and put in a regular bulb and the tort was eating and acting normally in 3 days...

hollymc · Mar 1, 2009

well i turned off all 5 of my florescent compact lamps and tubes.

i cant believe how dangerous they are! they need to stop selling those!. all of ours were from zoo med which is a vet recommended brand. so now were going to get 5 mercury vapor bulbs. and still take Turtle to the vet. I hope the light situation does help. I have him in water right now. Ill update everyone with the vet visit and how he's doing tomorrow without the florescent. thank you all for your help!! i really really really appreciate it.

dcoolguy68 · Mar 1, 2009

Zoomed is a good company, it's just those bulbs that are the problem. They also sell the long tubes which is what I use to cut down on electricity cost(I only waste 40-75w everyday, instead of like 120w)

nrfitchett4 · Mar 1, 2009

the long tubes are fine, just the compacts that have caused the problem. maybe he could borrow a uvb from one of your healthier reptiles till you get the mvb???

K9KidsLove · Mar 2, 2009

nrfitchett4 said:
the long tubes are fine, just the compacts that have caused the problem.

Hi...Even some of the long tubes cause problems. The worst tube is the ReptiGlo 10. The ReptiSun 10 is great. And the ReptiGlo 8 is OK. But of course the MVBs are best...the MegaRay is best with the T-Rex Active UV Heat a close second. See independent test results on www.UVGuide.co.UK/phototherapy/ph...-tests.htm
Good luck
Patsy

dcoolguy68 · Mar 2, 2009

Why are the MVBs the best compared to the long tubes( i have the reptisun 10.0). OH the link doesn't work

tortoisenerd · Mar 2, 2009

The UVB output is much higher for the MVBs. See comparisons at http://www.uvguide.co.uk/

hollymc · Mar 2, 2009

i definitely dont want to go through this again. i read and read about the coil bulbs being horrible but nothing bad about the mercury vapor bulbs. in that article it even states that when they set up a mercury vapor bulb for a bearded dragon, they noticed that his activity level increased and even in one case, it recovered a bearded dragon from mbd. and all of the reptiles that they experimented with chose to bask under the mercury vapor bulbs rather than the florescent bulbs.
but its horrible seeing Turtle so helpless.

i have a vet appointment for him tomorrow. i just got done soaking him and trying to give him some water through a dropper...and i tried to feed him but he didnt eat anything. but he did start to open his eyes some. they are swollen though. he was walking around a little bit. thats an improvement from yesterday! but im really anxious to get him to the vet. ill update on the visit!!!

galvinkaos · Mar 2, 2009

Poor baby. I hope you both are better after the vet.

Dawna

dcoolguy68 · Mar 2, 2009

Anyone know a website where I can get an MVB cheap? I know they're like $80 at petco but I didn't want to pay that much for them. How long do they last by the way?

Maggie Cummings · Mar 3, 2009

dcoolguy68 said:
Anyone know a website where I can get an MVB cheap? I know they're like $80 at petco but I didn't want to pay that much for them. How long do they last by the way?

llReptile is where I get most of my stuff. Just hit google shopping and then put in what you're looking for...but like I said..llReptile is best...

http://lllreptile.com/

nrfitchett4 · Mar 3, 2009

www.reptiledirect.com has never done me wrong.

dcoolguy68 · Mar 3, 2009

I think I might wait a while before I buy one of those lamps, I haven't had a problem yet my lights. But if I do will buy one of these.

hollymc · Mar 3, 2009

http://www.petsr4u.com/proddetail.asp?prod=PT2193

this is where im ordering all of mine

and theres is this one also

http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-incandescent-bulbs/107801/zoo-med-powersun-uv.html

the last site you can get a 100w or a 160w.

so I did my morning checkup on Turtle and i saw that he was out by the basking light. I offered him greens for about an hour. He did take a couple bites. he is walking around alot now. His eyes are still swollen but they are half open. I have him in a water bowl right now. What i did was grind up some carrots and put 2 drops of bird vitamins in and water. i filtered the small chunks of carrots out and put the liquid in his bowl. and i was very excited to see him drinking it!!! now he is doing his normal thing and going in circles around his bowl trying to get out. The past couple days he would just lay in there for hours. So he is improving!!

but if you do have one of those lights, i wouldnt wait to see if it causes problems. i just wouldnt use it in general ever again! His appointment is at 3:20 today so hopefully everything will be good. Ill post some pictures of his eyes and updates on the visit later tonight.

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