baby sulcata (2.5-3 months)

[Meg90]

I went through reptiledepot.com...I should be getting my shipment today, or tomorrow, so I can let you know how everything is. I got two MVBs...its nice, because they have coupon codes too. I got 10% off my whole order last month for their feb one

 

[dcoolguy68]

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.

I don't have the bad compact ones, i have the regular long tubes.

 

[hollymc]

Bad news. We missed the appointment by 10 minutes! I guess that's what happens when you work 45 minutes away from where you need to be and need to cross through cleveland. . So we had to rechedule for thursday!! Arrrggghhh!!!!!

 

[Yvonne G]

I would try to find myself another vet. Most vets allow some leeway and will see you even though you are late. That was so unfair of them. If that ever happens again, you should "squeek" as loud and as obnoxiously as you can, "I live 45 minutes away from here!!! There was traffic that I couldn't have foreseen!! I can't possibly come back another time!!! I took off from work to bring the tortoise here today!!! " I'm sure you get my drift!

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

Hollymc, I agree with Yvonne completely on this one. I would definitely let them know when I saw them Thursday how their lack of flexibility was truly uncalled for. That you had left in more than enough time but because of unforeseen circumstances in traffic you were 10 min. late for your appointment. And that they need to be a tad more flexible with their clients. You were bringing in a sick tort and they turned you away because you were late by 10 min. You could have lost your pet due to their rigidity. That is just wrong. Bad vet people, bad, bad, bad!
Sorry I just needed to vent on this one. I have waited well over an hour because people have been late to their appointments or they have a sick pet turn up that needed help now. It may not make you the happiest person on earth if you are the one waiting but you understand. These are things that just happen and people need to make allowances for things like that.

 

[hollymc]

yeah i know. but unfortunately there are only 2 herp vets that close to me. the other ones are 4 hours away. i did call the other one to get an appointment asap but they were not available until thursday. the one we usually go to wasnt available until then either. so i just stayed with the one that weve been going to.
well anyways, my husband found this

http://www.reptileuv.com/megaray-sb-100-watt-self-ballasted-flood-uvb-lamp.php

for all you people trying to find an excellent mercury light. i was amazed at the life the bulb has and the mimic of the sun part really impressed me.

 

[Meg90]

I just ordered one of the Mega Ray bulbs...two actually. But I returned them, because the light quality is MUCH brighter, and more white than other bulbs. Kinda like that gray early morning light that hurts your eyes before the sun rises. My Greek hated it. He avoided the basking spot. That's why I returned them both and ordered two Trex 100W instead....the light they emit is supposed to be more like afternoon sun.

 

[dcoolguy68]

how hot does it get with the 100w bulb?

 

[Meg90]

I'm not sure yet...as I haven't received them yet ! They should be here on wednesday/thursday. The 100W mega ray wasn't very hot either...not nearly as hot as I thought. Directly under the spot was only like 90 something.

Maggie here uses the Trex I think...you could shoot her a pm? I think Robyn does as well...

 

[tortoisenerd]

The MVBs take awhile to heat up, so what you measure a bit after they turn on will be different from a few hours later. I have 100 watt bulb that I keep at about 15 inches away from the substrate, and get a basking spot of about 100 deg F. What temps you get with the bulb depends on room temperature and the distance away from the surface you are measuring the temperature out. The MVBs have a safe range you need to pay attention to--you can only place the bulb so close to the animal before it can cause harm, and a distance too far away will not radiate many useful UVB rays.

My little guy loves the Mega Ray bulb I have for him and I haven't noticed the light being weird in color.

 

[hollymc]

here are the pictures of his eyes. these are from this morning. he is doing alot better! yesterday he could hardly open his eyes. the day before he couldnt open them at all.

 

[Yvonne G]

Excellent pictures! And definitely the bulb!

Yvonne

 

[hollymc]

thank you! he did eat alot more this morning. hes been sleeping though since then. hell get up occasionally to walk around in a circle though. i wish it was warm out so i can take him outside. i hate winter.

 

[dcoolguy68]

thank you! he did eat alot more this morning. hes been sleeping though since then. hell get up occasionally to walk around in a circle though. i wish it was warm out so i can take him outside. i hate winter.

yeah me too lol

 

[galvinkaos]

He/she looks good and very cute. A real heart breaker.

Dawna

 

[Crazy1]

Glad to hear your little one is doing better keep up the good work.

 

[hollymc]

well he did go to the vet today. The vet was explained what the problem was and we explained what we were doing about it and about his habitat and what not. and she said were doing a good job and to keep it up...poked at him for about 7 minutes and that was it. no medicine, no advice, no nothing. and that cost 45 dollars and a waste of time. my husband said that she didnt even know about half the stuff he spoke about. i hate going to vets to not get any information. but he is a real heart breaker. i never ever thought id adopt a turtle until we saw him. he was the lucky one out of 35 of those little boogers.
so yeah, i was very disappointed about that. so we pretty much feel like our own vets. arrrrggghhhhh

 

[Candy]

That's exactly how I felt about the vet we too Dale to. I was new to tortoises but I did not about their scutes, but when I asked her about them she didn't even know what they were called. I actually found her on the site for exotic vets. I was so shocked that she couldn't tell my son Alexander the proper name for them. I find better advice here on this site. Candy

 

[dcoolguy68]

well he did go to the vet today. The vet was explained what the problem was and we explained what we were doing about it and about his habitat and what not. and she said were doing a good job and to keep it up...poked at him for about 7 minutes and that was it. no medicine, no advice, no nothing. and that cost 45 dollars and a waste of time. my husband said that she didnt even know about half the stuff he spoke about. i hate going to vets to not get any information. but he is a real heart breaker. i never ever thought id adopt a turtle until we saw him. he was the lucky one out of 35 of those little boogers.
so yeah, i was very disappointed about that. so we pretty much feel like our own vets. arrrrggghhhhh

Try paying $300 to TRY saving a tort's life and have it die due to lack of vet experience with torts.

 

[hollymc]

yeah so pretty much, if you need any sort of advice or help, just go straight to the forum and avoid vets unless you need a prescription. haha. well thank you all for your help. he is improving. he does keep scratching at one eye more than the other, which may be causing a bit more of a problem for him. but as long as hes moving around and has his eyes are open is good enough to show me signs of improvement. i have a feeling hes going to get better in no time. but without everyones help, i wouldnt of even thought that this stupid light would be causing the problem and id still have it on...
i did take him outside today for a little sun. it was really cloudy out so we didnt stay out long. its a decent temperature out right now...a little windy though. he did start to eat some fresh grass while he was out there.