Baby Sulcata forming blisters

[Skybum]

Just received a baby Sulcata 3 months old. Noticed right away when we got him he had a small yellow like blister on back leg. As of yesterday they started on his neck and today have even more of them. Any idea on what this might be?

This is day 3 of having him we use a closed chamber on him %80 plus humidity basking 100 to 110 degrees reptisun 10.0 uvb striplight. Have him on paper towels for substrate to worried he would eat cypress.

 

[Pistachio's Pamperer]

Hi and Welcome.

This is something that has been showing up on the forum lately. If you do a search for "yellow fungus" you will see several discussions about the same condition you are seeing. Hopefully @Yvonne G or one of the pros will be along shortly and add to this conversation for you.

Example of one of the posts.

Yellow fungus in baby sulcata

Hi all, It's been a tough week since Ube started acting sick. We went to a different vet today to get a better diagnosis, thanks to the reco of a family friend who's owned torts for a long time. Sadly, the vet’s diagnosis is yellow fungus, which could’ve come from many sources. I reckon it was...

www.tortoiseforum.org

-Meg

 

[Skybum]

Hi and Welcome.

This is something that has been showing up on the forum lately. If you do a search for "yellow fungus" you will see several discussions about the same condition you are seeing. Hopefully @Yvonne G or one of the pros will be along shortly and add to this conversation for you.

Example of one of the posts.

Yellow fungus in baby sulcata

Hi all, It's been a tough week since Ube started acting sick. We went to a different vet today to get a better diagnosis, thanks to the reco of a family friend who's owned torts for a long time. Sadly, the vet’s diagnosis is yellow fungus, which could’ve come from many sources. I reckon it was...

www.tortoiseforum.org

-Meg

Thank you!

 

[crimson_lotus]

With no medical background whatsoever, I am wondering if this is some sort of mutation of Bearded Dragon's yellow fungus that may have passed on to a tortoise?

 

[Tom]

Did this tortoise come from AZ?

There was a breeder there with cryptosporidium in his colony. I had lesions just like those on the babies from him, and from my own babies that had contact with his. The lesions are a secondary bacterial infection associated with the primary crypto infection.

There is no treatment for crypto if this is what you have. Diagnosis is difficult, and sometimes only possible with full necropsy which costs $500+. Crytpo frequently doesn't kill them, but prevents them from thriving, and it is highly contagious. Isolation and euthanasia would be recommended to protect all other tortoises from infection.

 

[Pistachio's Pamperer]

With no medical background whatsoever, I am wondering if this is some sort of mutation of Bearded Dragon's yellow fungus that may have passed on to a tortoise?

I wondered about that too!!!.. Because when you google the disease is immediately listed as a problem for Dragons.
-Meg

 

[Skybum]

The company we got him from said this is completely normal and it happened due to shipping?? Crazy. Day 5 and it has only gotten worse.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

The company we got him from said this is completely normal and it happened due to shipping?? Crazy. Day 5 and it has only gotten worse.

Post a review of the company here so others will know to avoid them.

 

[Skybum]

The company we got him from said this is completely normal and it happened due to shipping?? Crazy. Day 5 and it has only gotten worse.

Post a review of the company here so others will know to avoid them.

UnderGround Reptiles

 

[Skybum]

UnderGround Reptiles

They did ask us to ship him back and they would send us another one but we are not going to get another one from them. We are going to just look around for a reputable breeder.

 

[Tom]

They did ask us to ship him back and they would send us another one but we are not going to get another one from them. We are going to just look around for a reputable breeder.

Don't look for a reputable breeder. Look for a breeder that starts babies correctly. Daily soaks, brooder box for the first7-10 days, no perlite for incubation media, indoor warm humid housing on damp substrate, introduction to a huge variety of foods, both "natural" and commercial.

I only know of four sulcata breeders that meet this criteria. @Markw84 , Austin @Arizona Sulcata , @Lancecham and me. I'm always looking for more, so if anyone knows of a sulcata breeder that uses the previously mentioned techniques, or even close to it, please let me know.

The problem you had with your first one is very uncommon. Here is the usual problem when they are not soaked daily, kept outside, or inside on dry substrate, and started incorrectly:

"Hatchling Failure Syndrome"

I've heard this term for many years and I don't like it. Its a way to excuse our ignorance and failure. I will agree that an occasional hatchling is born that is just not going to make it no matter what anybody does, but MOST of them, if they make it full term and hatch, SHOULD survive and...

tortoiseforum.org

Here is how they should be started:

How To Incubate Eggs And Start Hatchlings

I put my eggs in a plastic shoe box with a lid on it and put the shoe box in the incubator. You can drill a couple of very small holes around the top of the container, but not on the lid. I use vermiculite as an incubation media. I mix it in a 1 : 1 ratio with water by weight for Sulcatas and...

tortoiseforum.org

The info in these two threads should help you understand the questions you should be asking of any breeder. You cannot tell the health of the baby by looking at it. Appetite and activity level on a baby that is going to die in a few weeks usually looks great. Only by knowing how the baby was started and how its been cared for, can you make an educated guess about how it will do going forward.

Here in your thread, we never talked about how you are housing and caring for this baby. It wasn't pertinent to the issue at hand. For future reference, this is the correct care info. Most of what you find out there is old, out dated, and incorrect.

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

 

[Skybum]

We use a closed chamber. Setup isn’t pretty lol but it works. 100 to 105basking. Cool side can hit 90 during the day. We never let it get below 80 at night. 10.0 reptisun striplight. Humidity ranges from %70 to %80. This isn’t our first baby. We def knew something was up when we opened the box. As for hand picking a baby we don’t have the option where we live. We have never purchased from them before. Heard good reviews on them but this wasn’t the case for our purchase. Like I said before we are shipping him back we feel super bad for this little guy.

 

[Skybum]

We use a closed chamber. Setup isn’t pretty lol but it works. 100 to 105basking. Cool side can hit 90 during the day. We never let it get below 80 at night. 10.0 reptisun striplight. Humidity ranges from %70 to %80. This isn’t our first baby. We def knew something was up when we opened the box. As for hand picking a baby we don’t have the option where we live. We have never purchased from them before. Heard good reviews on them but this wasn’t the case for our purchase. Like I said before we are shipping him back we feel super bad for this little guy.

Forgot to mention. Soaking every morning. Mazuri soaked pellets. Fresh dark greens everyday, and trimmed grass etc. No pesticides givin on our property either. We do have a well for a water source hoping there wasn’t any bacteria in our water supply but all of our other torts are doing just fine.

 

[Skybum]

Forgot to mention. Soaking every morning. Mazuri soaked pellets. Fresh dark greens everyday, and trimmed grass etc. No pesticides givin on our property either. We do have a well for a water source hoping there wasn’t any bacteria in our water supply but all of our other torts are doing just fine.

Dusted with calcium d3.