Nesquik
New Member
Hello, I’m new here.
I have two Sulcatas. One is Chomper and one is Dry Bones. Here’s a bit of a back story, I’ve never owned reptiles before. I got them from a friend who I thought was very knowledgeable and I just recently found out they don’t have much experience with tortoises themselves. I took on the responsibility of them so I want to do what I can to help them not only survive but be happy and thrive.
I got them in early October when they were about a week old. Chomper was given his name because he liked to eat. Like everything. He’d try to eat our garden hose, his food dish, his little basking stand, even his shell once. He was hilariously adorable about everything he wanted to eat. But for the past couple weeks he’s not been himself. His eating dramatically slowed downed. He also started sleeping more.
When he first showed signs of being sick, I panicked and started looking into what could be the problem. I start giving him baths every day (I only was doing it two times a week before), I turned up the heat in his place, I adjusted his food, I adjusted his home, I tried everything I thought could fix the problem short of taking him to the vet. Fast forward a few days and he’s in his bath but he keeps wagging his tail. I flip him over and see that he has a little poop stuck to his butt so I grab some toilet tissue to clean him up and it turns out that it was stuck in him like he was constipated. After he finally passed it, he seemed happier but still very lethargic. After a few days he still wasn’t better and now his eyes are closed all the time. I start looking into what that could be a symptom of and read something about vit. A deficiency so I start giving him carrot baths. After the first one, he seemed a lot happier. He finally strolled around his place, opened his eyes and even ate!
But now he’s back to being sleepy all the time, eyes closed, not eating. Mind you, he hasn’t pooped since he was constipated about a week ago. I don’t know what to do. I didn’t want to bother with a bunch of questions others have already asked but I am at a loss now and am so worried. Please help.
The closest reptile vet near me is over an hour away. I called them but they’re closed today. I am going to try to get him in asap with them because I’m at a loss and figured I’d ask y’all for some help in the meantime.
I’ve attached a picture of his place. It has coco base with some reptile wood chips I bought off Amazon when we first got them. You might see some grass, I read somewhere at some point that grass was a good substrate. I put some Timothy grass down for them and both of them always seemed caught up in it so I cleaned it out as best as I could. Any help, I’ll even take criticism. I just want him to feel better.
I have two Sulcatas. One is Chomper and one is Dry Bones. Here’s a bit of a back story, I’ve never owned reptiles before. I got them from a friend who I thought was very knowledgeable and I just recently found out they don’t have much experience with tortoises themselves. I took on the responsibility of them so I want to do what I can to help them not only survive but be happy and thrive.
I got them in early October when they were about a week old. Chomper was given his name because he liked to eat. Like everything. He’d try to eat our garden hose, his food dish, his little basking stand, even his shell once. He was hilariously adorable about everything he wanted to eat. But for the past couple weeks he’s not been himself. His eating dramatically slowed downed. He also started sleeping more.
When he first showed signs of being sick, I panicked and started looking into what could be the problem. I start giving him baths every day (I only was doing it two times a week before), I turned up the heat in his place, I adjusted his food, I adjusted his home, I tried everything I thought could fix the problem short of taking him to the vet. Fast forward a few days and he’s in his bath but he keeps wagging his tail. I flip him over and see that he has a little poop stuck to his butt so I grab some toilet tissue to clean him up and it turns out that it was stuck in him like he was constipated. After he finally passed it, he seemed happier but still very lethargic. After a few days he still wasn’t better and now his eyes are closed all the time. I start looking into what that could be a symptom of and read something about vit. A deficiency so I start giving him carrot baths. After the first one, he seemed a lot happier. He finally strolled around his place, opened his eyes and even ate!
But now he’s back to being sleepy all the time, eyes closed, not eating. Mind you, he hasn’t pooped since he was constipated about a week ago. I don’t know what to do. I didn’t want to bother with a bunch of questions others have already asked but I am at a loss now and am so worried. Please help.
The closest reptile vet near me is over an hour away. I called them but they’re closed today. I am going to try to get him in asap with them because I’m at a loss and figured I’d ask y’all for some help in the meantime.
I’ve attached a picture of his place. It has coco base with some reptile wood chips I bought off Amazon when we first got them. You might see some grass, I read somewhere at some point that grass was a good substrate. I put some Timothy grass down for them and both of them always seemed caught up in it so I cleaned it out as best as I could. Any help, I’ll even take criticism. I just want him to feel better.