Back from vet

[siwash]

So here is what happened:

Vet administered a vitamin/fluid therapy
weighed him - 13 grams
sent me home with a fecal container to collect a sample of stool

she didn't want to keep him overnight as i don't think she had the facilities - not really a herp vet, but apparently they do examine "exotic" pets.. she admitted that she wasn't that familiar with little hatchling torts...but wht can i do? i live in toronto - we don't have many herp specialists here

She also made a few suggestions:

basking temp is too high
substrate should be changed to astro turf type material - she felt that impaction may occur with the coconut shavings i've been using
soak him in V8! I could also add some vitamins to his bath water..

someone here once mentioned a product for birds - Vitasol??

I think I want to switch to sand/soil mix - what do you thinK what ratio is best for a hatching?

she wants to have the stool samples within a few days or a week..



thanks again to all...u've been a great help/support!

rob

 

[siwash]

As I write this, Leonardo is chomping down on on some plantain weed!!!!! woohoooo!!

Is it possible that the vet vitamin injection already helped his appetite? it's only been 1 hour!

he's still not eating it with reckless abandon, but he's eating something!!

thank god

 

[Yvonne G]

You can keep the coconut fiber, and just add that same amount of soil or sand so you end up with a mixture of 50/50%. I was glad to hear your vet said to soak in V8. I hadn't thought of that...what a good idea!! I use Gerber strained sweet potatoes, carrots or squash for soaking when I see the puffy eyes starting to happen. V8 juice would be easier and a lot cheaper! The reason I use the baby food is because it doesn't have preservatives or salt and is good for babies. I'm not so sure about the preservatives, salt or additives in the V8. But its worth my looking into. If you decide to get indoor/outdoor carpet to use as your substrate, don't get the kind that looks like grass. Get the kind with no nap. Sounds like this vet has a lot on the ball.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

Yes Rob, I think between the vitamin and the hydration the vet did, it could have peeked his appetite. Yeah he's eating.
Vita Sol is a Bird or Avian liquid vitiman http://www.bird.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=521013


Here is a pic of the bottle

 

[siwash]

What other vitamins can I use? perhaps between the Vita Sol and the V8, that should do the trick..

I am concerned about the sodium in V8 - I don't drink the stuff, so I have no idea what the heck is in it. What if there are veggies in there that are not suitable for torts?

thanks again folks!

 

[james]

they do have a low sodium V8. i'm not sure about the preservatives. if you have an organic or natural food store near you, ask them their equivilent to V8 juice. i know the organic store i shop at has one, i just can't think of the name of it. you can also search around for a natural V8 equivilent, and order it from the internet.

 

[Crazy1]

For now I would stick to the Vita Sol and the V8 soaks. Or the baby food soaks.
For those who want to know
V8 juice is a vegetable juice that can be gotten with reduced salt. Here are the ingredients off the label, this is the salted version. The unsalted version contains 70% less salt.
Tomato Juice from Concentrate (Water, Tomato Paste), Reconstituted Vegetable Juice Blend (Water and Concentrated Juices of Carrots, Celery, Beets, Parsley, Lettuce, Watercress, Spinach), Lemon Juice from Concentrate (Water, Lemon Juice Concentrate), Salt, Natural Flavoring, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Citric Acid.
Here is the V8 site which gives you complete nutritional information
http://www.v8juice.com/Products.aspx

Baby food Gerber has Organic baby food that is Sweet potato, or Carrot, or squash, and water no other ingredients are listed see the site below for complete nutritional information.
Carrots
http://www.gerber.com/Products/Orga...stoneId=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000#

 

[james]

I use Gerber strained sweet potatoes, carrots or squash for soaking when I see the puffy eyes starting to happen.

Yvonne

since we're kind of on the puffy eye subject, , can lack of calcium cause puffy eyes?

 

[Yvonne G]

since we're kind of on the puffy eye subject, , can lack of calcium cause puffy eyes?

I don't think so. Lack of calcium is usually displayed with a softening of the shell and maybe a weakening of the limbs. By the time you see these symptoms it pretty late in the game, but it still can be reversed.

Quite often, but NOT ALL THE TIME, puffy eyes is because the tortoise has not been eating well, and is starting to suffer from a vitamin A deficiency. The baby foods I previously listed contain the highest amounts of this vitamin, as I'm sure the V8 does also, because of the "red" color. Most of the red and orange veggies are high in vit.A

Yvonne

 

[james]

the vet did mention that his shell was soft. he showed me how he could compress it a little. i've upped his calcium intake. i hope it's not too late!

sorry Siwash for stealing your thread for a minute!

 

[siwash]

My vet said the same thing... shell seemed a bit "soft" but she admitted to not having much expereicne with torts, especially little hatchlings

she couldn't get over how cute he is! he really is adorable!

 

[Crazy1]

Remember Calcium is utilized with the help of vitamin D-3 (sunlight) without it calcium can not be used by the baby tort or any tort and some foods restrict the uptake and utilization of Calcium even if there is plenty of D-3.
I had some baby DT whose shells were soft and when they flipped they couldn’t get up righted. I had them on calcium and under a uvb lamp. Still their shells remained soft. I started taking them outside daily and continued with the calcium carbonate. (This was in the middle of winter) Then I got a MVB and that did the trick. So they must not have been getting much uvb (D-3) from the florescent bulb. Their shells started to harden and they could right themselves when they flipped. Moral of my story is that it takes more than just one thing. Sometimes it’s a combination of things, i.e., food, uvb, supplements, etc.

 

[siwash]

Now that I've become a paranoid freak over this little guy, can I feed my little guy the following items:


These grow in my yard:
Sedum
Petunia flower (and leaves)
"Upside down" mulberry bush (the leaves)
Hosta (various varieties)


*Wild grape leaves (we have the concord variety growing wild every where around my area in parks (no pesticides since they've been banned in many jurisdictions in Ontario)

Thanks!

p.s. I gave him a bit of cherry tomato today...first I read it was ok, then i read otherwise.. there's a lot of contradictory info on the net

 

[Crazy1]

Rob, yes there is lots and lots of contradictory info out there and now it is your job to decipher what is really best for your little one. Wow how scary is that.  Really not as bad as it sounds. We have several breeders on the forum that can steer you in the right direction and that is what we are all here for to learn from each other and take the best care of our shelled ones as we can.
Grape leaves have lots of calcium and nutrients in them
Hosta is fine
Sedum is fine
Petunias are OK
I’m not sure what an "Upside down" mulberry bush (the leaves) really is.

Here is a list of what NOT to feed this is listed for a DT but these plants are all on almost all Poison or Do Not Feed Lists for most all torts.
http://www.wonderland.com/~teddy/tortoise/tort_non_food.html

Here are some sites on what to feed your tort.
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/plantfoods.html
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-easthermanns.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-westhermanns.htm
http://www.gardenstatetortoise.com/hermannssheet.html

Remember Variety is a key.