I will forever be amazed at the sheer hardiness of tortoises.
In Texas, we’ve been having very cold, frozen weather since Wednesday. It snowed, iced over, and sleeted. Not a problem for a sulcata in a heated and insulated night box.
Unfortunately, due to a collection of electrical failures, Curtis did not have heat.
Even more unfortunately, my dart frog that I’d had for two years became very thin, and by the time I realized it had a vitamin A deficiency and could no longer eat, it was too late to do anything to fix it that I wasn’t already trying. It passed today. It did, though, take all of my attention for the past few days, and I completely neglected to check on Curtis. This is entirely my fault. I want to make it clear that I usually check on him daily.
When I went outside to bury the frog a few hours ago, I opened up Curtis’s night box. The heater was off, and it was freezing. Curtis was completely non responsive, stiff, and ice cold. Clear mucus came out of his nose when I lightly depressed his top eyelid. I picked him up, brought him inside, and let him soak in the bathtub in lukewarm water, which I slowly increased the heat of.
After about 30 minutes, I drained the water.
He was still completely non responsive. I touched and poked at his eyes, pulled on his legs, arms, and head, and flipped him over. He was giving absolutely no signs of life.
However, he was no longer as stiff, and while still non responsive, I could now move his limbs. I dried him off, left him in the tub with a heater, and came back an hour later.
He was, somehow, alive. As I write this, his eyes have opened and he is completely responsive.
I want to reiterate that Curtis survived probably 3 days of frozen weather with no heat, and reanimated after being completely stiff, frozen, and non responsive.
I wish I had taken pictures now for the benefit of others, but I’ll try to explain just how “dead” he was and what might have been a hint that he was alive. Curtis was at first completely stiff, but did not stink. His eyes were closed, but not sunken. After warming him up, he was no longer stiff, but completely limp and unresponsive, OTHER THAN his head, which remained stiff and I could not open his mouth. He did not react even when I lightly touched his eyes and moved his limbs. He was, I repeat, entirely unresponsive. However, he was very healthy before this, and eating like a horse. He is 5 and a half years old, about 15 inches long, and roughly 30 lbs last time I weighed him.
Never dispose of a tortoise’s body until they start to stink.
(The last pictures I took of him before this, one week ago today.)
In Texas, we’ve been having very cold, frozen weather since Wednesday. It snowed, iced over, and sleeted. Not a problem for a sulcata in a heated and insulated night box.
Unfortunately, due to a collection of electrical failures, Curtis did not have heat.
Even more unfortunately, my dart frog that I’d had for two years became very thin, and by the time I realized it had a vitamin A deficiency and could no longer eat, it was too late to do anything to fix it that I wasn’t already trying. It passed today. It did, though, take all of my attention for the past few days, and I completely neglected to check on Curtis. This is entirely my fault. I want to make it clear that I usually check on him daily.
When I went outside to bury the frog a few hours ago, I opened up Curtis’s night box. The heater was off, and it was freezing. Curtis was completely non responsive, stiff, and ice cold. Clear mucus came out of his nose when I lightly depressed his top eyelid. I picked him up, brought him inside, and let him soak in the bathtub in lukewarm water, which I slowly increased the heat of.
After about 30 minutes, I drained the water.
He was still completely non responsive. I touched and poked at his eyes, pulled on his legs, arms, and head, and flipped him over. He was giving absolutely no signs of life.
However, he was no longer as stiff, and while still non responsive, I could now move his limbs. I dried him off, left him in the tub with a heater, and came back an hour later.
He was, somehow, alive. As I write this, his eyes have opened and he is completely responsive.
I want to reiterate that Curtis survived probably 3 days of frozen weather with no heat, and reanimated after being completely stiff, frozen, and non responsive.
I wish I had taken pictures now for the benefit of others, but I’ll try to explain just how “dead” he was and what might have been a hint that he was alive. Curtis was at first completely stiff, but did not stink. His eyes were closed, but not sunken. After warming him up, he was no longer stiff, but completely limp and unresponsive, OTHER THAN his head, which remained stiff and I could not open his mouth. He did not react even when I lightly touched his eyes and moved his limbs. He was, I repeat, entirely unresponsive. However, he was very healthy before this, and eating like a horse. He is 5 and a half years old, about 15 inches long, and roughly 30 lbs last time I weighed him.
Never dispose of a tortoise’s body until they start to stink.
(The last pictures I took of him before this, one week ago today.)
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