mimsy
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2017
- Messages
- 10
My tortoise had a flooded burrow while hibernating about 2 weeks ago...I thought he was probably dead! But we got all the water out and tapped his foot and it moved. He was alive. WOW
Anyway a few days later he came out of his burrow. He was coming out every day and sunning himself. Seemed fine...Wasn't eating but would walk around the enclosure. I figured he was just getting himself out of hibernation mode. Mostly he basked in the sun a lot and sometimes dug a little.
Yesterday it was dusk and he was still out! I noticed he was kind of gagging and opening his mouth. His mouth was kinda muddy/wet.Trouble breathing. His eyes also weren't very responsive. We got him inside for the night in a box with a towel. Put a heater next to him and got it up to 80ish degrees. He got a little more perky and eyes would actually blink and respond. But when I tilted him forward sometimes some water/spit came out of his mouth. Some a little full of dirt. And he continued to do his neck stretching and struggling to breathe while in his box. I lifted him and tilted him a few times more over the next couple hours and sometimes some fluid came out. But I felt like I was disturbing him especially since it was his bedtime. Then I figured for night he needed temp lowered so I turned off heat and left him alone (maybe bad idea?). His box temp went down to 70ish. I was gonna wake up again in an hour but ended up sleeping longer.
Anyway this morning at 4 am ish I woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I went to check on him & he was dead. I was angry because I wanted to take him to 24 hour vet asap last night but parents wouldn't help and I didn't have the $. Would vet have been able to help?
I'm just wondering what happened. I'm guessing respiratory tract infection or pneumonia? I wish I checked his burrow sooner so he wouldn't have gotten sick. He must've been carrying some dirty water in his system all those 2 weeks! He seemed fine though all those 2 weeks & I was naive.
Anyway a few days later he came out of his burrow. He was coming out every day and sunning himself. Seemed fine...Wasn't eating but would walk around the enclosure. I figured he was just getting himself out of hibernation mode. Mostly he basked in the sun a lot and sometimes dug a little.
Yesterday it was dusk and he was still out! I noticed he was kind of gagging and opening his mouth. His mouth was kinda muddy/wet.Trouble breathing. His eyes also weren't very responsive. We got him inside for the night in a box with a towel. Put a heater next to him and got it up to 80ish degrees. He got a little more perky and eyes would actually blink and respond. But when I tilted him forward sometimes some water/spit came out of his mouth. Some a little full of dirt. And he continued to do his neck stretching and struggling to breathe while in his box. I lifted him and tilted him a few times more over the next couple hours and sometimes some fluid came out. But I felt like I was disturbing him especially since it was his bedtime. Then I figured for night he needed temp lowered so I turned off heat and left him alone (maybe bad idea?). His box temp went down to 70ish. I was gonna wake up again in an hour but ended up sleeping longer.
Anyway this morning at 4 am ish I woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I went to check on him & he was dead. I was angry because I wanted to take him to 24 hour vet asap last night but parents wouldn't help and I didn't have the $. Would vet have been able to help?
I'm just wondering what happened. I'm guessing respiratory tract infection or pneumonia? I wish I checked his burrow sooner so he wouldn't have gotten sick. He must've been carrying some dirty water in his system all those 2 weeks! He seemed fine though all those 2 weeks & I was naive.