B31415
New Member
Hello all,
I am concerned about my five month old sulcata. He hasn’t been doing so well. He was sick when I received him three months ago. He has already completed one course of oral antibiotics. I took him to the vet again because I didn’t think his respiratory infection was ever fixed, and found out he still had the respiratory infection and also had a parasite problem. He has been wormed and is continuing to take antibiotics for his respiratory infection.
I am making this post because he had a new set of growth rings that grew in almost overnight. It has a pale color compared to his other growth rings. I also noticed that this new growth had a tiny pin hole looking dent in it. I realized immediately something was wrong. Upon further inspection, I noticed that his shell is somewhat pliable. Much more so than it seemed to be whenever I first got him.
Here’s a photo of the new growth ring that is a pale color, and a photo of his shell where it seems either he dinged himself on his hide, or I did it while inspecting his shell.
I’m nervous that things are not looking so good for him because he felt lighter than usual whenever I picked him up earlier today. He has had diarrhea for the past day and a half. I have fed only greens and weeds for the past day as a result. I plan on giving him a long bath after posting this to the forum and keeping him even more hydrated than usual. (Note: I don’t have a gram scale, so the part about him weighing less may be entirely in my head.)
His back legs look swollen. I know without a doubt that he is not an overweight tortoise. He can tuck his head all the way into his shell and cover his face with his arms.
Diet: Zoo Med’s version of Mazuri (twice a week with greens), Spring Mix, Mustard Greens, Fluker’s Tortoise Diet (about two teaspoons daily, 5 or 6 days a week), Bites for Tortoise (just a few squares 3 days out of the week), fresh wheatgrass clippings daily, and he eats bermuda grass out of my front yard several days a week. I supplement with Zoo-Med’s Calcium WITH D3 because my tort stays inside his hide a LOT. I sprinkle his food with a fair amount of the supplement daily. I don’t measure it out, but I thought he was receiving the amount of calcium that he needed. There is also a 10.0 UVB light on 14 hours a day.
He gets a bath every other day, though I have increased it to daily within the past week since he began antibiotics.
My tort was inactive and did not eat much before I took him to the vet for antibiotics, but he began to act more active once he began the antibiotics.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Does this seem like hatchling failure syndrome to you? What should I change about his diet if this is a case of him not receiving enough calcium? Could the medication being given affect shell growth?
I am concerned about my five month old sulcata. He hasn’t been doing so well. He was sick when I received him three months ago. He has already completed one course of oral antibiotics. I took him to the vet again because I didn’t think his respiratory infection was ever fixed, and found out he still had the respiratory infection and also had a parasite problem. He has been wormed and is continuing to take antibiotics for his respiratory infection.
I am making this post because he had a new set of growth rings that grew in almost overnight. It has a pale color compared to his other growth rings. I also noticed that this new growth had a tiny pin hole looking dent in it. I realized immediately something was wrong. Upon further inspection, I noticed that his shell is somewhat pliable. Much more so than it seemed to be whenever I first got him.
Here’s a photo of the new growth ring that is a pale color, and a photo of his shell where it seems either he dinged himself on his hide, or I did it while inspecting his shell.
I’m nervous that things are not looking so good for him because he felt lighter than usual whenever I picked him up earlier today. He has had diarrhea for the past day and a half. I have fed only greens and weeds for the past day as a result. I plan on giving him a long bath after posting this to the forum and keeping him even more hydrated than usual. (Note: I don’t have a gram scale, so the part about him weighing less may be entirely in my head.)
His back legs look swollen. I know without a doubt that he is not an overweight tortoise. He can tuck his head all the way into his shell and cover his face with his arms.
Diet: Zoo Med’s version of Mazuri (twice a week with greens), Spring Mix, Mustard Greens, Fluker’s Tortoise Diet (about two teaspoons daily, 5 or 6 days a week), Bites for Tortoise (just a few squares 3 days out of the week), fresh wheatgrass clippings daily, and he eats bermuda grass out of my front yard several days a week. I supplement with Zoo-Med’s Calcium WITH D3 because my tort stays inside his hide a LOT. I sprinkle his food with a fair amount of the supplement daily. I don’t measure it out, but I thought he was receiving the amount of calcium that he needed. There is also a 10.0 UVB light on 14 hours a day.
He gets a bath every other day, though I have increased it to daily within the past week since he began antibiotics.
My tort was inactive and did not eat much before I took him to the vet for antibiotics, but he began to act more active once he began the antibiotics.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Does this seem like hatchling failure syndrome to you? What should I change about his diet if this is a case of him not receiving enough calcium? Could the medication being given affect shell growth?