Help help help please!! (shell injury)

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Brittany6

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Sorry so many worries and freak outs!!!! I noticed when I got my baby she had a dark spot on her shell, I thought it was just dirt. I had been cleaning it out and it has gotten a little lighter but last night I noticed it looking almost black again and something is peeling from it. I think it is the dead, black insides of the shell.
What is this and what can I do to help??? Thanks sooo much :-(
Brittany
 

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Yvonne G

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RE: Help help help please!!

That looks like an old injury. You need to leave it alone and quit brushing at it. It looks like its going to die and fall off. That's no big deal, don't worry about it. If it were my baby, I'd goop some NeoSporin on it and let nature take its course. You might want to get an on site opinion and take the baby to the vet. The vet might give you some antibiotics.

Your baby also looks dehydrated. His eyes are sunken in. How often do you soak him in water?
 

Brittany6

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RE: Help help help please!!

Aww poor thing!!! With his scale missing and a old injury? He has had it tough already!!! He is soaked twice a day 20 min at a time and sprayed about 4 times a day. His encloser is the coco choir and is about 60 humid on hot side and 80 on cool side?!?! I would be suprised he is dehydrated :-( what else can I do? Are you sure it's a sign on dehydration?
 

Yvonne G

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RE: Help help help please!!

No, its also a sign of pain. So maybe that injury is painful to him. I think taking him to a vet would be a good idea.

Adding the missing leg scale into the mix, makes me think this tortoise might have been chewed by a small dog before you got it.
 

yagyujubei

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RE: Help help help please!!

I don't like the looks of that. Especially since it's on both sides of the plastron, and larger on the inside. It might be wise to get a vet's opinion in case that's an active infection and spreading.I would mention the leg scale also, in case they're related. Not trying to alarm you, and it's hard to tell from a pic.
 

Brittany6

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Okay, I will try to find a vet :-( poor baby!! Should I put neoaporan on it? Keep it dry? Anything special in the mean time? Where in upstate NY in negative degree's and a winter storm so even if there was a vet, I can't get to him for at least a few days. Poor monkin ;-( she's still soo small, maybe 2 inches!! She hasn't been handled by anyone in this house but me. I would hate to think she was bit or dropped. So you don't think this is shell rot? Thanks gain Very Much!!!
 

Wirewehear

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If it were me I'd take the little guy to the vet. Agree with the other poster that he may need antibiotics and possibly an infection is setting in. In the meantime I would flush it with a nolvasan solution. Just a flush, no rubbing/cleaning it. Then dab on some Silvadene cream. A second best to those two items are a Betadine solution (get it at the drug store) dilute it so it looks like a light tea, and you can use neosporin or other antibiotic ointments.

When/if you see a vet ask for some Nolvasan and Silvadene .... also named Thermazene. Depends on what the vet carries. Either of them are the same. Its a Silver Sulfadiazine cream. Neosporin is the most common to use but in my experience with wounds the neo-ointment can clog a wound that 'needs' to ooze and is slower to heal. The silvadene allows the draining, is antibiotic and promotes tissue growth.

Betadine kills tissue as well as the bacteria. Nolvasan doesnt ... the tissue, that is. Hydrogen peroxide is another tissue killer and should not be use unless one really has to when nothing else can be found immediately. And that should also be diluted 3 to 1 but hydro would be my last choice. You may be able to find something with silver sulfadiazine at the drug store. I dont know I always get it from my vet.

Good luck with the little guy. Again ..... my opinion - see a vet.
 

Yvonne G

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Brittany6 said:
She hasn't been handled by anyone in this house but me. I would hate to think she was bit or dropped. So you don't think this is shell rot? Thanks gain Very Much!!!

No, its not shell rot. Its an injury. I've seen a lot of dog chewed tortoises, and that's what it looks like to me.



John W. Green, DVM
Colonie Animal Hospital
1946 Central Ave.
Albany, NY 12205
Tel: (518) 456-1613
 

Wirewehear

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Brittany6 said:
Okay, I will try to find a vet :-( poor baby!! Should I put neoaporan on it? Keep it dry? Anything special in the mean time? Where in upstate NY in negative degree's and a winter storm so even if there was a vet, I can't get to him for at least a few days. Poor monkin ;-( she's still soo small, maybe 2 inches!! She hasn't been handled by anyone in this house but me. I would hate to think she was bit or dropped. So you don't think this is shell rot? Thanks gain Very Much!!!

Here is a list of NY vets.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-New-York#axzz1jPRSGXVj
In case I didnt link it right you can find the vet list on the home page of this forum. Or use the "forum jump" below this thread. Its about a dozen catagories from the top.
 

Brittany6

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Okay I will see what I have and try to find a vet who knows about Sullies! Poor thing, I didn't think much of it. Ingot him at a exotic pet store...

Wow you guys are amazing!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!! Poor thing!!!!!!!!!!!! :-( I feel so bad that it took all this time to relize it wasn't normal dirt :-(
 

SulcataSquirt

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Was the tort being housed alone in the pet store or was it in with other torts or maybe lizards?
 

Brittany6

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There were about 4 other baby Sullies in a small tank probably a 12 by 12 square tank.
 
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