Help! (lethargic)

[Danielle2985]

So I recently purchased a russian tort from a petco, for about a week now he is extremely lethargic, won't eat, and has runny stools. Took him to a vet Monday where she "dewormed" him, injected vitamins and electrolytes. He started eating that evening and being more active. On Tuesday he was back to being lethargic, not eating etc. Went back to the vet got more vitamin injections and are doing home care. I'm curious if anyone else has had this problem and what exactly is the diagnosis?

 

[Jodie]

What are your temps? Tell us about your enclosure, and husbandry practices. We need a lot more info to help. Pictures are also helpful.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

+1! Heat. Lighting. Enclosure all would be helpful. I would lay off the injections. Have you let him soak in some warm water?

 

[G-stars]

Hello and welcome, it could be tough to find the actual diagnosis. Could be many factors. What are your four temps? Warm side, cool side, basking, and night ?

 

[Danielle2985]

Warm side is in the low 90s cool side in mid 70s. Warm water soaks now daily for about 20 mins. I was doing the soaks about every 3 days before he got sick. Substrate has been tricky was told to use cypress mulch did that for about a week and a half he didn't seem to care for. It was also suggested we use a mixture of preservative free topsoil and play sand. So I tried that he seems to like it however I have been doing some research and learned play sand is kind of a no no. So now switching to coco coir. Started off feeding him spring mix and kale. He preferred the "crispy" pieces. So switched to a romaine which he loves. I feed him in the morning when i get home from work and in the early evening i switch out the old food for new "crispy" pieces. Water is chlorine free.

 

[WillTort2]

Your diet needs to be more varied. Romaine is just an OK food source. Weeds are better, also consider turnip greens, escarole, radicchio, endive, belgian endive, kale, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce. Don't let the lettuce be too big a part of your diet.

Other healthy additions that will be more available in summer include grape leaves, mulberry tree leaves, dandelions, and lots of others.

Variety is the key to a healthy tortoise. It will sometimes take a day or two for them to adjust to a new food. In winter, I'll buy about 3 different leafy choices and rotate them until they are gone. And you can increase your intake of salads. A win win for both.

Good luck.

 

[Jodie]

He should have a basking area atleast 95F. How deep is your substrate? Russians like to dig.

 

[smarch]

romaine has a high water content, could factor into runny poos

Also I'm pretty sure the agreement here is "vitamin injections" are bad. I don't know if they cause harm but they don't do good.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Danielle:

Welcome to the Forum!

What was probably originally wrong with your tortoise was the fact that he sensed it was time to hibernate. That's why he slowed down and stopped eating. Since you bought the tortoise at Petco, this means he's a wild caught tortoise. He hasn't acclimated yet to being kept indoors, and when the shorter days and cooler nights rolled around, he knew he was supposed to stop eating and start thinking about going to sleep.

Please do not allow any more vitamin injections. Two is two too many. The best thing you can do now for the tortoise is make him think it's summer time by keeping his lights on for 14 hours a day. Get him up every time you walk by the habitat and put him in front of the food. Soak him daily in warm water. On sunny days (if there is such a thing in your neck of the woods) put him outside for real sunshine.

Good luck. I hope you can turn this little fellow around and get him well.