Help new tort not eating!!

[jade]

Hello I'm new to this forum but not new to torts. I've owned three adult redfoots for 8 years now ( they are about 18 years old) and I never had any problems with them. About two months ago I got a 4 1/2 inch redfoot from Petsmart. She (?) wasn't eating that great but I thought the new environment might be freaking her out. I started weighing her this month to try to keep track of things:
3/3/11 11 1/8oz. 314 g.
3/16/11 10 3/8oz. 296g.
3/23/11 10 1/4oz. 290g.

So you can see she been losing weight. I keep dried tortoise pellets in her cage at all times. I don't like them but the pet store said she loved them so I thought it might help. Then every morning I give her fresh fruits, veggies, or protein. Some examples are Romain, red leaf lettuce, strawberries, cantaloupe, green peppers, corn, hard boiled eggs, banana, and meal-worms. The only things I've seen her eat (and that is just one or two bits every few days if that ) are Romain, banana, and two pellets.

She lives in an under bed storage container with a Zoo Med under tank 50-60 gallon heater and over the top light on one end and her hide and water on the other. We keep our house at 78 degrees and her home is around 90 at the warmest and 80 in the cool side. I did have cypress mulch as flooring but she started to get shell rot (that is my question number two) so now I put a bath towel down to try and keep the enclosure dry. I live in Florida so when the weather is 70 or higher I let her play outside in a sand/grass fenced in tortoise enclosure. Then bring her in at night (its still 50s here at night).

Now for the shell rot question. When I bought her from Petsmart she had some white specks on the bottom of her shell I've never had this in any of my torts before so didn't think much of it until it got worse (maybe 3-4 patches) then I looked it up on the internet and figured it must be shell rot. So for the past week I've been bathing her in water and epsom salts, then scrub the area with a soft toothbrush, rinse her off with pure water, then after she dries off I put antifungal cream on her.

She walks around her cage, gets in her water to soak, and when I hold her she pushes me with her back feet and she's got a strong push for a little girl so my question is: Is there anything I can do to increase her appetite? Am I doing the correct treatment for shell rot? I just wanted to see if you guys could come up with any great ideas. If she doesn't start eating in the next few days I WILL be taking her to a vet

Sorry about the mini-novel I wrote but I wanted you all to know how she is kept Thanks for any input you can give me.

 

[Yvonne G]

OMG! You've been a member for almost 3 years and I've never said,

"WELCOME to the forum!!"

Is Jade YOUR name or one of your tortoises? And you're in Florida, right?

Sorry, I can't help with your RF problem. Just wanted to send you a welcome.

 

[jade]

Thanks Yvonne!!!! Yes I guess I joined the forum a few years ago but forgot all about it and when I went to join today it said I was already a member So I'm hoping to get involved and not loose touch again. "Jade" must have been I name I liked back then. My name is Rachael and my adult torts are Jinx, Gunther, and Bella. I'm still trying to think of the perfect name for the baby. Yes we all live in the Sunshine state

 

[dmmj]

Mine loves mazuri hibiscus and dandelions. He would eat those all day long if he could. I would try those first, and I would also try wax worms from petco, they are high in fat, but if you are trying to put on weight, no other food could be better.

 

[jade]

Good idea my adults loved hibiscus from our old house I just bought a new plant for this place but it doesn't have any flowers on it yet. Maybe I'll have to "borrow" some flowers from a nursery I really don't think dandelions grow in Florida. When I visit my mom in Pennsylvania I bring dandelion seeds back with me and plant them in the tortoise pen but none have ever grown. You did give me the idea to go out in the back yard and pick some wild grape vines. My adults love them, so we'll see about baby.

 

[dmmj]

can't go wrong with grape leaves. Just be careful of nursery flowers, make sure they don't spray them. My RF also loves mango, slugs are one of his favorite, and apricots fresh off of the tree.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[Laura]

a good warm soak in babyfood? strained carrots mixed with a little water.. warm.. see if she drinks it too..

 

[jade]

Are you saying to soak her in Baby food? Like baby rice cereal? I also bought her some baby food "mixed vegetables and turkey" and "bananas" both stage 3 baby food. I will try that in the morning. Yes she does drink water so I guess it kinda makes sense to put food in her bath water. I never thought of that. She wasn't interested in the grape leaves

I was thinking of calling a vet tomorrow in case it takes a few days to get me in. Does anyone know a good vet in the Ocala/Gainesville Florida area? I was looking on the internet and found a few but the one that stands out is Micanopy Animal Hospital with Dr. Molly Pearson I liked her because she actually has pet tortoises and I think that's a plus. But I haven't read any reviews or know anyone that has gone there.

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Hi & welcome I am attaching a link to the forum's vet list, hope this helps.
http://tortoiseforum.org/tortoisevetlist.html#florida

 

[bikerchicspain]

Hello and welcome.

One thing that comes to mind is,
Have you looked inside her mouth?,
quite alot of reptiles bought in shops come with some sort of disease, eg. mouth-rot, shell rot, calcium deficiency, vitamin deficiency, etc etc.

So i would check the mouth for mouth rot, check her stools for parasites,
And i would have a vet check her out, If you have 2 i would take them both as if it is a disease it could have benn passed on to the other,or the other could be just a host.

Good luck

 

[jade]

Hi & welcome I am attaching a link to the forum's vet list, hope this helps.
http://tortoiseforum.org/tortoisevetlist.html#florida

Thanks for the list I picked one out and have an appointment today. I'll be sure to let you all know what I found out[

 

[Tom]

One other possibility is sand impaction. Doesn't usually happen in an outdoor pen, but it could. Vet can eliminate this possibility with an x-ray.

Also, what kind of lighting are you using? If its one of the coil type florescent UV bulbs OR one of those colored lights, like infrared, that could be your problem too. They are marketed for reptiles, but can cause all sorts of problems.

 

[jade]

Hi everyone We just got back from the vet, I recommend Dr. Suzanne Billiar at All Pets Clinic in Ocala Fl. She takes her time to explain what is going on and includes you in the exam letting you look in the mouth and down the throat and all. Anyway my baby wasn't as bad off as I thought. She was a little dehydrated and her eyes were a little watery. So she got an eye cream, Subcutaneous fluids, a vitamin A,D,&E injection, tube fed to jump start her eating, an appetite stimulant, and a dewormer even though no parisites showed up on her fecal. The vet also told me to try giving her timothy hay cubes and mazuri tortoise pellets along with extra hides in the warm part of her cage. So we will do what the Dr. orders and see what happens. We have a check up in two weeks so I'll let you know how it all turns out. Thank you for all your help and ideas

 

[Jeannette]

Hi Rachael, my name is Jeannette and I am a vet tech on the other side of the country (in Oregon)...Just out of curiosity, do you know how many mls (or cc's) of subcutaneous fluids Dr. Billiar gave your baby and in what site? What did she tube feed to jump start her eating? Will you be soaking the timothy hay cubes or be offering them dry? I think it was smart to deworm, despite the fact that the fecal results were negative. Some parasites' ova, cysts, ect... are shed intermittently and so are 'missed' on fecal analyses (leading to a false negative result). Dr. Billiar sounds great! Hope your baby responds quickly!!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Hey Rachael, closely watch the site of the Vit injection...sometimes the skin will slough off there and it could become a spot you need to treat. We usually tell people not to allow a Vit injection. So just watch that spot for a week or so...

Hey Jeannette...where are you in Oregon? I'm in Corvallis...are you in Bend?

 

[jade]

I didn't really take notice as to how many cc's of fluid she gave. Maybe 5 if I HAD to guess. Not sure of what it's called but she gave it up into the skin in the shell in front of her back leg.She said she angled the needle down to avoid the organs. She tube fed something people give puppies and kittens I think it's called NutriCal. She didn't tell me to soak the timothy cubes. Do you suggest that I do? This morning I offered her pellets made moist with water and dry Timothy cubes broken up. She ate some of the pellets but ignored the hay. I was very happy to see her eat something

 

[jade]

Ok thanks for the tip Maggie I will keep an eye on that. She finished her food today also. I gave her seconds just in case she was still hungry. I hope she keeps this up even after the appetite stimulate wears off.

 

[Yvonne G]

See, there's that darned Vitamin a,d,e injection again. Maybe my thinking is old school and I need to re-think it. I'd be interested in hearing from our own Dr. Todd on this subject.

And just a precautionary note: The skin sloughing usually happens on the soft skin on the upper legs...not just around the injection site. Any soft skin on the tortoise.

 

[exoticsdr]

As you all know, Vit A injections were all the vogue several years ago to treat almost anything that had to do with torts, boxies and other turtles. Unfortunately, many of these cases could probably have been fixed with just good nutrition, but we learn as we live and tort medicine has come along way in a very short time. Your vet sounds like she knows what she is doing, so I wouldn't second guess her. Please keep us posted.