help :( (tort pulled out feeding tube and is not eating)

BrunoNK

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Jan 31, 2021
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4
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Porto Ferreira
hello, we found a tortoise with a deep ferret in its hull, it underwent surgery and needed a probe to feed itself, however, it managed to remove its own probe.
we are trying to offer all kinds of food and she hasn't accepted food or water for a week and a half. (maybe she ate some plants from the garden and that's it)

1 - the fact of leaving her in the yard and at night collecting inside the house can affect food? (environmental stress) note: tropical climate = very hot all day and night.

2 - we do not know if it belonged to someone or if it had already become wild (taking into account that it is not an area of occurrence of the animal). so we don't know if she got used to eating something and denies the rest for it.

how can I improve things for this animal? wanted him to start
 

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Maro2Bear

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Greetings & welcome.

Have you tried soaking this tortoise in some nice warm water.? Not very deep, but a daily soak in warm water would be good.

None of your pictures came through ?. Try uploading a few pix (again) of your tortoise so we can figure oit what tyoe you have.
 

BrunoNK

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Jan 31, 2021
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Porto Ferreira
so, thank you for the extremely fast response haahhaahah. I'm doing this technique of putting him in the water (not every day).
he lowers his head as if he were going to drink but just wets his mouth and gives up.
I am making plenty of leaves and fruits available when he decides to eat.

he spent a month taking pure vitamin through the tube, twice a day. now that he is without the probe he doesn't eat.
I know they can go months without eating, but I am concerned that he has had a major trauma and is still recovering.

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Yvonne G

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Looks like a yellowfooted tortoise, Geochelone denticulata, but I'd really need to see better pictures to be sure.

You need to keep this tortoise warmer than normal while it's healing from the surgery. I would set it up in the house under a light and a CHE (ceramic heat emitter), and keep it at 80-85F degrees day and night. If it doesn't start eating within the next week or so, the feeding tube should be put back in.

After tortoise surgery the biggest problem they face is infection. It's very slow growing, and not noticed for quite while after the surgery. So heat him up to help him fight off infection.
 

Yossarian

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Looks like a yellowfooted tortoise, Geochelone denticulata, but I'd really need to see better pictures to be sure.

You need to keep this tortoise warmer than normal while it's healing from the surgery. I would set it up in the house under a light and a CHE (ceramic heat emitter), and keep it at 80-85F degrees day and night. If it doesn't start eating within the next week or so, the feeding tube should be put back in.

After tortoise surgery the biggest problem they face is infection. It's very slow growing, and not noticed for quite while after the surgery. So heat him up to help him fight off infection.

The OP is in Brazil so yellowfoot sounds plausible.

@BrunoNK can you take some pictures of the torts shell, top and bottom, and its head and tail. Would help confirm the species. I also agree, any time a tort is sick the first thing to do is keep them warm, their immune system is stimulated by body temperature like all their metabolic systems. Daytimes in the mid 80s are probably ok outside, but needs to come in at night until it is doing better.
 

TammyJ

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We hope you can post some close up pics as requested, top and bottom.

This is a great site to come to for help. All the best with getting him to a good recovery.
 

BrunoNK

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come on, he had his hull cut by some kind of agricultural machine and had a bruise on his lung.

timeline
underwent surgery and stayed 1 week recovering .... we put a tube and stayed 1 month receiving food and vitamin (there were two times when a little leg swelled up and was treated with antibiotics) ... at 1 and a half week he managed to take the probe for being very active.

ok it was 2 months.
have you seen cases of recovery like that? how long did it take?
ps.: he walks a lot

and thank you all for your attention

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Yvonne G

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It's a redfooted tortoise, Geochelone carbonaria. Continue with the antibiotics until all used up and keep him warm day and night. Barring infection, he should recover.
 

BrunoNK

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Thank you all for your help.
update:
the infections stopped, but the swelling of the paws resulted in the loss of the "fingers" of one of the back paws due to lack of circulation (probably also caused by the injury to the hoof) -> in this respect he seems to be recovering well, he dragged this one too much and the loss of his fingers greatly improved his locomotion, I believe he was in pain before, since now he can really walk without dragging.

I started doing the baths as they said here on the forum, it helped a lot. now he already takes water alone and is VERY active (walks all day if he lets himself)

he hasn't eaten for 3 months, he underwent an X-ray and it was seen that he had food in his intestine (little but it indicates that he ate something in the garden)

I contacted a behavior specialist and he said that he has seen these animals go 4 months without any food and need up to 1 year to fully recover.
as he was rescued from an accident, i imagine he has the trauma of the surgery added to the fact of changing the habitat, he may be causing this lack of appetite. one thing that may be affecting us is that we are entering autumn (even in Brazil the temperature drops a little), and we are having to manipulate him a lot, during the day he stays out in the sun and at night we put him inside the house with a heater and lamp, can this manipulation affect the desire to eat?

Do you know any tips to encourage him to eat or should you choose a tube? wouldn't another surgery to insert a tube cause more time without overeating?

ps .: more than one vet accompanies him, however they are very controversial in opinion since none is a specialist in reptiles.
 
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