M
Maggie Cummings
Guest
Just recently I had to look thru all the pictures I have stored in my computer looking for a specific picture and while perusing them I came across these pictures of a small tortoise in the hospital so I thought with all the sick animals we have on the forum lately I would show how I personally set up a hospital tank.
First of all I use a small container as it's much easier that way to keep the container warmer. Whenever a tortoise gets sick the fist thing I do is isolate him in the hospital tank and increase the temperature. While I do take animals to the Vet I don't always need to do that. But a new keeper should take the animal to the Vet right away. By the time a tortoise shows the symptoms of being sick that means he's already pretty sick as they don't show symptoms right away. They hide the symptoms of sickness in the wild as that would mean they are weak and that makes them vulnerable.
tank...it's plastic and opaque so they can't see thru it.
The hide is thin cardboard I cut myself and I use that as sometimes they can get in a half log and they don't get warm in the log. So this house is thin so the heat goes thru.
I pile moss in the tank giving the tort the option of the house or getting under the moss. When this tortoise first got sick he burrowed in the moss, then when he started to get better I remember that he moved into the house. He got injections of Naxcel for 11 days.
I keep a small cheap thermometer in the moss so I can keep on top of the temperature.
In trying to get a sick tort better I stick to routine. The alarm goes off at 8 am and the first thing I do is a warm soak. I always put several drops of bird vitamins in the water, if he's been sick for a while I use a container of strained carrots or squash, that's so he can get some Vit A in him. I use the whole jar not just a spoonful. I add warm water to the carrots and I fill it to just above the bridge, so his face is in the water. He would have to lift his face out of the water.
After I soak him for about 15 minutes I put him smack in front of his food. Sometimes I fan his face with radicchio and try to get him to eat, sometimes it works other times are a bust...
I keep the moss moist as well as the substrate...
So I hope this helps any of you with a sick tortoise. This is just my way of treating a sick tortoise. A new keeper should take his tort to the vet right away, that's really important.
First of all I use a small container as it's much easier that way to keep the container warmer. Whenever a tortoise gets sick the fist thing I do is isolate him in the hospital tank and increase the temperature. While I do take animals to the Vet I don't always need to do that. But a new keeper should take the animal to the Vet right away. By the time a tortoise shows the symptoms of being sick that means he's already pretty sick as they don't show symptoms right away. They hide the symptoms of sickness in the wild as that would mean they are weak and that makes them vulnerable.
tank...it's plastic and opaque so they can't see thru it.
The hide is thin cardboard I cut myself and I use that as sometimes they can get in a half log and they don't get warm in the log. So this house is thin so the heat goes thru.
I pile moss in the tank giving the tort the option of the house or getting under the moss. When this tortoise first got sick he burrowed in the moss, then when he started to get better I remember that he moved into the house. He got injections of Naxcel for 11 days.
I keep a small cheap thermometer in the moss so I can keep on top of the temperature.
In trying to get a sick tort better I stick to routine. The alarm goes off at 8 am and the first thing I do is a warm soak. I always put several drops of bird vitamins in the water, if he's been sick for a while I use a container of strained carrots or squash, that's so he can get some Vit A in him. I use the whole jar not just a spoonful. I add warm water to the carrots and I fill it to just above the bridge, so his face is in the water. He would have to lift his face out of the water.
After I soak him for about 15 minutes I put him smack in front of his food. Sometimes I fan his face with radicchio and try to get him to eat, sometimes it works other times are a bust...
I keep the moss moist as well as the substrate...
So I hope this helps any of you with a sick tortoise. This is just my way of treating a sick tortoise. A new keeper should take his tort to the vet right away, that's really important.
