I think my baby sulcata is sick HELP tonight

[Spencertretter]

I purchased my new sulcata flash from a reptile expo about a mont ago. He's very tiny and fits in my palm. I'm really nervous he's become sick. Two days ago he was running to his food, yesterday he slept all day which I thought was fine because he's a baby... But he did the same all day today. I picked him up but he refused to wake up for more than a few seconds. He has his head on the floor when he sits. I tried to feed him but all he did was attempt to chew but missed and hasn't tried since. I put him and soaked him in liquid vitamin for 30 minutes. I also noticed he had a bubble come out of his nose. No squeeking or coughing yet... he really isn't moving except for a few inches. Please help.

Basking spot 102'
Spray down cage every day
Cuttle bone (hasn't touched)
Full water dish
Uvb and UVA lights
Hiding spot But no humid hide
Serve him endive, crab grass and romaine

I know your gonna say to get him a vet. I'm 18 and don't have money right now...please help

 

[russian/sulcata/tortoise]

Welcome! You're baby is way too dry follow toms care sheets on how to make a humid enclosure. How often do u soak? What are night temps? What's the humidity at? What's the torts diet? Also there should be no fruit in his diet.

 

[Spencertretter]

Welcome! You're baby is way too dry follow toms care sheets on how to make a humid enclosure. How often do u soak? What are night temps? What's the humidity at? What's the torts diet? Also there should be no fruit in his diet.

I just got back from vacation. My neighbor didn't do as I instructed. I came back to two brown turtle tanks and a tortoise with no water. I believe it was only a day of no water. I do not know if he misted him but he didn't soak him. Before I left he was soaked every other day. Temps at night are around 75 give or take a degree. Humidity was 30% but after reading Tom' sheet it's now at 60% how could I increase more? Mostly endive. Some crab grass. I read banana could help the tortoise when feeling lethargic is that true. I haven't tried any fruit yet tho.

 

[Tom]

No fruit. That is not good for them.

I only see one lamp over the enclosure and the florescent higher up. What are you doing for night heat?

Low sided sweater boxes are about worse case scenario for housing baby sulcatas. Unless the whole room is warm and humid, there is no way to keep him in the right conditions.

Read these and see what can be improved:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

In the picture he looks very dry and desiccated to me. The open topped enclosure is not helping that, but it may be something that happened before you got him. Read this and see if it sounds familiar:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/

 

[Spencertretter]

No fruit. That is not good for them.

I only see one lamp over the enclosure and the florescent higher up. What are you doing for night heat?

Low sided sweater boxes are about worse case scenario for housing baby sulcatas. Unless the whole room is warm and humid, there is no way to keep him in the right conditions.

Read these and see what can be improved:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

In the picture he looks very dry and desiccated to me. The open topped enclosure is not helping that, but it may be something that happened before you got him. Read this and see if it sounds familiar:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/

For night heat I'm usually use a heat lamp with the blue glass. Right now after reading your post I'm using my day lamp to get the humidity and heat up. I'm afraid the one I originally used at night might have been a little too cold. For some reason my tort never would go directly underneath the light, if he was cold how come he didn't get to the maximum amount of heat? The Room he is in is my bedroom. I put the lid on half the box to try to keep humidity in. I notice he really stretches his neck and opens his mouth a lot. Sadly I didn't ask about the seller I was just really too excited to get one. If this is the case is there any chance it can be reversed?

Right now I put him under one of his huts with moss inside. It's around 80' in there. Humidity is at 90'in the whole enclosure.

 

[leigti]

Try to get the heat up to 85. Cover as much of the enclosure as you can without blocking the light .

 

[Spencertretter]

Temp is better. Still difficult to keep humidity up for a long period of time. What would be better to put him in? I only have plastic bins and ten gallon tanks. Really have no time to build unless it's easy, cheap and fast

 

[Spencertretter]

Woke him up this morning and he seemed better wide awake. Soaked him for a bit and had his underwater didn't seem like he was drinking more of sleeping. The top of the shell is hard but the sides are not. I know the bottom isn't supposed to be hard but it seems really sucked in this could be me overreacting though.

 

[Spencertretter]

Try to get the heat up to 85. Cover as much of the enclosure as you can without blocking the light .

Woke him up this morning and he seemed better wide awake. Soaked him for a bit and had his underwater didn't seem like he was drinking more of sleeping. The top of the shell is hard but the sides are not. I know the bottom isn't supposed to be hard but it seems really sucked in this could be me overreacting though.

 

[AzAngel]

I feel your struggles. I had a baby sulcata that got lethargic and would sleep a lot. I finally got him in a better enclosure and he perked right up. You NEED to get a closed enclosure. I didn’t have a lot of money either, but tortoises require a lot of special care when they are babies. He is your baby now, so you need to provide him with what he needs. I posted picks of my setup for you to see. I used plexi glass sheets from home depot to cover the top. Home depot will cut them to the size you need and they drilled holes in both so I could hang my heat lamps. Covering the top makes a HUGE difference in the humidity and ambient heat. I found that once the top was covered, I no longer needed a heat lamp at night and I had to lower my basking bulb down to 25 W which saves on electricity. Once you get those two things up, your baby will perk up. I had a set up similar to yours when I first got my baby because that is what I was told they needed, but I quickly learned I was wrong.

 

[Tom]

... if he was cold how come he didn't get to the maximum amount of heat?

Because their brains don't work that way. Where they come from there is no such thing as too cold. They just park themselves wherever they feel most comfortable and the temperature is warm enough wherever that happens to be.

Sounds like your tortoise has a respiratory infection from being too cold. The cure is to keep things warm day and night. No lower than 85 anywhere in the enclosure. You need a CHE set on a thermostat. It needs to be dark at night and you should not be using colored bulbs.

Creating the proper environment for this little guy might not be cheap, easy, or fast, but YOU need to take responsibility and give this baby what it needs to survive and be healthy. It does not have to be difficult and there are many way to accomplish this goal, but it will take some time effort and money to get it done right.

 

[Spencertretter]

Because their brains don't work that way. Where they come from there is no such thing as too cold. They just park themselves wherever they fell most comfortable and the temperature is warm enough wherever that happens to be.

Sounds like your tortoise has a respiratory infection from being too cold. The cure is to keep things warm day and night. No lower than 85 anywhere in the enclosure. You need a CHE set on a thermostat. It needs to be dark at night and you should not be using colored bulbs.

Creating the proper environment for this little guy might not be cheap, easy, or fast, but YOU need to take responsibility and give this baby what it needs to survive and be healthy. It does not have to be difficult and there are many way to accomplish this goal, but it will take some time effort and money to get it done right.

Can you tell me exactly what I need? Sounds like a glass aquarium? What size? What bedding? How much? Humidifier? What is a CHE? He barely opens his eyes, his legs and arms show no strength and won't eat food right in front of him. What should I do to get him to eat besides getting the tank. Going to the store later today. Have him outside now it's 77 with a real feel of 90. Humidity 81%

 

[Tom]

Can you tell me exactly what I need? Sounds like a glass aquarium? What size? What bedding? How much? Humidifier? What is a CHE?

Scroll up to post number 4. See those highlighted threads? Click on those and read them.

No one can tell you exactly what you need. You need to understand the concept of what you are trying to accomplish, figure out which enclosure and equipment will work best for your situation, set it all up and run it, check your parameters and make changes and adjustments as needed. Ideally, this would all be done BEFORE a baby comes home. Babies don't have a large margin for error, so you need to be super quick about all this. There are suggestions in the thread for how to do what we are talking about and that should be a good starting point for you. Don't delay or get all frustrated. This baby's survival depends on you.

CHE = ceramic heating element. All heat, no light.