Is Pebbles... Dying?

Chromatic

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Feb 12, 2021
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Kentucky
I'm extremely stressed out.

Pebbles is a young (around 4ish years?) Red Foot. I'm almost certain female.

I made the mistake from buying her from a pet store, and not a breeder. I honestly didn't want to have to sit on a wait list with someone, and I did a lot of research before hand and thought that if there was something wrong with her from being in a pet store, I was up for the challenge.

Well, her health has been bad from the start. She'd never go soak by herself, I always had to manually do it; she never really had a strong appetite, and she never walked around or really moved much.

Recently her eyes have been a little sunken, so I've been giving her longer and more frequent soaks, I bought some food toppers that had more nutritional value (on top of the fresh greens and fruit she'd eat, as well as mazuri pellets and dried bugs for protein), and even started to put her outside some days to get natural light instead of a UV bulb. It never really got better, but now I'm really worried.
She hasn't really eaten the past couple of days. I just tried to give her strawberries, since that's one of her faves, and she's not interested at all.
She was all tucked into her shell all day, which is kind of typical lately, but even after I picked her up- and then put her to soak- she still didn't move. This freaked me out a lot so I started to look stuff up on here, and found a thread where someone had lost one of their hatchlings- and that got the panic going.
After a few minutes of soak, she did stick her head out, and tried to get out of the bowl, so obviously she's not dead. But she refused the strawberry, she didn't really seem to notice it. When I put her back in her terrarium, she didn't seem to notice the strawberry in front of her, ran into it, and got scared and went back into her shell.

I did try to mess with her legs and she didn't seem bothered at all by it, either (this was right after I took her out of the soak). Normally if I would mess with her limbs she'd get spooked and shove them up her shell... but not this time.
When I would pick her up her limbs would just kind of dangle, too. She could still move them, but they didn't feel very strong. Also, I think she was potentially having trouble walking with her front legs, because they were in kind of a... weird position.

Someone please, please tell me she isn't dying. And please tell me there is something I can do. If she doesn't seem dead in the morning I will take her to the vet- I'm just worried about the experience the vet has, and I'm worried that this issue might be too complex for someone who doesn't actually know torts to try to handle.

Just last week she seemed okay. She seemed to be doing [a tiny bit] better, actually. I really don't know why the sudden change and I'm just worried sick about her. I honestly don't know if I will sleep tonight because I might just watch her all night long.
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
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There is something seriously wrong with your Redfoot.
Nothing sounds normal.
I would recommend that you get him or her to a good reptile vet ASAP. An actual REPTILE vet may be difficult to find.
In the meantime, keep him warm and hydrated and let him eat anything that he will eat.
 

Chromatic

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Kentucky
Oh dear.

I was thinking about someone who knew what they were doing- is it possible to ship her off to someone on here who could potentially help?

I'm around Louisville KY. I'm willing to drive up to 8 hours, potentially more depending on where it is. If anyone can recommend anything around me that would be great. In the meantime I will be doing heavy research to get her somewhere decent today.
 

Chromatic

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It would be quite a ride but this would be one of the best places you could go
Thank you! It would certainly not be cheap but it's worth it.
I'm still calling around right now- no one is able to see her today so far and I'm kind of in panic mode.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Thank you! It would certainly not be cheap but it's worth it.
I'm still calling around right now- no one is able to see her today so far and I'm kind of in panic mode.
Keep her warm in the meantime 84-86ish. It might not hurt to do some baby food soaks too. Get some carrot baby food and mix it half and half with warm water and soak your tortoise in that.
 

Chromatic

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Joined
Feb 12, 2021
Messages
27
Location (City and/or State)
Kentucky
Keep her warm in the meantime 84-86ish. It might not hurt to do some baby food soaks too. Get some carrot baby food and mix it half and half with warm water and soak your tortoise in that.
Okay, I will head to the store shortly. I'm still keeping an eye on her. I'm making sure she's staying in the warm zone but she keeps trying to move away from it- and it's frustrating. so I keep moving the bulb closer to her but not directly on her so she doesn't get too hot.
She has been out of her shell a little bit this morning, so that's helped me feel a little better. Still not interested in food though.
 
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