leopard baby prolapse?

[pthurston1111]

Help! I have a leopard baby hatched on Oct 12, 2015. he is kept in a indoor enclosure with UV heat at 95 basking, rest of enclosure is 82-85 humid hide, with humidity levels in pen at 70-80%. Has been eating mixed greens with grazing seed mix plants. eating normally, acting normal daily soaks. ( he is 5 weeks old, 38 gr, 2" long) suddenly this morning I found him with a red ball underneath him, was smallish and now seeming larger, i immediately soaked in warm water, was told to add sugar so i soaked in that, and he is now in his enclosure with a warm moist paper towel in a bowl. seeming to want to move around, was told it could be a prolapse to soak in sugar water 20 minutes a few times a day. I am very concerned, everything was going great, till today. Will add photo. Thank you for help?

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

That definitely sounds like a prolapse. Keep it moist and get it to a vet asap. They can be treated at home if there aren't complications, but if you're not experienced, a vet should handle it. If the organ dries out, it will require surgery to remove the dead tissue.

1) Vet
2) Figure out what caused the prolapse in the first place. Dehydration or worms are possible candidates.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

And now that I see the photo - definitely a prolapse. Keep it moist and get to the vet.

 

[pthurston1111]

That definitely sounds like a prolapse. Keep it moist and get it to a vet asap. They can be treated at home if there aren't complications, but if you're not experienced, a vet should handle it. If the organ dries out, it will require surgery to remove the dead tissue.

1) Vet
2) Figure out what caused the prolapse in the first place. Dehydration or worms are possible candidates.

it's definitely not dehydration, because i soak him daily, he drinks several times a day and is kept in humid conditions. I have seen no sign of worms in his soaks.. I will see if I can find a vet that will see him on sunday.. thanks. I only have one option in my area, and its about an hour from here. which is fine, if they will see him today.

 

[pthurston1111]

And now that I see the photo - definitely a prolapse. Keep it moist and get to the vet.

if they won't see him today, is tomorrow too late? if I keep moist and do the sugar soaks? ( I am going to call them)

 

[dmmj]

as long as it's kept moist no problem should I repeat should result, but no guarantee.

 

[Yvonne G]

It is highly unusual for a baby tortoise to prolapse. This is a dangerous situation for him. Get a little bowl with tall sides and keep him in there sitting in a bit of water from now until you see the vet. This is not a penile prolapse, but rather cloacal, which means it might be tissue from the bladder, oviduct, intestine and it would be terrible if it were to dry out. Keep a light over the edge of the bowl, but be careful to not cook him.

http://www.chelonia.org/articles/cloacal_prolapse.htm

 

[Elohi]

Let us know how it goes with the vet.

 

[pthurston1111]

I am back from vet. They were able to get the organ back in, and suture. They weren't sure what organ it was. I need to take him in tomorrow, they said it sounded like I was doing everything right.

 

[pthurston1111]

Thank you so much for all of the responses, i appreciate it so much! Now to pray he/she improves.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Glad to hear it. Good luck.

 

[wellington]

Wow, wouldn't expect to hear something like this on such a young one with good housing. Just so you are sure, double check your temps and humidity with a reliable source. If your using those puck type gauges the pet stores sell, they are unreliable. If your using good temp/humidity gauges, then your temps and humidity sounds right on. Good luck with him. Sure hope all goes well and he doesn't continue to have this problem or problems from it. Keep us posted.

 

[wellington]

It is highly unusual for a baby tortoise to prolapse. This is a dangerous situation for him. Get a little bowl with tall sides and keep him in there sitting in a bit of water from now until you see the vet. This is not a penile prolapse, but rather cloacal, which means it might be tissue from the bladder, oviduct, intestine and it would be terrible if it were to dry out. Keep a light over the edge of the bowl, but be careful to not cook him.

http://www.chelonia.org/articles/cloacal_prolapse.htm

Yvonne, should the soaking water have sugar in it? I always thought the sugar should be packed on it not the tortoise actually soaking in it and absorbing the sugar into its system?

 

[pthurston1111]

I take him back in today for blood work fecal test and xrays. I use a laser gun for Temps and an aucurite humidity mearurer.the vet I saw told me from everything I said about his care, it sounded correct and good. Believe me, i check the Temps about 50 times a day, and he gets daily soaks.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yvonne, should the soaking water have sugar in it? I always thought the sugar should be packed on it not the tortoise actually soaking in it and absorbing the sugar into its system?

No. The sitting in water thing was only to keep the organ moist so it doesn't dry out. The sugar thing is you make a paste out of sugar and apply the paste to the organ to shrink it.

 

[Carol S]

I hope your baby tort gets well fast.

 

[wellington]

No. The sitting in water thing was only to keep the organ moist so it doesn't dry out. The sugar thing is you make a paste out of sugar and apply the paste to the organ to shrink it.

That's what I thought, but they are putting sugar in the soaking water which I'm sure is not good for the tort. Someone told them to put sugar in the soak water.

 

[pthurston1111]

I just found this from 2 or more years ago with my first baby leopard. I see that I hadn’t written it correctly regarding the sugar. It was done as a paste. One thing I didn’t mention in my questioning, that I later realized had to have been the problem- from the day I received him until the prolapse he had the soak dish covered in vermiculite, every soak. He drank copious amounts of water daily, that I had to refill his dish 5-6 times a day. I had owned him less than 2 weeks when he prolapsed and as mentioned, kept hot humid enclosure etc. I am sure now that he hatched and ate vermiculite for a few days before anyone was aware of him hatching. His organs had to have been dried out and damaged. * he was maybe a month old or less when shipped to me. Since him, I have raised 4 others, and now see more accurately that he definitely was having signs of organ damage. He prolapsed again after the first surgery and was not well, so had to be euthanized.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm so sorry you lost him. But thanks for coming back and adding to the story. We all learn from others' experiences.