Hi everyone,
I need some advice. Around a month ago our biggest, female tortoise Feti started acting strangely. She became moody, stopped eating and started spending every night soaking. We have seen her go from 25cm to over 40cm over the years and she is very beloved to us.
Initially she would eat a small amount of leaves, and out of concern I pulled her out of her nest and placed her in front of a bowl of food, which she ate without much enthusiasm. I have not seen even reluctant eating in about 2 weeks.
I made an appointment with a very well known reptile vet who concluded she must be Gravid. He has seen many Emys that have stopped eating and none were as active and strong as her. Plus it's the season for it etc. I was elated! That was a couple of weeks ago now, and I prepared a large area full of leaf litter, cut grass etc expecting her to start nest building but alas nothing materialised. She is still reasonably active, moving from one place to another, soaking etc, but is still not eating and I'm getting worried again.
I would like to take her for some scan to confirm whether she is gravid, or whether we need to explore other options (impaction, parasites... who knows). My problem is that the reptile vet is a very long way away and boxing her up and taking her there is a several hour long ordeal being bounced around in a car. There are other vets near by who I could contact, but I need to be able to explain to them what I want.
I'm guessing an ultrasound wont be much good. Is an X-ray required? Any other advice?
A friend recently asked me round to help administer Panacur to an Emys that had stopped eating. That was his second last from a colony of 9 tortoises that all went the same way. He offered me his last but I declined, not having the space to quarantine, or wanting to take the risk by introducing another, potentially sick tortoise to my group. His tortoise, maybe further down to road, or maybe with a different problem, looked like it had given up on life, whereas Feti is still active and will thrash around furiously if handled. That gives me hope but also makes me worried at the same time.
I need some advice. Around a month ago our biggest, female tortoise Feti started acting strangely. She became moody, stopped eating and started spending every night soaking. We have seen her go from 25cm to over 40cm over the years and she is very beloved to us.
Initially she would eat a small amount of leaves, and out of concern I pulled her out of her nest and placed her in front of a bowl of food, which she ate without much enthusiasm. I have not seen even reluctant eating in about 2 weeks.
I made an appointment with a very well known reptile vet who concluded she must be Gravid. He has seen many Emys that have stopped eating and none were as active and strong as her. Plus it's the season for it etc. I was elated! That was a couple of weeks ago now, and I prepared a large area full of leaf litter, cut grass etc expecting her to start nest building but alas nothing materialised. She is still reasonably active, moving from one place to another, soaking etc, but is still not eating and I'm getting worried again.
I would like to take her for some scan to confirm whether she is gravid, or whether we need to explore other options (impaction, parasites... who knows). My problem is that the reptile vet is a very long way away and boxing her up and taking her there is a several hour long ordeal being bounced around in a car. There are other vets near by who I could contact, but I need to be able to explain to them what I want.
I'm guessing an ultrasound wont be much good. Is an X-ray required? Any other advice?
A friend recently asked me round to help administer Panacur to an Emys that had stopped eating. That was his second last from a colony of 9 tortoises that all went the same way. He offered me his last but I declined, not having the space to quarantine, or wanting to take the risk by introducing another, potentially sick tortoise to my group. His tortoise, maybe further down to road, or maybe with a different problem, looked like it had given up on life, whereas Feti is still active and will thrash around furiously if handled. That gives me hope but also makes me worried at the same time.