Need help ! Baby suclata URGET HELP !

[MunchkinsMommah]

Hello all, sorry I have not been posting ... I have been busy . But now...
theres this thing going on ...

Okay, so i have a tortoise named Munchkin, he is estmimated to be about 8-9
months old . He/she is a sulcata and, for the last two weeks, he/she hasnt been
eating. The vet has been giving him/her baytril every 3 days. Its not working .
Also his shell is soft, but we have been mixing calium in water and giving it to
him in a syringe. He drinks water, and we have tried giving him , eVERYTHINGG !
can anyone help? Please?

Jillie, sad owner.

 

[DeanS]

I would stop the Baytril. Try soaking him in warm baby food (carrots are probably the best choice). Where do you live? He needs sunlight, heat and humidity! If that's not an option then buy a Mercury Vapor Bulb. What substrate are you using? You might switch to coco coir...

Other than that read this...

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-To-Raise-Sulcata-Hatchlings-and-Babies#axzz1L88Txx8w

 

[TortieLuver]

Hello Jillie? Sorry to hear about what you are going through. I have a few questions for you to help me help you:
Has it been 2 weeks since he/she has eaten anything?
Has your vet done a fecal sample or said anything else to the diagnosis?
Why is your vet giving baytril? Runny nose?
So the shell is soft, but do you see anything unusual or visible on the shell other than feel? Can you post a pic?
What are your temps in your setup?
Does he have any natural light (sun) time? Sometimes a uvb will be on, but not giving the necessary artificial sunlight it needs.
Sorry for all the questions, but I think we can better help you with them answered.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello Jillie? Sorry to hear about what you are going through. I have a few questions for you to help me help you:
Has it been 2 weeks since he/she has eaten anything?
Has your vet done a fecal sample or said anything else to the diagnosis?
Why is your vet giving baytril? Runny nose?
So the shell is soft, but do you see anything unusual or visible on the shell other than feel? Can you post a pic?
What are your temps in your setup?
Does he have any natural light (sun) time? Sometimes a uvb will be on, but not giving the necessary artificial sunlight it needs.
Sorry for all the questions, but I think we can better help you with them answered.

+1 we need to know a bit more info to help you figure out what's going on..

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi MunchkinsMommah:

Welcome to the forum!!

May we know your name and where you are?

All the calcium in the world isn't going to help your baby unless he also gets vitamin d3 from either the sun or from an expensive UVB light.

Answer those questions posed in the previous posts for us and we'll be better able to help you.

 

[MunchkinsMommah]

Hey guys. Sorry , i just typed it quickly. heres the answers. im new to this, so sorry. Haha.
Where do you live? - Chicago Area, but we keep it nice and warm. We only take him outside if it's 80's - 90's. Which we've only did once.
Has it been 2 weeks since he/she has eaten anything? - Yes, about. We've got like, 2 little shots of apple sauce in him and he bit a iiittty biity peice of rose yesterday. But other then that, no.
Has your vet done a fecal sample or said anything else to the diagnosis? - She said it was an infection and so she gave him antibiotics. She never did a fecal test, well that she told us about. All she said was that Munchkin pooped on her...lol.
Why is your vet giving baytril? Runny nose?- No. No runny nose. She said it is because he has an infection.
So the shell is soft, but do you see anything unusual or visible on the shell other than feel? Can you post a pic? - I will try to get a pic, but on his top shell, it looks fine ! but on his bottom, it's really kinda soft and its like black stuff u can see. as if your seeing through it. Yeah its hard to explain so be expecting pics.
What are your temps in your setup? - Well, we went to get another thermometer but they didnt have one. but on his basking side its about 90. the other side i would say 80-70? it never goes under 70 .
Does he have any natural light (sun) time? Sometimes a uvb will be on, but not giving the necessary artificial sunlight it needs. - well, he is by the window? but we cant bring him outside alot because the temperatures are so low in Chicago. So we keep him as warm as possible.
Any more questions? Feel free to ask.
-Jillie
(btw. - we keep him in a 20 gallon wide tank with orchard grass in it. pet shop rec. bark but the stuff we got had ants ! (which we think why he may be sick..?) and we have a red heat bulb, 100 watt. and a uvb long bulb. also a heat pad.)

PRAY4MUNCH.♥

---

I would stop the Baytril. Try soaking him in warm baby food (carrots are probably the best choice). Where do you live? He needs sunlight, heat and humidity! If that's not an option then buy a Mercury Vapor Bulb. What substrate are you using? You might switch to coco coir...

Other than that read this...

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-To-Raise-Sulcata-Hatchlings-and-Babies#axzz1L88Txx8w

Well, since he's sick (or they say he is) What medicine does he need? do u have another antibiotic in mind?

 

[Laura]

What is his diet?
orchard grass isnt a baby diet... and you really should change it as a substrate too. Even dirt is better.
He NEEDS SUNSHINE!

 

[TortieLuver]

Is your vet a herp vet? I'm not sure what made your vet decide he had an infection and warranted baytril? Your vet should have done a fecal sample to check for parasites and rule more things out. That's not good that he hasn't eaten anything. What was he eating prior? He may need a vitamin B shot to help boost his metabolism, but something has to be causing the change and it's more important to get to the bottom of that.

I am assuming by your description that the black on the plastron (bottom shell) is from her and not dirt or anything that rubs off. It sounds like soft shell to me but hard to say without pics. What uvb bulb are you using? Perhaps there is a problem with the bulb. She really does need sunlight, even if it's just 15-20 minutes every couple days or so. Also, I wouldn't worry about using heat pads indoors and I wouldn't recommend it for one that young anyways. All of their organs are on the bottom. I would turn the light on in the am and see if you can boost that side to 100 and place her under there with food after a nice, warm soak. Does she seem lethargic? She really needs to start eating....what have you tried over the past couple weeks?

 

[MunchkinsMommah]

What is his diet?
orchard grass isnt a baby diet... and you really should change it as a substrate too. Even dirt is better.
He NEEDS SUNSHINE!

well our vet said it was fine and weve tried alot of different ones but he never likes them. Do you have any in mind ? It would help alot. And yes i know he needs sunshine but in this weather im not going to let him outside and freeze to death.

---

What is his diet?
orchard grass isnt a baby diet... and you really should change it as a substrate too. Even dirt is better.
He NEEDS SUNSHINE!

well our vet said it was fine and weve tried alot of different ones but he never likes them. Do you have any in mind ? It would help alot. And yes i know he needs sunshine but in this weather im not going to let him outside and freeze to death. And his diet used to be (until he stopped eating) we tried to feed him tortoise food but he didnt like it. But other then that he ate roses occasionaly a bite of hay ocassionaly. And the main diet was dark leafy green (which i heard is bad so were trying to switch up his diett.)

 

[Dizisdalife]

When my young tort was sick and not eating his regular diet I gave him Mazuri pellets. He never liked the Zoomed Grassland Tortoise food, although it may actually be better for him. He did eat the Mazuri pellets. I soaked the tortoise in a baby food (carrots and squash) and water solution for about 30 minutes each day and that seemed to spark his appetite. It took several weeks before the young tort would eat greens again, but I kept offering them each day. I gave him Spring Mix and Santa Barbara Mix that I found at the grocery store. He loved the endive and radicchio in the Santa Barbara Mix.

Raising the temps in his enclosure helped the healing process as well. I kept them at 80 to 85 degrees with a basking spot of 105 to 110.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Jillie:

Please listen to this...its VERY important!!!

The plastron on your baby is thin (that's why you're seeing the liquid through it). He needs calcium desperately! BUT calcium requires Vitamin d3 from either the sun or an expensive UVB light. Without Vit.d the calcium is just pee'd out and not utilized.

You need to go to the pet store and buy a UVB light. The one most of us use is made by Zoo Med and its called Powersun UV. This is a mercury vapor bulb (MVB) and provides heat plus the UV required for his calcium.

Because he can't go outside right now, I would be using the calcium that includes d3. But he still needs the light. Unless you get that shell firmed up he's going to die. Calcium-Vitamind3-firm shell-healthy tortoise that actually eats!!

(The window glass filters out the good UV rays. Its not doing him any good to get sun through the window, other than heat)

 

[DeanS]

I would stop the Baytril. Try soaking him in warm baby food (carrots are probably the best choice). Where do you live? He needs sunlight, heat and humidity! If that's not an option then buy a Mercury Vapor Bulb. What substrate are you using? You might switch to coco coir...

Other than that read this...

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-To-Raise-Sulcata-Hatchlings-and-Babies#axzz1L88Txx8w

Well, since he's sick (or they say he is) What medicine does he need? do u have another antibiotic in mind?

I would suggest you use no meds! He's a baby and if his system is compromised, just about any meds are going to do in his already delicate system. If he eats at all...I'm not kidding...grind up some cactus and see if he eats it...and when I say grind it up I mean run it through a food processor until it looks like green goo! This is how I brought back Jamie a year and a half ago...she had a URI...and when I added the MVB (bulb) and the cactus, she turned around FAST.

 

[MunchkinsMommah]

I want to thank everyone so much for this advice . He went to the vet today and we stopped the baytril for now. I got Munchkin a Zoo Med 10.0 Repti-Sun light. They didnt have the power sun. But it said the UVB and the d3 so i picked it up . We also got a new substrate. I couldn't find coco cior. (were to buy?) but we got him sphagnum moss, which is going back because on the link is said PEAT moss. we will probably get coco cior and son as we find it . And yeah , its a herp vet. She doesn't think he'll make it . She tihnks it may be a birth defect. But i think shes wrong. Does anyone else have suggestions? I would love to hear em. Like i said, THANK YOU ALL SOOO MUCH ! <3

 

[dmmj]

sorry to hear I hope he makes it through, coco fiber also goes by bed a beast in the pet stores, as to the window they block out like 99 percent of the beneficial UVB and combine that with the aquarium glass, and I don't think he is getting any benefit from the sun in the window. I am cutious as to why the vet thought he had an infection, does your baby have any wounds or anything? The baytrill (like most meds) usually suppresses the appetite. Now as for his soft shell, one thing to remember is did he have a soft shell always or was the bottom shell hard and recently went soft? Young tortoises can have soft or pliable shells for a long time but when the shell is hard and then goes soft is when it is bad. Here is hoping he pulls through remember just because a vet say sit is hopeless does not mean it is so.

 

[TortieLuver]

The sphagnum moss is fine to help with hiding areas and I put it in my humid hide box. I use both the Sphagnum premier peat moss as the substrate along with the sphagnum moss in certain areas of the setup.

Also, I would go back through and read past threads about the Zoo med 10.0 repti-Sun light. Research has shown to cause blindness with a specific bulb, so I would make sure that you don't have the same one, as that's all you need huh?

 

[DeanS]

The sphagnum moss is fine to help with hiding areas and I put it in my humid hide box. I use both the Sphagnum premier peat moss as the substrate along with the sphagnum moss in certain areas of the setup.

Also, I would go back through and read past threads about the Zoo med 10.0 repti-Sun light. Research has shown to cause blindness with a specific bulb, so I would make sure that you don't have the same one, as that's all you need huh?

By all means...lose the Repti-Sun. Replace it with a Zoo Med Powersun. It is a Mercury Vapor Bulb that provides full spectrum UV...as well as being an excellent heat source and aiding in prevent Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). It costs a lot more than other lights...but the benefits are worth it!

 

[MunchkinsMommah]

The sphagnum moss is fine to help with hiding areas and I put it in my humid hide box. I use both the Sphagnum premier peat moss as the substrate along with the sphagnum moss in certain areas of the setup.

Also, I would go back through and read past threads about the Zoo med 10.0 repti-Sun light. Research has shown to cause blindness with a specific bulb, so I would make sure that you don't have the same one, as that's all you need huh?

By all means...lose the Repti-Sun. Replace it with a Zoo Med Powersun. It is a Mercury Vapor Bulb that provides full spectrum UV...as well as being an excellent heat source and aiding in prevent Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). It costs a lot more than other lights...but the benefits are worth it!

I cannot find the powersun anywere. Were did u get yours?

 

[Yvonne G]

I buy mine online. Usually ships and received within a couple days. I put the info up on my GOOGLE's search box in the shopping section and when the answers come up I ask for them to be sorted in price order. You can usually find them for around $38 not including shipping.

 

[DeanS]

I get mine off ebay usually and one of our sponsors...Reptmart...runs a cool sale once-in-awhile!

 

[TortieLuver]

I agree DeanS and Yvonne. I find mine on-line, searching on google or ebay for around $40. One year I wanted it asap and settled for $70 plus tax at our local reptile store, but the way I saw it was it came with a warranty and it was a great self-ballasted bulb.