New desert tortoise, eyes, nose, shell advice sought

[Yvonne G]

Sheldon is my first tortoise so I don’t have much experience. But over the last few months I have read hundreds of accounts and watched scores of videos documenting the experiences of others with their tortoises. There does seem to be a percentage of tortoises that like being touched and a percentage that enjoy interacting with humans. And a probably even smaller percentage that, like yours and mine, like both activities.

Someone posted a link to a study about tortoise personality on this forum. The researchers were documenting consistent behaviors of the individual tortoises, risk-taking, exploration, reactions to stress, new objects and environments and social behaviors with other torts like sniffing, walking to, head bobbing and ramming. They put the torts in a new, bare enclosure and touched their noses to get them to tuck and measured the time the torts took to untuck, then measured the time until they began to explore the new area, and the time to explore a new object. The researchers recorded the times or the failure to respond. The social tests were with other torts, introducing an unknown tort, a familiar male and a familiar female. They ranked the torts on a gradient. They defined personality or temperament as boldness, reactivity, exploratory behavior, curiosity and aggressiveness/sociability.

I already thought Sheldon was bursting with charisma before I read the study. And it really got me thinking about the behaviors he displays and why they are so engaging and appealing. I can understand why his traits would be good to have in the gene pool from an evolutionary standpoint (the aforementioned study was about suitability for relocating threatened species but there could be any number of situations or changes where one or more of his traits would prove valuable). But a fearless, curious, active and friendly tortoise might get himself into trouble pretty quickly in the wild. For tortoises to exist at all is due to the majority behaving in a much more prudent manner.

We are very lucky to have these uncommon guys. Again, Sheldon is my first, but I’ve provided temporary care to a few different torts belonging to friends over the years. None of them acted as he does. I’m fairly well acquainted with Sheldon’s mother and she is totally indifferent to people, although she does react to the food they bring. I’ve wondered about maintaining such a close connection with Sheldon when he outgrows my hand. Reading about your wonderful experiences with your good boy is very heartening. Thank you very much for sharing that story.

I took another photo of Sheldon this morning, just after his first stretch and yawn of the day. I think I see improvement from even just yesterday.
View attachment 372081

I've seen that same nose problem many times on young tortoises with runny noses. It's almost like the mucous is astringent or burning. You said he was newly acquired, so maybe he had a runny nose (respiratory infection) before you got him. That would account for the eyes too. So glad he's getting better!

If the mother's respiratory infection is caused by mycoplasma then Sheldon has it too. The symptoms go away but it's never cured. But he can go on to live a normal, healthy life, it's not a death sentence. Just always remember a stressful situation may cause a recurrence of the syptoms.

 

[YoungSheldon]

It’s been about two and a half weeks since I removed the harsh light from Sheldons enclosure. His eyes and nose continue to improve.

AND, I am finally feeling more firmness of his plastron. His shell condition was one of my original questions, but not addressed with the more acute eye and nose problem.

I know the plastron is not hard in a young DT, but it was scarily soft when I got him. I don’t have anything to reference, but it now seems pretty close to what I think “normal” would be. His supracaudal scute and the adjacent marginal scutes still flex too easily but the marginals just beyond those are definitely firmer.

I wanted to pass on the shell info because I see how many questions come to the forum about hatchlings with less than ideal starts. Sheldon was well hydrated from the beginning, good humidity in his enclosure and very frequent self soaking in his water dish. But his previous owners feed him only iceberg and he was indoors without uvb. And I think his mother is probably calcium deficient.

Even with a good diet, calcium supplement, sunshine and exercise, I didn’t see any shell improvement for six to eight weeks. After that amount of time, the improvements have been pretty rapid.

As always, Sheldon doesn’t seem to even know he has had any issues. He spent the morning removing the substrate from each of the four corners of his enclosure, he likes having holes there and occasionally sleeps in them. My dining table has been covered with small items from some sorting projects I am doing for the past few days, and he has been having a great time climbing over and under them and examining everything. I know tortoises aren’t supposed to like change, but I swear, he gets bored and seems down and detached when he doesn’t have something new and fun for a bit each day.

Attached is a photo of him after his digging adventures, relaxing in his favorite spot and looking out the window. Eyes and nose looking better and if you look closely at his shell you can see he is having another growth spurt.

 

[Tom]

It’s been about two and a half weeks since I removed the harsh light from Sheldons enclosure. His eyes and nose continue to improve.

AND, I am finally feeling more firmness of his plastron. His shell condition was one of my original questions, but not addressed with the more acute eye and nose problem.

I know the plastron is not hard in a young DT, but it was scarily soft when I got him. I don’t have anything to reference, but it now seems pretty close to what I think “normal” would be. His supracaudal scute and the adjacent marginal scutes still flex too easily but the marginals just beyond those are definitely firmer.

I wanted to pass on the shell info because I see how many questions come to the forum about hatchlings with less than ideal starts. Sheldon was well hydrated from the beginning, good humidity in his enclosure and very frequent self soaking in his water dish. But his previous owners feed him only iceberg and he was indoors without uvb. And I think his mother is probably calcium deficient.

Even with a good diet, calcium supplement, sunshine and exercise, I didn’t see any shell improvement for six to eight weeks. After that amount of time, the improvements have been pretty rapid.

As always, Sheldon doesn’t seem to even know he has had any issues. He spent the morning removing the substrate from each of the four corners of his enclosure, he likes having holes there and occasionally sleeps in them. My dining table has been covered with small items from some sorting projects I am doing for the past few days, and he has been having a great time climbing over and under them and examining everything. I know tortoises aren’t supposed to like change, but I swear, he gets bored and seems down and detached when he doesn’t have something new and fun for a bit each day.

Attached is a photo of him after his digging adventures, relaxing in his favorite spot and looking out the window. Eyes and nose looking better and if you look closely at his shell you can see he is having another growth spurt.
View attachment 372608

Thank you for this update. Its always nice to hear that things are improving!

Does Sheldon get any outside time in a safe enclosure outdoors? Real sunshine is very beneficial as long as its not 110 degrees out there.

 

[YoungSheldon]

Thank you for this update. Its always nice to hear that things are improving!

Does Sheldon get any outside time in a safe enclosure outdoors? Real sunshine is very beneficial as long as its not 110 degrees out there.

Sheldon has an outdoor enclosure that he hasn’t been using because we have been in the 105-115 and above range for a while now. His regular enclosure is on casters and can be moved outside, too. Both have heavy stainless mesh screens that are placed on top when outside. I haven’t seen ravens here but we have lots of hawks and owls. Our lows are currently around 80 degrees and that is a short window in the early morning, so he hasn’t been using either of these lately.

But even in this weather, I have him out a minimum of 5 hours a week, split into several outings. There is a mulberry tree in my front lawn that creates beautiful dappled light that extends over the corner of the front patio. I flood my lawn twice a day and the damp ground keeps the area considerably cooler. I also turn on an oscillating sprinkler that wets the patio. Sheldon can choose to be away from the spray but usually stays in the path and seems to enjoy the “rain”, which is three or four drops hitting him each time it passes. This is fine for mornings.

In the afternoon I do the above plus hold the sunshade from my vehicle side window over him if he goes into a spot of direct sun. It is like those shades for the plants in a nursery, restricting the amount of sunlight. I don’t let him spend more than a minute in any direct afternoon sun. And he’s always in arms reach.

I’m lucky to be retired and able to spend many hours a day directly engaged with him. I asked him just today how it was that his ancestors managed to survive for 20 million years without my care when he takes up most my day. His only response was to try and eat my shirtsleeve.

 

[YoungSheldon]

It’s been a month since the offending light was removed from Sheldons enclosure. The swelling is completely gone but that didn’t happen until this past week. I see improvements in his skin/scales, also, but that may be a long process. Thanks to everyone who helped pinpoint the root cause of his eye and nose issues.

Other than the scale regrowth taking time, he is happy, healthy, eating and pooping like a horse and growing like a weed. His shell is improving so rapidly that I think it is now normal for his age, definitely much more robust and solid than it was last month. The shape seems better, too.

IMHO, he is the handsomest ever DT.

 

[Yvonne G]

Really nice pictures! Yes, I agree. . . the handsomest tortoise ever!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

It is great to see Sheldons progress! You did the right think by getting to the root of his problems, doing your research and improving his care. This really is an reminder what proper equipment and care can do when corrected early!

 

[_The_Beast_]

I've really loved catching up on Sheldon's recovery journey over this thread. The care and quick changes you were willing to implement is really wonderful to see. Sheldon is exceptionally cute and I look forward to future updates 🥰

 

[EppsDynasty]

Being new to this thread I just read it all the way through. So Damn cute! We have our first baby DT ever and absolutely love it and him/her. It was a really cool read to see the problem, help and then improvement. This place is truly special and I hope ya hang around. About the Vet issue.... Even people that live in bigger populated areas have issues with finding a "Tortoise" vet so your not alone.