New Sulcatta

[bighog85]

Hey everyone,

I just today took in a sulcatta to my rescue. The gentleman that I got him from said that he had had him for ten years and that just this spring he has started acting weird. He is just very lethargic and not eating much. I see no signs of respiratory infections so my thought is that it may be some sort of intestinal parasite. That is something that I have had to deal with in my monitors that were acting the same way. He seems to have been cared for pretty well and the guy had two others that were all very healthy and active. What are your thoughts on this? I know a lady in my area that runs a tortoise rescue and will be speaking with her tomorrow but any other advice is always appreciated.

Thanks all!

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum

It quite well could be parasites, protozoans would be my guess. It though could also be a bladder stone. A trip to the vets to get an x-ray to rule out a bladder stone would be a good idea.

Danny

 

[Laura]

10 years.. how big is it? Do you think its care has been good?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Bighog85:

You have a rescue? Where are you located?

Welcome to the forum!!

 

[bighog85]

He probably weighs 50 pounds or so, fairly decent size. He has some pyramiding but other than that he seems to have been taken care of pretty well. The guy had another one about the same size that had one of the most perfect shells I have ever seen and was really active so he seemed to know what he was doing.

I am located in southern Idaho. There is a turtle and tortoise specific rescue in my area too but we take in anything and everything.

It was kind of strange yesterday. I had him outside most of the day since it was nice and I was working outside and during the entire day he maybe moved a total of five feet. Then at probably 7 pm I was just getting ready to bring him back inside and he just decided that he wanted to go for a walk. He just took off and we walked for probably an hour or so down the street. All of the tortoises I have ever seen were pretty active throughout the day, not just in the evening. Does this strike anyone as odd or is it just a good sign that he got up a moved a significant distance?

 

[Tom]

Mine are older than 10 and less than 50 lbs. Much smaller than normal, but not that far off.

It is not normal for an adult sulcata to sit around all day. What's the weather like (Temps and sunny or not)? Have you done some warm water soaks? How cold is he getting over night?

 

[bighog85]

Mine are older than 10 and less than 50 lbs. Much smaller than normal, but not that far off.

It is not normal for an adult sulcata to sit around all day. What's the weather like (Temps and sunny or not)? Have you done some warm water soaks? How cold is he getting over night?

The weather is all over the place here. We have had some days where it would be plenty warm and sunny for him to be outside, but I couldn't tell you if the previous owner had them out or not. He said that they were kept in a heated, insulated room at night and during the winter. I soaked him yesterday and as for night temps, he is in my garage in a heated pen so he is fine there. He may be doing better already because I put him outside again just a little while ago and he was moving all over the yard. I will keep you all posted on him. Thanks for the input and keep it coming if you can think of anything else.

 

[Laura]

So the guy who had him, only wanted to get rid of him cause he was starting to act a bit off? That means a Vet visit and he didnt want to bother or pay?
Why are people like that?! RESPONSIBILITY.. so lacking these days. Now this poor rescue has to foot the bill, and I would bet the owner didnt give a donation to help cover any care..
He is walking around now.. what about eating? Pooping?

 

[bighog85]

So the guy who had him, only wanted to get rid of him cause he was starting to act a bit off? That means a Vet visit and he didnt want to bother or pay?
Why are people like that?! RESPONSIBILITY.. so lacking these days. Now this poor rescue has to foot the bill, and I would bet the owner didnt give a donation to help cover any care..
He is walking around now.. what about eating? Pooping?

Well I need to defend him a little bit and say that he was getting rid of all three that he had. He had them posted on CL a couple months ago and I called him to ask about them. He had one sold already and was attempting to sell the other two. I told him that I was not interested in purchasing them, but if he were to have trouble selling them that I would take them. I did not hear from him for a couple months until Friday when he called me and said that he wanted to give me the "sick" one because he did not know what was wrong and wanted it to go to a good home. He only had this one left and was not going to sell him to someone knowing he was not acting right. I agree with what you say about responsibility because in most people it is certainly lacking, but I do feel that this particular person did the right thing. I did not ask for a donation because we have vets that help us out.

He is up walking a lot now. I have not seen him eat or poop but I can't keep an eye on him all the time and he roams my entire yard which would be difficult to find poop in. I have a question about something though. I read somewhere that pumpkin and its pureed form have something in them that act as a natural dewormer. Anyone ever heard of this?

 

[Tom]

It has been mentioned and discussed many times here on the forum. I still have no idea if its true.

 

[Yvonne G]

Its the seeds, ground up and sprinkled on the food, that act as a de-wormer.

Scroll down to post #7 and read the links:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-15721.html?highlight=pumpkin

 

[Maggie Cummings]

It is believed that it's pumpkin seeds that are the dewormer. The seeds need to be chopped up then fed.
I have an 11 yr old Sulcata and every evening around 6 or 6:30 he takes himself off to bed. He goes into his shed then into his sleeping box and sleeps on a pig blanket. I am in Oregon with weather that is just slightly warmer than yours with more rain.
I think your guy last night was looking for the place where he normally sleeps. He was ready to go to bed. I would suggest that he knew he was in someplace different and it scared and worried him. As he gets used to you and you are keeping his temperature up he will relax. Do you have graze for him? What are you planning to feed him? Normally speaking their inner temperatures need to be 85 or hotter in order to metabolize their food. If he's not hot enough he won't eat. And I do mean hot, not simply warm.
I didn't read where his previous keeper thought he might be sick. But I still think temp and a strange house might have him off his feed so to speak.
It shouldn't be difficult to find normal Sulcata poop unless your yard is overgrown. An adult Sulcata who is well fed and normal will string out a line of poop that takes several hours to create, the smell is wild like the zoo. You probably wouldn't miss it...

 

[bighog85]

It is believed that it's pumpkin seeds that are the dewormer. The seeds need to be chopped up then fed.
I have an 11 yr old Sulcata and every evening around 6 or 6:30 he takes himself off to bed. He goes into his shed then into his sleeping box and sleeps on a pig blanket. I am in Oregon with weather that is just slightly warmer than yours with more rain.
I think your guy last night was looking for the place where he normally sleeps. He was ready to go to bed. I would suggest that he knew he was in someplace different and it scared and worried him. As he gets used to you and you are keeping his temperature up he will relax. Do you have graze for him? What are you planning to feed him? Normally speaking their inner temperatures need to be 85 or hotter in order to metabolize their food. If he's not hot enough he won't eat. And I do mean hot, not simply warm.
I didn't read where his previous keeper thought he might be sick. But I still think temp and a strange house might have him off his feed so to speak.
It shouldn't be difficult to find normal Sulcata poop unless your yard is overgrown. An adult Sulcata who is well fed and normal will string out a line of poop that takes several hours to create, the smell is wild like the zoo. You probably wouldn't miss it...

He will spend much of his time in the back yard as long as it is warm enough. It is completely planted with grass and has some random weeds that grow in it. He will also get grass hay. The reason I have not seen his poop is because I also have three dogs and I haven't taken the time to look for the difference between tortoise and dog. And no, I do not have the dogs together with the tortoise. I have only had him for two days so it might be a bit preemptive to say that he is off his feed because of the new environment considering he was off of it before I got him. According to the previous owner, he barely ever moved or ate since this last winter which is why he gave him up. For him to take a long stroll last night was encouraging for me at least.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I apologize for misunderstanding you. I thought that you were looking for reasons he wasn't eating. You made it sound like you were not experienced with tortoises so I was merely making suggestions.