new tortoise with health problems

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merryblissmas

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Hi everyone! Yep, I'm another noob with tons of questions. I have been doing some research but hoping for a few pointers.

I was just given a golden greek tortoise. Unfortunately, from everything I have been reading on here and on the Tortoise Trust website, the setup they gave me for him is dreadfully inadequate.

These are the things I know I need to fix:
*Add calcium and vitamin D3 powder to his diet
*Give him more "wild" greens (not the romaine he has been living on)
*Ideally, I would like to get some plants growing in his enclosure
*Add light with UVA and UVB wave lengths
*Add a more adequate heating source in the enclosure and a thermostat control
*change enclosure from a vivarium to something more appropriate (this one might be a little bit until my husband can make me something)
*change the substrate from wood chippy things to soil mixture
*get the water dragon roommate a suitable new home (he came with him)
*in the summer we will definitely have some outdoor time. Unfortunately, it is winter in Northern Michigan and I'm quite certain he doesn't like below freezing temperatures or snow :p

Now with the questions
*What am I to do about the snot bubbles?
*Am I supposed to be able to hear him breath?
*What else, if anything, can I do about his undershell issue? It sure doesn't look right.
*Are you supposed to trim their nails?
*Is there any way to tell how old he is?
*Does it hurt more to stress him by changing everything at once or should I change things out a little bit slowly? (like say over a couple weeks)
*Any major things I have forgotten to mention above that need some serious attention?

Sorry for this being so lengthy. Thank you everyone in advance for your help.
 

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ascott

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Welcome to the Forum :D The you have a cutie :p

My concern is that he is showing some signs of MBD metabolic bone disease...likely to lack of calcium intake and lack of uva/uvb and he also needs to be warm...heat lamp for day as well as a night heat bulb or CHE ceramic heat element...if you are hearing him breath do you mean gurgle wet breathing or dry whistle like breathing? Nose snot..do you mean clear bubbles or gross sick kid goo? And yes you are correct in changing up the diet..there is nothing wrong with romaine..as long as it is part of a varied diet....is his shell at all soft..pliable at all? Ok I will Stop asking questions till you reply some :D
 

Jacqui

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The thing that worries me the most, is the "snot bubbles" and apparently you can hear him breathing. Those could be signs of something as serious as an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) or even just low humidity or issues from the choice of substrate. Because of prior poor sounding care and his "roommate", I think I would suggest to take him to a Vet rather then waiting to see if it improves on it's own. That way the Vet can also check the animal for parasites ( a stool sample) and an over all evaluation.

From the views of the pictures, he really does not look to be seriously sick. I am assuming he is eating just fine? So perhaps first you could change his substrate and see if anything improves. Sorta a 50/50 thing. The bottom of the shell looks like it could have old shell rot, but pictures can be deceiving unfortunately still I don't see anything that worries me so much on that. Nothing is soft or smells, correct? Of course, I am also not sure it's a male. :D

I almost forgot, welcome!
 

Sammy

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Last picture is cute. The nose bubbles are scary. My tortoise has That (respiratory infection), painful watching her.... Best see a reptile vet.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi merryblissmas:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

May we know your name and where you are?
 

lynnedit

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Great place to get info here! Tell us where you are and clue us in on the initial questions above, and the experts can go from there.
Welcome!
 

merryblissmas

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Thank you so much for the quick response.

The snot is clear. The breathing is more like a whistle than a gurgle. The shell seems pretty hard, no soft spots at all.

I am placing an order with Amazon tonight for the calcium powder, a CHE and a UVA/UVB bulb. My dear sweet husband has found a new home for his lizard roommate. So things are looking up for the little tortie.

ascott said:
Welcome to the Forum :D The you have a cutie :p

My concern is that he is showing some signs of MBD metabolic bone disease...likely to lack of calcium intake and lack of uva/uvb and he also needs to be warm...heat lamp for day as well as a night heat bulb or CHE ceramic heat element...if you are hearing him breath do you mean gurgle wet breathing or dry whistle like breathing? Nose snot..do you mean clear bubbles or gross sick kid goo? And yes you are correct in changing up the diet..there is nothing wrong with romaine..as long as it is part of a varied diet....is his shell at all soft..pliable at all? Ok I will Stop asking questions till you reply some :D
 

merryblissmas

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Thank you for such a quick response. You folks are awesome!

He does seem to be doing okay even with all his little "issues". He eats just fine. We are going on a dandelion green hunt at the stores tomorrow to see if anyone carries them this time of year.

The shell seems pretty hard. No softness or pliability at all. He doesn't seem to smell either.

I'm not sure if he's a male either but I don't really know how to tell either. I figured that was one of my least worries :p And he doesn't really seem to care that I changed his name to Darwin

I will try to find a local vet that has experience with tortoises. Unfortunately, I live in a rural area and I'm not sure there are many here with that much experience.

Thanks to everyone for decreasing my anxiety a bit about my new little friend.

Jacqui said:
The thing that worries me the most, is the "snot bubbles" and apparently you can hear him breathing. Those could be signs of something as serious as an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) or even just low humidity or issues from the choice of substrate. Because of prior poor sounding care and his "roommate", I think I would suggest to take him to a Vet rather then waiting to see if it improves on it's own. That way the Vet can also check the animal for parasites ( a stool sample) and an over all evaluation.

From the views of the pictures, he really does not look to be seriously sick. I am assuming he is eating just fine? So perhaps first you could change his substrate and see if anything improves. Sorta a 50/50 thing. The bottom of the shell looks like it could have old shell rot, but pictures can be deceiving unfortunately still I don't see anything that worries me so much on that. Nothing is soft or smells, correct? Of course, I am also not sure it's a male. :D

I almost forgot, welcome!
 

merryblissmas

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Hi again everyone!

So I got great news from the vet today. Darwin does not have a respiratory infection. I am very happy about that. He thinks it's possibly an irritation. We both think that the chip substrate is likely the cause. I have the soil already I'm just waiting for it to come up to house temperature since it's been in my car. Doc also checked him for parasites and other ickies and found nothing. I am glad everything turned out well with the vet, just wished my "tortie mommy worries" didn't just cost me $90. I guess it's $90 of peace of mind though, so I am glad for that.

Here is what I have done for the little guy:
he's on the calcium with D3. He doesn't seem to care that the white stuff is on his food.
the temps nearly regulated, I just have to get that set on a timer/thermometer system.
Dandelion greens have been added to his diet and he loves them. Seeds for multiple greens are on their way I just have to make sure that my not-so-green-thumb doesn't kill them all.
Still no home for the water dragon - still working on that
 

bubbles01

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Welcome! Glad you are finding things out from the great experts on here and things are going well!

Helen x
 

Tortoise

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Welcome and congrats on your new addition.
Sounds like Darwin has found a really good new home!
Enjoy your new friend
 

doubletorts

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I'm not sure if this is accepted by most, but when I got my sully when he was 2 months old he had RI and a breeder I had been talking to for a while told me to soak him in non-flavored pedialite. To my surprise it actually worked. Maybe try that? ..good luck.
 

Floof

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Welcome to the forum! Glad he doesn't have an RI--those are no fun... To say the least!

That water dragon is awfully cute, too. If it were me, I'd probably have to keep them both... Lol! I really don't know where in the world people get the idea for random match-ups like that... Strange! I remember walking into a pet store in Idaho once, that keeps box turtles, Russian tortoises, and iguanas all in one enclosure!!! I mean, really, what the heck gave them that idea? Sigh.... Good luck finding the CWD a good home!

Anyway, his nails look fine to me, and, IMO, it's better to change everything at once than to do it bit-by-bit. Do it all and get all the associated stress out of the way in one go, rather than stretching it out so he has to constantly worry about it until you're done. :)
 

merryblissmas

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Thanks Floof for the feedback. I appreciate it.

I have finally found a home for the water dragon - the local pet store is willing to take him off my hands. I really hate to have to give him away but there is no way that I can care for both of the reptiles in addition to the Boston Terrier, Black Labrador, two cats and a corey catfish.

This little tortie has definitely become the love of my life (besides my husband and son of course). Such personality from something that looks like a rock :p

The substrate change is in progress, just trying to figure out where to put some more rocks and slabs to give him a bit of variety. Hopefully soon I will have some lush plants for him to nibble on.

Floof said:
Welcome to the forum! Glad he doesn't have an RI--those are no fun... To say the least!

That water dragon is awfully cute, too. If it were me, I'd probably have to keep them both... Lol! I really don't know where in the world people get the idea for random match-ups like that... Strange! I remember walking into a pet store in Idaho once, that keeps box turtles, Russian tortoises, and iguanas all in one enclosure!!! I mean, really, what the heck gave them that idea? Sigh.... Good luck finding the CWD a good home!

Anyway, his nails look fine to me, and, IMO, it's better to change everything at once than to do it bit-by-bit. Do it all and get all the associated stress out of the way in one go, rather than stretching it out so he has to constantly worry about it until you're done. :)
 

Terry Allan Hall

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merryblissmas said:
Thank you for such a quick response. You folks are awesome!

He does seem to be doing okay even with all his little "issues". He eats just fine. We are going on a dandelion green hunt at the stores tomorrow to see if anyone carries them this time of year.

The shell seems pretty hard. No softness or pliability at all. He doesn't seem to smell either.

I'm not sure if he's a male either but I don't really know how to tell either. I figured that was one of my least worries :p And he doesn't really seem to care that I changed his name to Darwin

I will try to find a local vet that has experience with tortoises. Unfortunately, I live in a rural area and I'm not sure there are many here with that much experience.

Thanks to everyone for decreasing my anxiety a bit about my new little friend.

Jacqui said:
The thing that worries me the most, is the "snot bubbles" and apparently you can hear him breathing. Those could be signs of something as serious as an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) or even just low humidity or issues from the choice of substrate. Because of prior poor sounding care and his "roommate", I think I would suggest to take him to a Vet rather then waiting to see if it improves on it's own. That way the Vet can also check the animal for parasites ( a stool sample) and an over all evaluation.

From the views of the pictures, he really does not look to be seriously sick. I am assuming he is eating just fine? So perhaps first you could change his substrate and see if anything improves. Sorta a 50/50 thing. The bottom of the shell looks like it could have old shell rot, but pictures can be deceiving unfortunately still I don't see anything that worries me so much on that. Nothing is soft or smells, correct? Of course, I am also not sure it's a male. :D

I almost forgot, welcome!

Darwin is, indeed, a dude...a female's tail would be more demure/daiinty.

Someday, when you giving him a soak-bath, he'll likely confirm this, himself... :p
 
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