Parasites?

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gieseygirly

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My Russian, Tucker, over the past 5 days has lost his appetite and wants to sleep nearly all the time. I know his temps are right; I suspect he may have parasites that are becoming worse, as I did purchase him from PetSmart 3 months ago. However, PetSmart swears they deworm and do a vet-check on all their tortoises.

Anyhow, question is, where can I buy a dewormer for him?
 

Lancecham

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Sleeping all the time could mean a lot of things. Rather than take a guess that he has parasites, it would be best to review your husbandry and take him to the vet. A qualified vet could determine the cause of his sleeping.
 

gieseygirly

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Lancecham said:
Sleeping all the time could mean a lot of things. Rather than take a guess that he has parasites, it would be best to review your husbandry and take him to the vet. A qualified vet could determine the cause of his sleeping.

I understand what you're saying, however the nearest vet is 2 hours away. Also, I must say that I don't understand those that "run to the vet" at the first little sign of illness, or alot of the time what I like to call "pet owner stress". I personally have wasted hundreds of dollars on vet visits only for the vet to tell me what I already know. This is simply an opinion - I'm not asking to get bashed around for it. Anyhow, he ate well from my hand tonite. Perhaps I will re-take his temps. I'm really wondering if he's not just spoiled rotten - he eats perfectly fine from my hand, but won't eat if I set the greens down and walk away.
 

Yvonne G

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Unless you have de-wormed tortoises in the past, and are familiar with the strength of your de-wormer and the dosage for same, you should not try this on your own without first having a vet tell you and show you. De-worming medication is poison. If you use too much you could kill your tortoise.
 

Spn785

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Before we assume it is parasites, or assume that a Vet visit is neded why don't we go over everything to make sure it is good, Double checking never hurt anyone. So what are your temps, humidity, substrate, diet, enclosuure size, amount of time lights are on, type of bulbs being used, etc.?
 

biochemnerd808

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There could be multiple causes for lethargy. First, this is still the time of year that RTs brumate (hibernate) in the wild, and his internal clock may still be telling him that it is time, since he was most likely wild-caught. You can help wake him up by placing him under the lamp every day, giving him daily warm soaks, and pulling him back out of hiding throughout the day. Having your UV on 12-14 hours helps, and if the enclosure is very large, maybe providing secondary light (e.g. from a household lamp, low wattage but not the coil-kind) might help.

You probably don't need a vet visit at this point, but I wouldn't take everything the petstore says at face value. Is there a regular dog/cat vet anywhere near you? Call around - many are willing to run a fecal test for worms without requiring an office visit. I found one here in town that did that for just $26. If your tortoise tests all-clear, then no further action is required. If he tests positive for parasites, you can always bring the results to your experienced reptile vet and get the necessary medication.
I agree that self-treating your tortoise without a diagnosis would be unwise. Proper dosage is important for the health of your tortoise.

Good luck, and i hope you find some answers soon!
 

gieseygirly

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biochemnerd808 said:
There could be multiple causes for lethargy. First, this is still the time of year that RTs brumate (hibernate) in the wild, and his internal clock may still be telling him that it is time, since he was most likely wild-caught. You can help wake him up by placing him under the lamp every day, giving him daily warm soaks, and pulling him back out of hiding throughout the day. Having your UV on 12-14 hours helps, and if the enclosure is very large, maybe providing secondary light (e.g. from a household lamp, low wattage but not the coil-kind) might help.

You probably don't need a vet visit at this point, but I wouldn't take everything the petstore says at face value. Is there a regular dog/cat vet anywhere near you? Call around - many are willing to run a fecal test for worms without requiring an office visit. I found one here in town that did that for just $26. If your tortoise tests all-clear, then no further action is required. If he tests positive for parasites, you can always bring the results to your experienced reptile vet and get the necessary medication.
I agree that self-treating your tortoise without a diagnosis would be unwise. Proper dosage is important for the health of your tortoise.

Good luck, and i hope you find some answers soon!

I definitely wouldn't be able to live with myself if I tried to self-diagnose and hurt him. So I understand where everyone's coming from with not acquiring dewormer without a vet consultation. I think you're hit the nail on the head when talking about brumating. I think that's exactly what's happening with him. He'll stay up for a little while to bask. Today he ate a huge pile of collard and mustard greens (not by hand either!), as well as a couple strips of cactus pad. I make sure he's out before I leave for work every day. He's always hiding when I get home, so I pull him out and wake him up. I've been soaking him every other day to make sure his bowels are good. And the soaking sure isn't hurting his shell any - lookin gorgeous :) I was worried about waking him, at one point last week I left him go and he slept for 26 hours straight! But the following morning he was awake and ready as soon as the light clicked on. So weird.

Thank being said, I'm not too worried anymore. Just anxious for spring/summer weather to get here so I can take him out to roam the yard.
 

Kerryann

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My Russian goes through phases where she mainly wants to be hand fed too. I actually reduced the amount I hand feed her because she was becoming overly spoiled.
 

gieseygirly

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Kerryann said:
My Russian goes through phases where she mainly wants to be hand fed too. I actually reduced the amount I hand feed her because she was becoming overly spoiled.

So glad to hear I'm not the only one! I really think that's part of what's going on with mine, besides the brumating instinct. I'm backing off the hand feeding too. I'll still hand feed him; just not as much.
 
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