poorly tortoise...

[bubbles01]

Hi all

As we dont have a tortoise vet here on the island, I wanted to ask if anyone could offer some advice before I bundle up my little one and take a trip to the mainland.....

She seems to have a problem with her skin, it is cracking. It's happening on 2 areas on her front legs, she's not dry, if anything her skin is a little too damp, and also one of her claws fell off this morning..

I cant find my camera to take a picture (hence the reason my pics not been updated for Danny to gender them properly on the pics and videos area yet - sorry!!) she's her usual self, moving well, eating properly and sleeping normally.

Any ideas anyone? Any help much appreciated.

Thanks

Helen x

 

[coreyc]

What kind of tort is it?

 

[bubbles01]

Hi

Testudo hermanni boettgeri.

H x

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Helen:

Did the tortoise recently receive an injection of vitamins? Too much vitamin A causes the skin to slough off.

What kind of light are you using and how far away from the tortoise's back is it?

 

[bubbles01]

Hi Yvonne

No change in diet and nothing too high in vitamin A as far as I'm aware...

As for light, they live in a completely natural environment, living in Greece we have a warm climate and they have freedom to roam the house and garden. Current daylight is from 7am till about 5pm.. Average temps at moment around 19 degrees during the day, dropping to 10/11 when we put them to bed at night.

She does seem fine in herself, is plodding around OK, still getting herself into the unlikeliest places and doesnt seem unhappy or disturbed with losing a claw.!

H x

 

[Marty333]

Celsius?

 

[bubbles01]

Yes Celsius. Bearing in mind that they spend most of their time indoors where it is obviously warmer!

H x

 

[tortoisenerd]

What kind of temps indoor? Those outdoor temps converted are 19 C = 66 F (too cold--I would keep my tort in 70 to 95 F gradient, 21 to 35 C). I wouldn't go below 60 F at night, 16 C....10-11 C is 50-52 F...so hopefully your tort isn't out in that. Do you have heating for her, or does she just go between house temperature and outdoor temperatures? Not sure if this potential pack of heat is related to the skin & nail though...

As for the skin issue, we really need a photo to see if this is normal shedding (yes torts shed, especially when growing) or a potential health issue. The nail falling off doesn't sound good. Can you tell if it snapped off, or the whole thing (under the skin) came off? They can snap when a tort is climbing, so it could have been a natural thing and it will grow back, or a sign of something bad. Because of that, an enclosure photo (and tort & arm photos) could help so we can see if there is something obvious the tort may have been climbing to snap off the nail.

---

How far is the vet? Do they know torts?

 

[bubbles01]

Hi

Thanks for your replies.

To address the temp issues, my tortoises are wild, not captive bred ones. We have rescued them from various unfortunate circumstances and reared them back to health! They are native to the island here and live outside in the natural temps, so where they are inside at my house they are considerably warmer than they would be if they were roaming the forests around here! Internal temps at my house are around 24-25 degreees and they do tend to sleep in front of fire!!!

As far as the nail goes - it literally just came off in my hand, leaving the internal quick behind. She does not seem to be in pain, I've touched and cleaned the quick and it has absolutely no effect on her at all..... The skin area I've checked again this morning, and it's a small crack,about a centimetre long - and my hubby has just pointed out that it is on an area where she previously had some terrible burns when we rescued her - could it just be part of the healing process??

To get to the vet it's an overnight ferry to the greek mainland then a 5 hour drive to Athens! Doesn't matter, If it has to be done them so be it, we have no tort vet here on Corfu and I'm not letting the local farm vets at my chels....

Thanks agin for any suggestions.

Helen x

 

[Whinhill]

I'd think about mites, do you have access to a microscope or hand lens?

 

[egyptiandan]

It sounds like a bacterial skin infection to me. A course of antibiotics is in order as well as a topical antibiotic. Have you been to the vets yet?

Danny

 

[bubbles01]

Hi all,

Firstly thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Thought I'd post a quick update.

A four day round trip to the mainland vet resulted in Cutie being diagnosed as shedding dead skin!!!!! I think I mentioned in an earlier post, when we rescued her she had some terrible burns on her legs, and the cracking is on these areas. He's basically said that the flesh under the skin has healed nicely, but has to be shedded to allow the new skin to grow on the previously affected areas.

He was great, didnt laugh at me for being overly neurotic (!) and said that otherwise she's in great health so we've another successful rescue story to add to the 3 previous ones.

Now the water turtle is off his food - life's never simple is it!!!

Thanks again to everyone who replied, this forum is great

Helen