Possibly Sick Sulcata, Please Help!

[snowblind12]

I am new to this forum, and I am searching for a little help. I have been a sulcata owner for about 4 years. My sulcatas name is Nova, and she is anywhere from 7-10 years old. She is in a tortoise table in the house, where she has been since I got her. I keep her temperatures steady, good substrate, and feed properly as all the websites recommend.

Recently, it has gotten much colder (i live in the central US), and while she always has a heat lamp available, i think she may have gotten a bit chilled. in the last few days she has not been eating much, and has seemed to be a bit lethargic. i noticed immediately, and i started getting on websites and forums looking for any help.

the first thing i thought was that she may be getting dehydrated. I hadnt been soaking her too often because she seems to really dislike it. I have started soaking at least once a day, and it hasnt seemed to have much of an impact.

when she goes to eat, she opens her mouth, and then rubs it against her front legs like it bothers her to open it. i have seen her eat very little, which is quite uncommon for her. she has taken a few bites out of leaves here and there, but nothing substantial. its been at least 4 days since shes eaten a full meal like she normally does.

if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

thanks,
justin

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Justin:

Welcome to the forum!!

This is a good time for you to be thinking about making an outdoor habitat for Nova. She will do much better outside, and you have all winter to be planning and engineering it.

Sometimes the symptoms you've described can be attributed to mouth rot, however, without being able to see the tortoise, we won't be able to give you much help.

Just be sure that she's warm enough, has clean water, a hiding place and you are offering her healthy (to tortoise) food.

I take it a vet visit isn't an option?

 

[snowblind12]

thanks for the quick response. i put her outside as often as possible during spring and summer months. she gets a few hours here and there, and i mostly feed her from grasses and bushes outside when available. naturally, now all the leaves have since died off so that isnt an option.

i have looked into the mouth rot issue, and have seen that hydrogen peroxide is an option. what is the best way to administer this, and is it the best choice? will it go away on its own if i continue with soaks and warm temperatures?

her table/habitat is in our laundry room, which has a door. i have had a small space heater going in there to keep the room significantly warmer than the rest of the house. i have still been giving her fresh food and water daily, and she has been getting soaked once or twice a day for at least 10 minutes. like i said, she really doesnt seem to like being in water, and never really has. she thrashes around alot and just seems irritated by the whole thing, but ive still been doing it.

i dont have a reptile vet in the area that i am aware of. my aunt is a vet, but she deals mostly in mammals. but if there is any kind of medication that i would need, my aunt would be able to provide it for me most likely.

 

[Yvonne G]

Do a GOOGLE image search for "tortoise stomatitis" and see if the pictures that come up look in any way like your tortoise's mouth. If you truly think it has mouth rot, then some folks use Betadyne or Chlorhexidine (not the scrub). I think I've heard of using peroxide too. I've never had to deal with mouth rot, but I think you could dab on the meds with a Q-tip.

But look at the pictures first to see if that's happening in your tortoise's mouth. And make sure its warm enough.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Where do you live? We have a list of Vets that maybe could help you...you can look it up yourself, go to the home page and look for vet list...

 

[kimber_lee_314]

What are your current temps now?

 

[Laura]

something could be stuck in her mouth..
what are you feeding her?
How big is she?

 

[Tom]

A critical point that I did not see above is to warm her up immediately. Get the whole enclosure up to 80-85 round the clock with a basking spot under an MVB that gets around 110. She cannot make herself well with out heat and lots of it. The warm soaks will help too.

Get a digital thermometer with a remote probe AND an infrared temp gun and check those temps. Do whatever you have to, but get her warm right away.