Serious problems with my russian tortoise

[Guzelalex99]

2 month ago, we adopted russian tortoise. His name is Alex. Previous owner didnt look after him well. During first week we saw that his cloaca left outside. Immediately took to vet. We dont have tortoise vets here, he was general vet in Zoo. So helped with inserting it back. Then after couple of days he was feeling very good, very active, eating with appetiate. We made special zone for him in our balcony. It is very sunny here during summer.
Suddenly we noticed that he stopped eating, refusing everything. We went to the vet, he said probably he was infected, gave him antibiotics and vitamin. It didnt help. We found another vet outside Baku, talked over the phone, he immediately sad it is poison and we need to give him smoosie. We started to give him smoosie and soak him every day. After 1 week we noticed that in his poo there is ficus leaf. He basically tried to eat ficus leaf that was in the balcony (we didnt know untill that point that ficus leaf is posionous).
After this he started to recover. He was barely moving before, after that he started at least to move his front legs. Now he is actively moving his front legs, but back legs are not as active so he is having trouble with movement.

After two weeks of smoosie we started to offer him lettuce as he loves them, now he is picking them from our hand and its. Still back legs are not active.

Yesterday, we noticed another problem . One pinwarm left during his poo. We are shocked now and dont know what to do. No vet here is doing X ray for tortoise, also no one is making blood test for them. Kindly ask you to advise us what to do. Can his back legs be not active due to pinwarms? If yes, how we can help him?

Sorry for my bad english, and kindly ask community to help us. We are ready to make online consutlation if there is any.

 

[wellington]

Your doing fine with your English.
The back legs may be from the lack of hydration and that's what caused the prolapse in the beginning.
He has to have enough room also to keep things inside and out moving properly. Be sure to give him at least a 4x8 foot enclosure.
The pin worms wouldn't affect his walking but the poison could along with dehydration.
Soak him daily in warm water for half hour, keeping him and water warm the whole time. Water should be 90-98 degrees fahrenheit
@Yvonne G might be able to help further.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello! Sorry you’re experiencing this! I don’t suppose we could get a little more information on how he’s kept?

Indoor or outdoor set up? What size?
How’s temperatures? Ie basking spot, overall day temps, night temps?
If indoors using bulbs, what kind of lighting and heating specifically? Packaging photos are good!
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
Other than the lettuce how’s his diet been with you?
How’s humidity? What do you use for substrate?

Any answers to those questions would be good along with a photo of your set up if you’re able

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Constipation may also be affecting his use of the back legs. Bladder stones could also be the problem. I suggest soaking him daily for 15 to 30 minutes keeping the water warm.

This will help with the dehydration and help the tortoise to pass any bladder stones.

 

[Guzelalex99]

Hello! Sorry you’re experiencing this! I don’t suppose we could get a little more information on how he’s kept?

Indoor or outdoor set up? What size?
How’s temperatures? Ie basking spot, overall day temps, night temps?
If indoors using bulbs, what kind of lighting and heating specifically? Packaging photos are good!
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
Other than the lettuce how’s his diet been with you?
How’s humidity? What do you use for substrate?

Any answers to those questions would be good along with a photo of your set up if you’re able

Thanks a lot for your reply and questions.

Unfortunately we dont have setup for him. Our balcony is 10 square meters, we made special area with cartoon for him for sleeping. First weeks when he was healthy, he was just walking around all day in balcony, getting his natural sun and then at nights he was going to his cartoon home for sleep. Everything was ok.

Previous owner left this tortoise in the office, so my wife decided to bring him home and to look after untill owner cames back. But previous owner refused to take him back. Previous owner had very small box where he was living. I am attaching photo.

We plan to buy normal set up for him, but first we want help him with recovery.

 

[Guzelalex99]

Constipation may also be affecting his use of the back legs. Bladder stones could also be the problem. I suggest soaking him daily for 15 to 30 minutes keeping the water warm.

This will help with the dehydration and help the tortoise to pass any bladder stones.

We do soaking, 4-5 times in a week. It seams that after poisoning he forgot some skills. For example as we were giving him smoosie during 2 weeks. He now thinks that meal will directly come to his mouth. He is not picking them up, he is just opening his mouth and waiting us to give him food. We try to help him with feeding

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello!
I've checked weather forecast - it looks like temperatures at night are dropping. A healthy adult Russian tortoise can cope with them without problems (especially, when can burrow in the ground) but your tortoise is weakened and it's better to keep him warm. Can you bring him in a cardboard box inside for the night? Also, if your balcony is north facing there can be not enough sun for him to bask.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Agree with Alex, it is probably for the best you take him in for the night since he is weak.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thanks a lot for your reply and questions.

Unfortunately we dont have setup for him. Our balcony is 10 square meters, we made special area with cartoon for him for sleeping. First weeks when he was healthy, he was just walking around all day in balcony, getting his natural sun and then at nights he was going to his cartoon home for sleep. Everything was ok.

Previous owner left this tortoise in the office, so my wife decided to bring him home and to look after untill owner cames back. But previous owner refused to take him back. Previous owner had very small box where he was living. I am attaching photo.

We plan to buy normal set up for him, but first we want help him with recovery.

Bless him poor thing! So glad you took him in! I hope my links can help when it comes to you setting him up

 

[Guzelalex99]

Thanks.

Agree with Alex, it is probably for the best you take him in for the night since he is weak.

Hello!
I've checked weather forecast - it looks like temperatures at night are dropping. A healthy adult Russian tortoise can cope with them without problems (especially, when can burrow in the ground) but your tortoise is weakened and it's better to keep him warm. Can you bring him in a cardboard box inside for the night? Also, if your balcony is north facing there can be not enough sun for him to bask.

Hello!
I've checked weather forecast - it looks like temperatures at night are dropping. A healthy adult Russian tortoise can cope with them without problems (especially, when can burrow in the ground) but your tortoise is weakened and it's better to keep him warm. Can you bring him in a cardboard box inside for the night? Also, if your balcony is north facing there can be not enough sun for him to bask.

Thanks for the advise. Once he started to have health problems we keep him indoor

Your doing fine with your English.
The back legs may be from the lack of hydration and that's what caused the prolapse in the beginning.
He has to have enough room also to keep things inside and out moving properly. Be sure to give him at least a 4x8 foot enclosure.
The pin worms wouldn't affect his walking but the poison could along with dehydration.
Soak him daily in warm water for half hour, keeping him and water warm the whole time. Water should be 90-98 degrees fahrenheit
@Yvonne G might be able to help further.

thank you!