Mishami
New Member
Hi everyone, I’ve been a long time lurker of these forums and have finally decided to make an account.
Apologies in advance for the long post, I just want to get as much information out there as I can.
I live in the Bay Area California, and have two baby tortoises. A Sulcata little over a year old named Heracles and a new Aldabra named Misha who is 4 1/4 inches long so I’m guessing around 6-7 months old.
The substrate I am using for Misha’s 54 gallon tub is a mixture of cypress mulch and sphagum moss (personally not a fan of this and might add some organic topsoil to it at a later date). The temperatures are on the warm side 96, under the basking light 102 and on the cool side 79. I have full spectrum lighting, a strip uvb fixture, uva bulb (not the cool one,) and a heat emitter. Once it warms up here I will be moving him to a fully enclosed 64 square feet temporary enclosure while working on his permanent home.
My family and I brought Misha home Friday night from the airport. He was off the plane at 9:36 at night and it took till 10:30 for him to reach the pick up counter. When we got him he was cold to the touch (50 degrees) and unmoving. His limbs were sticking out and his eyes were glossy, one being only half open. The only sign of life was he moved his head slightly in and out to take a shallow breath of air. In a panic we rushed to the car and turned on a heat lamp in hopes that warming him up would resuscitate the little guy. He started to slowly stir but as we were driving the bulb on the lamp blew a fuse, and so we cranked up the heater all the way and held him by the vent, measuring his temp with the heat gun at regular intervals. Misha looked like he was improving as his breathes became more regular and he was now blinking and moving his arms around, his shell at this point had warmed up to 93 degrees. He then began to bubble from his mouth a bit so we turned down the heat and set him down in his shipping container. Once we reached the house we brought him into the preheated bathroom and soaked him in 95 degree water. This was the moment I could sigh a breathe of relief as he was trying his hardest to climb up the sides of the bath container.
After his bath brought him to his enclosure where he immediately sprinted to the opposite side. I had always heard that baby Aldabras were skittish but did not know they could move that fast. He moved around, exploring his enclosure and drank a ton by himself but would not take a bite from the food. I figured it is due to the fact of stress from nearly dying, travel and a new enclosure so I was not too worried. He ran around till about 3 in the morning before burying himself in the substrate and tunneling to his hide. We stayed up a couple hours to make sure he was okay.
The next day we let him sleep in till a little past noon and then woke him up to eat. The person who we bought the Aldabra from suggested if he didn’t eat put a bit of fruit to entice him, so we sliced some banana and put it on top of his salad of dandelion and collard greens mixed with grassland tortoise diet. I put him on the plate and the first time he bolted I waited a bit then nudged the terra-cotta plate closer to him. Misha then began eating! Another sense of relief. We only gave him a little bit of food maybe covering 1/8 of the six inch plate. He ate most of the food and went back to exploring. However a new problem arose, as I could hear squeaking as he was breathing and every once awhile he would exhale loudly almost like a sneeze. I monitored him throughout the day and only saw a bubble come out of his nares twice. Both the seller and I agreed it looked like an upper respiratory infection. I have since upped the temperature of the enclosure and have stopped listing the substrate in an attempts to get it warmer in there. Now, the person who sold us Misha has been wonderful and has gone above to help us with our new Aldabra, I just want a second or third opinion on what is the best course of action. The seller thinks I should monitor him and not go to the vet just yet, but I’m getting a bit nervous because I have only seen one very small wet stool and he is refusing to eat today (I have yet to update the seller on his lack of appetite today). I will try again later in the day to offer food.
TLDR: Got a new Aldabra tortoise, was cold and near death brought back to life. Ate a little yesterday but is showing signs of a URI, what is the best course of action to take?
Apologies in advance for the long post, I just want to get as much information out there as I can.
I live in the Bay Area California, and have two baby tortoises. A Sulcata little over a year old named Heracles and a new Aldabra named Misha who is 4 1/4 inches long so I’m guessing around 6-7 months old.
The substrate I am using for Misha’s 54 gallon tub is a mixture of cypress mulch and sphagum moss (personally not a fan of this and might add some organic topsoil to it at a later date). The temperatures are on the warm side 96, under the basking light 102 and on the cool side 79. I have full spectrum lighting, a strip uvb fixture, uva bulb (not the cool one,) and a heat emitter. Once it warms up here I will be moving him to a fully enclosed 64 square feet temporary enclosure while working on his permanent home.
My family and I brought Misha home Friday night from the airport. He was off the plane at 9:36 at night and it took till 10:30 for him to reach the pick up counter. When we got him he was cold to the touch (50 degrees) and unmoving. His limbs were sticking out and his eyes were glossy, one being only half open. The only sign of life was he moved his head slightly in and out to take a shallow breath of air. In a panic we rushed to the car and turned on a heat lamp in hopes that warming him up would resuscitate the little guy. He started to slowly stir but as we were driving the bulb on the lamp blew a fuse, and so we cranked up the heater all the way and held him by the vent, measuring his temp with the heat gun at regular intervals. Misha looked like he was improving as his breathes became more regular and he was now blinking and moving his arms around, his shell at this point had warmed up to 93 degrees. He then began to bubble from his mouth a bit so we turned down the heat and set him down in his shipping container. Once we reached the house we brought him into the preheated bathroom and soaked him in 95 degree water. This was the moment I could sigh a breathe of relief as he was trying his hardest to climb up the sides of the bath container.
After his bath brought him to his enclosure where he immediately sprinted to the opposite side. I had always heard that baby Aldabras were skittish but did not know they could move that fast. He moved around, exploring his enclosure and drank a ton by himself but would not take a bite from the food. I figured it is due to the fact of stress from nearly dying, travel and a new enclosure so I was not too worried. He ran around till about 3 in the morning before burying himself in the substrate and tunneling to his hide. We stayed up a couple hours to make sure he was okay.
The next day we let him sleep in till a little past noon and then woke him up to eat. The person who we bought the Aldabra from suggested if he didn’t eat put a bit of fruit to entice him, so we sliced some banana and put it on top of his salad of dandelion and collard greens mixed with grassland tortoise diet. I put him on the plate and the first time he bolted I waited a bit then nudged the terra-cotta plate closer to him. Misha then began eating! Another sense of relief. We only gave him a little bit of food maybe covering 1/8 of the six inch plate. He ate most of the food and went back to exploring. However a new problem arose, as I could hear squeaking as he was breathing and every once awhile he would exhale loudly almost like a sneeze. I monitored him throughout the day and only saw a bubble come out of his nares twice. Both the seller and I agreed it looked like an upper respiratory infection. I have since upped the temperature of the enclosure and have stopped listing the substrate in an attempts to get it warmer in there. Now, the person who sold us Misha has been wonderful and has gone above to help us with our new Aldabra, I just want a second or third opinion on what is the best course of action. The seller thinks I should monitor him and not go to the vet just yet, but I’m getting a bit nervous because I have only seen one very small wet stool and he is refusing to eat today (I have yet to update the seller on his lack of appetite today). I will try again later in the day to offer food.
TLDR: Got a new Aldabra tortoise, was cold and near death brought back to life. Ate a little yesterday but is showing signs of a URI, what is the best course of action to take?