Sick baby star pls help!!!

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findecano

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Hi everyone

My 2" baby starry has her eyes closed most of the time, even after soaking it in warm water with a pinch of electrolytes on a daily basis. everything's the same. temperature, humidity, food. the other star is doing fine. she has her eyes closed most of the time, doesnt poo when i soak her. she would nibble a bit when im not looking but she is definitely not the same as last week. I brought her to the vet and he doesnt know what's wrong with it either. can someone help me plsss?
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Gary:

This doesn't sound good. Its too bad your vet doesn't know what's wrong. There's really no way for us to know either. The only thing I can suggest is the baby food soaks. I don't know if you can buy prepared baby foods in your country, but here in the states, we have prepared baby foods at the market.

1 jar of strained carrots baby food mixed into a little bit of warm water. Put the baby in the mixture and leave him there for about a half hour. You can position a light over one edge of the soaking pan so that he doesn't get cold.

Soak him every day in this mixture and you should start to see some improvement in about 3 days.

If this does help and he opens his eyes, then you need to take a good look at your husbandry practices and try to figure out what went wrong with your care of the tortoise. I can't help you in this department, because I don't know how to care for star tortoises. But take a good look at what you're doing and make sure it is set up properly. Heat, diet, etc.
 

Neal

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Yeah, doesn't sound good. What are your temperatures during the day and night? Is it warm enough outdoors where you are to soak the tortoise outside? In addition to the baby food soaks Yvonne suggested, try soaking him outside in direct sunlight for a while. For me, this has never failed to open a hatchlings eyes. Natural sunlight can do magical things for a sick tortoise.

Until he gets more active, I would bump up the temperatures to a minimum of 85 to 90 night and day.
 

findecano

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hi Yvonne

i tried the baby food and she eats a bit after soaking it in the baby food mixture. i'll do the same for the next few days and observe closely. thanks a bunch!!
emysemys said:
Hi Gary:

This doesn't sound good. Its too bad your vet doesn't know what's wrong. There's really no way for us to know either. The only thing I can suggest is the baby food soaks. I don't know if you can buy prepared baby foods in your country, but here in the states, we have prepared baby foods at the market.

1 jar of strained carrots baby food mixed into a little bit of warm water. Put the baby in the mixture and leave him there for about a half hour. You can position a light over one edge of the soaking pan so that he doesn't get cold.

Soak him every day in this mixture and you should start to see some improvement in about 3 days.

If this does help and he opens his eyes, then you need to take a good look at your husbandry practices and try to figure out what went wrong with your care of the tortoise. I can't help you in this department, because I don't know how to care for star tortoises. But take a good look at what you're doing and make sure it is set up properly. Heat, diet, etc.
 

Yvonne G

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That's good to know. But now my gut-instinct tells me that you might have been keeping your baby a bit too dry. When tortoises are babies, you should soak them in water every day. We have them under lights and heaters, essentially on "slow-cook." Because they're so small, they dehydrate very quickly. So a good soak in warm water every day does wonders to keep them awake and eating.
 
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