Sick leopard tort

[mjkwarchak]

Hi everyone I have an 18 month old leopard tortoise who has stopped eating two days ago and oddly keeps walking away from the light/heat source (UVB and a 100w basking bulb). I am trying to keep her warmer because this morning vet determined she had protozoan/many parasites and started her on antibiotic and a gave her a wormer this evening (pain in the a$$ to get in to her mouth btw...). Anyway, she is still not interested in food. Any thoughts would be appreciated. - Matt

 

[Cathie G]

Hi everyone I have an 18 month old leopard tortoise who has stopped eating two days ago and oddly keeps walking away from the light/heat source (UVB and a 100w basking bulb). I am trying to keep her warmer because this morning vet determined she had protozoan/many parasites and started her on antibiotic and a gave her a wormer this evening (pain in the a$$ to get in to her mouth btw...). Anyway, she is still not interested in food. Any thoughts would be appreciated. - Matt

I'm really only a new member also but after the day your little tortoise had...I would let the baby de stress. I'm sure other more experienced members will help you soon. You are at the right place for good info.

 

[Yvonne G]

Do you soak the tortoise? Sometimes if they're pretty dehydrated it puts them off their feed. You can offer food items that are normally not fed to tortoises, just to entice him to eat. Something like iceberg lettuce, water melon, etc. then if he eats, you can slowly start incorporating the good food back into the bad food.

Set him up in a smaller tank where you can monitor the temperature easier and fix it at 80-85F degrees all over the whole enclosure. Soak him daily for a half hour or so (if you use a small bowl with tall sides you can put the bowl back into the enclosure to keep the water warm as he's soaking).

Being on antibiotics sometimes curbs their appetite.

 

[mjkwarchak]

Thanks for the feedback! She is doing really well now. Since she was not eating it was incredibly hard to get antibiotic in her, so we went back to the vet who supplied the shots. I made sure she had a warmer environment, gets outside time daily (I live in south Florida), and after reading a bunch of forums I did warm soaks in Carrot baby food and pedialyte. Actually seemed to help some, anyway, she started eating her Mazuri and some other greens Saturday and is back munching away. And now that she had wormer she can get the most out of the food without the damn parasites. _ Matt