Sick leopard tortoise, Stigmochelys pardalis

[EspenK]

I got two leopards juveniles in march. One of them is healthy, but the other one is not. He has not grown since march, is light weight and has a soft plastron. His eyes were swollen, but is better now. I live in Norway, were keeping reptiles is illegal if you don't have a license. I have got a license, but due to the small amount of reptiles kept in Norway, the vets here does not have too much experience with tortoises. I guess I am hoping for a miracle when asking you guys; but do you have any tips?

-Espen

 

[coreyc]

What is your setup like temps,lighting ?also what are you feeding them?

 

[wellington]

All I can tell you at this point is keep him warm and I would separate him from the other if they are together. Give us all the info you can about you housing of them, temps, light, substrate, etc and the care you give them, food, soakings etc. Others will be along to give more help. Good luck.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Espen:

You can take care of the swollen eyes with baby food soaks, but you really need to find out why it happened in the first place. The soaks fix the symptoms, but don't fix the cause and it may happen again.

I don't know if you have Gerber Baby Food in Norway, but find human strained baby food and buy the carrots. Mix a jar of strained carrots into some warm water and soak the tortoise in the mixture for about a half hour. After about 3 days, the eyes will no longer be swollen and once the tortoise can see, he might eat. This MIGHT solve your problem, but if there's something else wrong, it may not.

You can put a few drops of liquid calcium in his mouth, but calcium doesn't work unless you have a really good UVB light or get him in the sun.

Re-visit your tortoise-keeping practices. Do you have it warm enough? Are there plenty of hiding places? Are you using one of those spiral fluorescent bulbs? Do you have sand as substrate? Do you feed foods high in calcium?

Good luck with getting your baby back to health. Please keep us informed.

 

[EspenK]

Thank you for your answers! I try, with all my setups, to replicate nature the best I can. I keep them on a clay/peat soil mix, with one cool end and one hot end. I mist the hot area on a daily basis, and they have access to a small pool. They also have a cool and moist underground "hole" they can use( They have only used it once each) I give them calsium\vitamin dusted weeds and grasses, which they both eat. The healthy of them sleep in the dark, cool end at night, the sick one sleeps near the hot area. The eyes of the sick one looks better, but despite that he eats everyday, he is really lightweight, has a soft plastron and has not grown since I got him. If I were to guess, a parasite would be my best bet. That due to his apetite, but lack of growt!