Soft shell :-(

[Jeskie]

My leopard tortoise has a real soft shell specially on the bottom. I'm guessing he has real low calcium. He's about 3months old. He barely moves around, hardly eats, weak walking. Is there anyway i can keep him from dying? I'm going to try the bird calcium drops. Baby food soaks and keep him in the sun as long as possible. We are sad right now. Anything else I can do?

 

[katrvt]

Keep him at 80% humidity and 85-90 degrees. Make sure you have a good uvb bulb in the enclosure, and then give him sunshine time as well.

 

[Tom]

Do all of the above and hope for the best.

This won't fix your problem, but it might help to explain it and also help you avoid the same problem in the future.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/

Really sorry you are going through this. I hope he recovers and thrives.

 

[tibbits88]

He is outside in the sun right now. He's barely eating or drinking. Moved around for a little bit and then tried to bury himself. Is this normal? And how long should we have him outside per day? We are trying our best to help him recover. Gonna take him to the vet on Friday.

 

[Yvonne G]

Wait a minute...I'm confused. "tibbits88???" "Jeskie???"

 

[Yvonne G]

It is very hard to turn around a serious calcium deficiency when it has gotten so far as to make a soft shell. All you can do is try. Sunshine and calcium...sunshine and calcium.

MBD is very painful and babies suffering from it don't want to move much.

 

[tibbits88]

Jeskie is my boyfriend. He's at work right now so I'm trying to care for our leopard the best way I can. I have had him outside in the sun for 2 hours now. I put the calcium powder on his food hoping he would eat some. He took 2 bites and doesn't want anything to do with it. He has dug a hole in the dirt and is just sitting there. Is there any other source of calcium you recommend? We appreciate any help you can give as it would break our hearts to see this little guy not make it.

 

[Yvonne G]

Most babies won't eat food with too much calcium on it...I can only assume it doesn't taste good. So you use a very small amount and mix it up good.

You can buy some liquid calcium and squirt a dropper-ful into his mouth.

I have also used the squirt bottle of calcium liquid that someone gave me when they turned a tortoise in, and it seemed to be accepted ok by the tortoises when squirted on the food.

 

[tibbits88]

Okay thank you! We will try and find the liquid calcium and see if that works. When we first got him a month and a half ago he would eat the food with calcium without any problems. But I guess he took a turn for the worst and decided he didn't like the taste of it anymore. Hopefully the liquid calcium will work better and help revive him. Is it normal for them to try and bury themselves under the dirt?

 

[tibbits88]

He has been laying in the hole for at least 20 minutes now with no movement

 

[Yvonne G]

Your baby is a bit different, because he's sick, but normal baby tortoises do hide a lot. They're prey so they stay out of sight most of the time.

 

[abclements]

No matter what, this is a long process and nothing will be an instant fix. Sitting in the hole is his way of feeling safe for now. It is a good sign that he still wants to dig down and get to a safe place. As long as he is still getting sone sunshine, I'd let him be for a while. Just make sure he doesn't get too hot.

 

[tibbits88]

Okay that's good to know. He dug 2 holes and just relaxed in the sun. I had him outside for 2 and a half hours. Now I'm soaking him in the baby food. He moved around a little bit and is now just hanging out in it. I know we have a long process on our plate I just feel so bad for our baby. Like we are failing. But I know he is still a baby and this kind of sickness happens quite often among the babies.

 

[tibbits88]

We are gonna try the liquid calcium ASAP and get him into the vet so he can get the care he needs.

 

[WillTort2]

Sometimes a shady spot, just out of the direct sunlight, is the best combination of ideal temperature and UV absorption.

 

[Katybug]

be careful with Calcium injections at the vet. Make sure your vet knows the proper dosing for such a small baby. My baby died moments after getting a calcium injection and the vet was an exotic vet x 20 yrs!
hope your baby pulls through for you!

 

[Jeskie]

If he does survive this, will his shell ever harden back up? Or maybe a little nail hardener will do it "joke"

 

[dmmj]

If it makes it, it's shell will harden over time, like any other tortoise. Sunshine and calcium.

 

[Jeskie]

Have any of you been threw this and had a tortoise make it? I feel like I got a low percent.

 

[mrstat]

Any updates? I'm scared my leopard is going though the SAME thing!!!!! : (