[split] New RF Owner.... dwright27

[dwright27]

Well, we're making our first trip to the vet this morning. I poked a finger around in the substrate and it's full of little white bugs (mites?). They were crawling on him, too. I gave him a short soak and he's now in the cardboard box I got him in, with a heat emitter. I don't want to put him back in the tank until I've cleaned it (which I'll be doing after I drop him off at the vet).
He also has a soft plastron so yay, shell rot.. *sigh* I've been trying so hard to do this right, to take proper care of him.. and this is still the result. I'm so mad at myself. He's only a juvenile so I don't know what to switch his substrate to.. Or maybe the substrate was fine but got too wet which allowed the bugs to hatch..? I don't know. I'm confused and upset.

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

I'm very interested in hearing what the veterinarian says about those white bugs. Maybe came from your plants? Strange.
I think you are doing a fantastic job. A+++ for effort!!! I'm still learning myself, but after being a vet tech for 20+ years, I see more stupidity and neglect and laziness. In my book, you can do everything wrong, but if you are TRYING, and you make the effort and clearly love them, THAT is most important. Everything else will fall into place soon.

You've clearly covered the three most important aspects of ANY animal care:

1)Diet
2)housing/environment
3)medical care.

I wish you were one of our clients at work!!!!!!


Sandy in Oregon
.....................................................
Schlomo the rescue Sulcata
Dexter and Lola (Basenjis)
Sent from my iPad using TortForum mobile app

 

[pfara]

Well, we're making our first trip to the vet this morning. I poked a finger around in the substrate and it's full of little white bugs (mites?). They were crawling on him, too. I gave him a short soak and he's now in the cardboard box I got him in, with a heat emitter. I don't want to put him back in the tank until I've cleaned it (which I'll be doing after I drop him off at the vet).
He also has a soft plastron so yay, shell rot.. *sigh* I've been trying so hard to do this right, to take proper care of him.. and this is still the result. I'm so mad at myself. He's only a juvenile so I don't know what to switch his substrate to.. Or maybe the substrate was fine but got too wet which allowed the bugs to hatch..? I don't know. I'm confused and upset.

I hope the vet trip helps you out. Only thing I can say is that bugs in the enclosure is normal. Many types of insects thrive in the conditions that we provide for our torts. You can either add more bugs (pill bugs) to reduce the populations of the unwanted (fungus gnats, springtails) or you can keep changing out the substrate frequently. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, the humidity we provide for redfoots is favorable to the other bugs and they'll keep coming back. In any case, I've read that the bugs aren't a danger to torts.

As for the shell rot.. I've never read about soft shells being indicative of shell rot. But I'm still always learning. Does the shell feel more spongy or more of a plastic flexibility? Let us know how it goes and don't beat yourself up about it.

 

[dwright27]

Thanks guys. I have a feeling that they're springtails. What really freaked me out was that I saw them crawling on the tortoise. Once I washed him off with warm water they were gone. He's at the vet now. If I wanted a face-to-face meeting with the vet I would have had to wait until Friday. But when she's done surgery she can have a look at him. I've brought my blue tongue skink to her in this way and she does the consult over the phone etc as well. If it were my dog I might be more adamant about doing the appointment in person but I trust this clinic and they'll have him in a brooder or something for the day until i can go pick him up.

My mom was researching while I was out and came up with the springtails thing too. My paranoid brain automatically jumps to "OMG BUGS GET THEM OUT OF HERE!" but if they are harmless then that makes me feel a whole lot better..

His plastron has quite a bit of give to it.. it wasn't like that before. But, I'm only into my third week of having him. Can shell rot happen that quickly?? When I dropped him off at the vet I checked him over again and one of his carapace scutes was a bit soft as well.

I think it might be too wet in there, or he's just spending way too much time in the wet/hot end. What is the most accurate way to measure humidity? Because I can dump a bottle of water in there, and spray things down, and still get a reading of only 50-60%, and it goes down to about 40% in about an hour. I'm using a digital weather station from Home Depot.

Ugh, I need a nap. lol

 

[pfara]

Are there any other signs that lead you to shell rot? Pits in the shell, a white coating that chips off, a horrid smell? Is it an acurite weather station? Mine seems to be fairly accurate (I put the probe outside and compared it to a current weather report for my area). If you're worried about shell rot, make sure to keep the surface dry while keeping the water at the bottom. What type of uvb do you use? I'll re-read your threads but soft shells usually mean calcium deficiency from what I've read.

 

[dwright27]

No, there isn't any pitting or coating.. Definitely no smell. It's supposed to be a pretty accurate weather station.. I'll have to test it outside and see. Right now I've got the probe in the cool end and the receiver in the warm end, since the receiver is what measures indoor humidity.. there's no outdoor humidity part.
I think I just freaked out and jumped to conclusions re: shell rot. But I've been giving him calcium +D3.. He was on a Solar Glo bulb but I was told by Joe Heinen that the Solar Glo doesn't actually have much, if any, UVB. That was disappointing. So I got the Power Sun bulb on Monday.

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

What do you think of the Power Sun so far? I'm going to need a UVB bulb to get Schlomo thru winter. He's outside now most of the time.


Sandy in Oregon
.....................................................
Schlomo the rescue Sulcata
Dexter and Lola (Basenjis)
Sent from my iPad using TortForum mobile app

 

[dwright27]

First off, Schlomo is the best name ever. Like.... ever. XD

Second, the Power Sun is good, I've got a 100 watt bulb in a 40 gallon tank and the temperature is in a good spot. Mind you if it gets too high I do have one of those stick-on-the-glass light stands so I can raise or lower the lamp as I need to.

I like that it's an all-in-one. It's expensive (80 bucks for me) but having one bulb instead of two or three makes life a lot easier. Also Joe from carolinapetsupply.com is a pretty respected dude so I trust what he says.