Swollen and Peeling Legs

[Squirt the Dalmation]

Good evening everyone. I need your help. I think Squirt has something going on. All 4 legs are puffy/swollen, and the outer layer of skin is peeling. Please share thoughts, ideas, and suggestions.

For a look at how the enclosure set up, please see this thread: https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/diy-pvc-viv-tutorial🐢💚.230621/

Humidity is 85-88% during the day, and temps are 80-85F during daylight, basking is 95F, and night temps are 70-75F. Arcadia t5 UVB with solarmeter reading in the lower 3s (3.1-3.3). Substrate is base layer of packed damp coco, topped with orchid bark.







@Tom @Alex and the Redfoot @The_Four_Toed_Edward @Yvonne G @Littleredfootbigredheart

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hi!
How long is it going like this? Is he active, eating, gaining weight? Any struggles with peeing/pooping?

What about supplements (what, how much, how often)? Excess of vitamin A can cause skin peeling.


I hope @zovick can take a look too

 

[Squirt the Dalmation]

Hi!
How long is it going like this? Is he active, eating, gaining weight? Any struggles with peeing/pooping?

What about supplements (what, how much, how often)? Excess of vitamin A can cause skin peeling.


I hope @zovick can take a look too

Just noticed it tonight. So wasn't there yesterday. Active, gaining, peeing and pooping. Although the pee is slightly harder to keep track of.

Vitamins are Rep-Cal calcium and Herpavite, as follows (example schedule)
Sunday - calcium
Monday - skip
Tuesday - multivite
Wednesday - skip
Thursday - calcium
Friday - skip
Saturday - multivite (rinse and repeat with the skip day pattern)
Hope that schedule makes sense.
Also we take him outside for 10-15 minutes weekdays if it's still light out after work, and at the very least every Saturday and Sunday (for natural sunlight/UVB). UVB is on 10am-2pm.

Give small amount of Mazuri, with TortoiseSupply food Fixer sprinkled in, and kapidolo farms dried stuff, mixed in at night. Arcadia optimised52 in the morning. Daily 15 minute soaks.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

It’s good he’s still his usual self but I agree his legs look puffy, unfortunately I’m not sure what advice to offer, there’s no red flags with husbandry or anything, I’m hoping some of the others might be able to chime in, one week of vitamins probably wouldn’t hurt to see if it helps?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Outside of supplementation, how is his diet?

 

[Squirt the Dalmation]

Outside of supplementation, how is his diet?

Give small amount of Mazuri, with TortoiseSupply food Fixer sprinkled in, and kapidolo farms dried stuff, mixed in at night. Arcadia optimised52 in the morning.

The Mazuri Mash (as I call it) he polishes off. The Arcadia he eats anywhere from half to 80%. Its not his favorite. But he eats it.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I’m gonna tag these guys too @Markw84 @turtlesteve

 

[turtlesteve]

I don’t see anything that gives me an immediate alarm - no obvious signs of illness or anything.

The swelling looks like edema, which can happen for a lot of reasons and in some cases comes and goes. Given the shedding as well it could be nutritional. Multivite twice a week seems excessive to me. Could also be a little on the overweight side - too much high calorie food and not enough exercise.

You also seem to be relying totally on dried foods and mazuri. These aren’t bad but I personally try to make fresh greens at least half of the diet if not more…

 

[Squirt the Dalmation]

I don’t see anything that gives me an immediate alarm - no obvious signs of illness or anything.

The swelling looks like edema, which can happen for a lot of reasons and in some cases comes and goes. Given the shedding as well it could be nutritional. Multivite twice a week seems excessive to me. Could also be a little on the overweight side - too much high calorie food and not enough exercise.

You also seem to be relying totally on dried foods and mazuri. These aren’t bad but I personally try to make fresh greens at least half of the diet if not more…

We recently started growing stuff for him to eat. And have been giving that. There's just, unfortunately, not much at the supermarket to provide. The only safe foods available here are: dandelion greens, collard Greens, escarole (sometimes), mustard Greens, bok choy. I was told those are moderation feeds and not to give those every day.

With those being the only supermarket grrns available to me, what should I feed daily? We rehydrate the Arcadia before feeding it. We have small hibiscus bushes that I could feed the leaves from if that is an option too. In our little greenhouse we have growing: cloves, timothy grass, oat grass, purple dead nettle, and Nasturtium. But they haven't fully bloomed/grown yet. We do provide small pieces of those though, however they aren't large enough to provide a full meal.

Any thoughts and suggestions are much appreciated for the diet and how to change the vitamin schedule as well.

 

[Squirt the Dalmation]

Update:
Swelling still there. He also seems to be slightly more sluggish moving and eating slowly. Seems to be struggling a bit swallowing as well. Wish I could post video here.... also slightly keeping his mouth open. Not sure if any of this information provides more insight...

 

[COmtnLady]

@Yvonne G

@Tom

@zovick

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Is he open mouth breathing?

 

[TammyJ]

This is what I would do, apart from taking him to a good reptile vet:
Replace all the substrate in the enclosure with paper towels lining the bottom and very slightly damp.
Maintain the correct temperature and humidity, maybe making it a bit warmer at night.
Daily warm soaks for half hour twice per day.
Stop all supplements and all food of any kind for a few days.
See what happens after 3 or 4 days.
That's what I would do unless there is a drastic change for the worse, in which case, vet visit.

 

[Squirt the Dalmation]

Is he open mouth breathing?

Barely open, but yes. Seems to be.

 

[Squirt the Dalmation]

This is what I would do, apart from taking him to a good reptile vet:
Replace all the substrate in the enclosure with paper towels lining the bottom and very slightly damp.
Maintain the correct temperature and humidity, maybe making it a bit warmer at night.
Daily warm soaks for half hour twice per day.
Stop all supplements and all food of any kind for a few days.
See what happens after 3 or 4 days.
That's what I would do unless there is a drastic change for the worse, in which case, vet visit.

Okay. I will do that tonight. Any idea what you think may be going on?? I know its just a best guess, but just curious, and trying to learn. So I can do better for him going forward.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Oh baby squirt you have me so stumpedI really hope the others reply soon! @TammyJ can I ask what the thinking behind removing substrate and stopping food altogether is? Night temps sound good to be already too

 

[MenagerieGrl]

Oh baby squirt you have me so stumpedI really hope the others reply soon! @TammyJ can I ask what the thinking behind removing substrate and stopping food altogether is? Night temps sound good to be already too

Probably to directly observe Pee'ing and Pooping when it happens and how much...

 

[turtlesteve]

After your update I am wondering if he’s caught an infection, and perhaps the swelling just showed up faster than the other more typical symptoms (lethargy and breathing difficulty).

If the new symptoms worsen or last more than a couple days I would try to get antibiotics. In the meantime try to keep him above 80F with moderate to high humidity at all times.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Probably to directly observe Pee'ing and Pooping when it happens and how much...

Not a bad shout, personally I’d probably opt to keep him on his substrate to keep his humidity where it is for now, I worry about him having too many changes whilst going through this.

After your update I am wondering if he’s caught an infection, and perhaps the swelling just showed up faster than the other more typical symptoms (lethargy and breathing difficulty).

If the new symptoms worsen or last more than a couple days I would try to get antibiotics. In the meantime try to keep him above 80F with moderate to high humidity at all times.

@Squirt the Dalmation i don’t suppose you could add a video link to the open mouth breathing? Cause from what I saw of it, it could’ve potentially just been because he was eating at the time, our red foot kinda looks similar when she’s pausing to breath whilst chowing down.

Steve, squirts mom has a vet appointment booked for Saturday, do you think it’s worth having him checked over? I’m always nervous about a baby being given injections, their systems are so tiny, I’m guessing you’d suggest for them to run tests first or?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I’ll see if I can upload the video