Tortoise took a fall- emergency story

[Grace-Sophia]

Hello all-
I am not posting this to get hate, believe me, I already feel absolutely beside myself that I allowed this to happen. 😭 🤦‍♀️

Today, I had my tortoise Tulip on my bed after her soak so she could walk around and dry off before I placed her back into her enclosure. I took my eyes off of her for 30 seconds and I hear a loud thud. I then was shocked to see my darling tortoise laying on the ground right side up, apparently fine. The bed is about 3 feet from the ground. I quickly picked her up and looked her over, no visible injuries and no cracks. Her diagram then begins to swell and she vomits red chunky material out from her nose and mouth. I then grab the tortoise carrier and we are off to the vet, immediately. When we arrive to the ER (Dr. Lauren Thelien’s vet clinic) they take her right back. Well, after the almost 200 dollar vet bill, they checked her vitals and made sure that what came out wasn’t blood and organ, it was raspberries (that she ate for lunch) they kept her in the warm room for about an hour and concluded that she had just been ‘shook up’ and vomited. The vet doesn’t think there is any need for concern on internal bleeding and damage, and that she will continue doing her daily turtle things. She basically just hit the ground so hard and had a reflex to barf… literally all of her lunch… onto my bed. The vet said monitor her closley for the next few days to be sure there is no blood, and that she is eating and drinking and doing her tortoise things. Tulip however was the star of the show today as I had many vet techs come into the room and tell me that they were taking photos and videos of her and with her. They said she was very cute and one of the best tortoises they have seen ❤️


Please watch your tortoises closely when they are roaming about, just like a 2 year old, anything can happen in a split second! I surely will NEVER make this mistake EVER again.

 

[Grace-Sophia]

I meant the title of the thread to be emergency STORY 😂 🤦‍♀️

 

[wellington]

So glad she is alright, how scary though. Just keep a closer eye on her to be sure.
This is exactly why we try to tell people that let tortoises roam the house, roam a bed, etc, not too. That quickly things can go bad. I know you already know all this, but I want to post for the newbies and others that think this is not a dangerous practice.

 

[TammyJ]

Totally what Wellington said.

 

[PollyAda]

Argh! I'm sorry you and tort had to learn the hard way. I would recommend having a clean dish cloth/tea towel next to your soak tub and drying the plastron that way if needed. We need to be mindful of the negative effects of stress on torts (and us), when they're out of their enclosure/habitat. Take away message for any new keepers is that right sized enclosures mitigate the need for roaming time.

 

[SinLA]

I'm sorry this happened, and I'm glad it was raspberries (which assuming no actual harm done to her is probably a more humorous way of having a lesson learned).

Honestly, I can't get past the idea that an emergency vet bill cost you "almost $200". You can't walk into a regular vet appointment for that much here...

 

[Grace-Sophia]

I'm sorry this happened, and I'm glad it was raspberries (which assuming no actual harm done to her is probably a more humorous way of having a lesson learned).

Honestly, I can't get past the idea that an emergency vet bill cost you "almost $200". You can't walk into a regular vet appointment for that much here...

Yes, I was pleased that it wasn’t too much. I’ve spent about 6,000 dollars before there for week long emergency care when another one of my tortoises got sepsis and kidney failure.

I will say however, the 200 dollars was just for her to get picked up and looked at by a vet and ensure there was no trauma to her shell. They didn’t do any extra testing, if she were to have gotten an x-ray it could have costed 400+ dollars and any continued care she may need could have costed upwards of 2 k. The reason why none of the extra testing was not necessary was because she was moving around, eating, drinking and acting completely normal. She was strong and bright eyed. The vet had no concern of internal bleeding because she only fell a pretty short distance (she also said that these torts are capable of withstanding dog attacks) tortoises are very hardy and because she just got shook up and was completely normal, everything turned out just fine .

 

[Grace-Sophia]

She’s doing great now!

 

[Maggie3fan]

I'm sorry this happened, and I'm glad it was raspberries (which assuming no actual harm done to her is probably a more humorous way of having a lesson learned).

Honestly, I can't get past the idea that an emergency vet bill cost you "almost $200". You can't walk into a regular vet appointment for that much here...

I was so thinking that but didn't want to sound ugly. $298.. for my 6 months old kitten...parasites...which I knew before I took him in. But Vets have a routine they adhere to. Need a poop test, need to find what kind of worms to treat I guess. an exray to look for blockage...I'm remembering in 2015 an Exotic Vet charged me close to $4000 to kill my big Sulcata.

 

[SinLA]

Yes, I was pleased that it wasn’t too much. I’ve spent about 6,000 dollars before there for week long emergency care when another one of my tortoises got sepsis and kidney failure.

I will say however, the 200 dollars was just for her to get picked up and looked at by a vet and ensure there was no trauma to her shell. They didn’t do any extra testing, if she were to have gotten an x-ray it could have costed 400+ dollars and any continued care she may need could have costed upwards of 2 k. The reason why none of the extra testing was not necessary was because she was moving around, eating, drinking and acting completely normal. She was strong and bright eyed. The vet had no concern of internal bleeding because she only fell a pretty short distance (she also said that these torts are capable of withstanding dog attacks) tortoises are very hardy and because she just got shook up and was completely normal, everything turned out just fine .

"capable of withstanding dog attacks" is so.... not really true. I mean it depends on the dog and the attack, but as a generalization, I wouldn't agree with that.

Glad she's doing well!

 

[Lyn W]

I'm glad she's Ok and pleased you're not going to let her roam your bed again - she may not be so lucky next time. Plus there's also the danger of human hair and fibres etc that could cause problems if ingested. Thanks for posting the warning.
(As for surviving dog attacks - that isn't always the case. Sadly there are lots of stories here about torts who have been killed by dogs )