Tortoises all dead, trader joes cucumbers poisoned them

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rachaell

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Hello, this is finleafeater/rachael,

of course my account is banned yet again so here I am with another one.

This morning I fed all my torts (7 of them) trader joes spring mix but I added cucumber also- I have fed it before as a litle extra along side of the greens and never had a problem. Theyve eaten from this box of greens all week and only today have they had the cucumber. 3 hours later 4 are dead. Im not even addressing how i FEEL right now.. but can someone please tell me what to DO to save the others.

I just soaked and refed them straight pumpkin in order to clean them out.. but they arent showing symptoms.

Im losing my mind.

edit: I washed the cucs and skinned them ( I got 90 percent of the skin off before I fed)

Im about to set trader joes on fire

bump for yvonne, maggie, tom, madkins, kyrah..

help meeee
 

vampire5003

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Hmm...someone will be able to better help you soon. I know for a fact cucumber and zucchini is a no no for tortoises. I know how it feels to loose some torts.
 

Tim/Robin

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Wow, how scarey. We have fed cucumber and zucchini to our tortoises on occasion with no issues. So sorry Rachael. I would not immediately assume it is the cucumber, especially if it was washed and peeled. I would be more concerned that the spring mix may have had something wrong and the build up of eating that for a week finally took its toll. One thing we do is change what we feed from day to day. One day it could be spring mix the next red and green leaf chopped. The other thing that comes to mind is NOTHING happens quickly with tortoises. It could have been an undetected illness that resulted in their demise today, not related to the foods at all. The hardest part of losing tortoises is the unknown. It is very hard to know for sure what killed them. A necropsy could be helpful, but it also could be very inconclusive.
 

rachaell

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The cucumbers must have had somthing on them.
I just called the herp vet in Anaheim.. he said it sounds like there was ecoli or poisoning on the cucs and that I should be prepared to lose the other two hatchlings shortly.

He recommended trying to get them to have olive oil, Im doing that now.

The russians (adults) should be alright.



Yeah, cucs and zuc are ok for torts.. as long as they arent contamined ( and are moderately mixed with other greens)
 

Tom

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I'm at a loss Rachel... I feed cucumber all the time and have never had a problem. My little girl loves cucumber, so my wife is always peeling it and cutting it up for her. I then bring the peels to my torts and toss them in with whatever else they are eating that day. We use cumbers from several stores, including Trader Joes. It makes me wonder if it was something else. Definitely sounds like poisoning, but I can't imagine from what. Get someone (not you) to call YOUR Trader Joes and ask them if any other problems have been reported with the cucs.

I'm so sorry to hear this. I'm tearing up for you...

Soaks and pumpkin to flush it out sounds like a great plan to me. You could call a good tortoise vet and ask if there is anything that can be done.
 

CtTortoiseMom

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I just don't know what to say, I am so sorry. I will not step foot in trader joe's now. Do you have the cucumbers, is there any place that will test them? My mind is reeling and my heart is breaking for you.
 

Jacqui

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Wow and how sad. :( :( :( I am just amazed that it would have killed them and so very quickly, especially with the fact they also had greens and you had peeled the cucumber. Are you sure nothing else has changed? No way anybody could have gotten anything into the enclosure? Any chemicals sprayed in the house or even just outside it? You have checked the temps and also made sure everything is grounded?

So far your doing the things I would do to try to quickly clean their systems. I also hope you trashed the greens, because just because one side of the box was good, does mean it all was.

Words just fail me at the thought of what your going thru. :(
 

rachaell

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I just cant think of anything else it could be. The hatchlings were fed indoors ( both dead) the CDTs were fed outdoors n their sun box (one dead), the russians were fed outside in their perma house.

I fed the TTs, cut with a different knife.

Boyfriend fed the others cut with a new knife a few hours later.

I just dumped out every piece of dirt from their enclosures.

Im doing everything I can to just not thinking about what is going on.
 

rachaell

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Anaheim



Carlos Lopez, DVM
Brookhurst Animal Medical Center
1301 South Brookhurst Street
Anaheim, CA 92804
Tel: (714) 776-7387
Fax: (714) 563-0144


I got his number from the forum list.
he gave me the info and just said to sit tight and watch.
 

dmmj

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That's a devastating blow, words fail me. I would inquire to trader joes if anyone else has had any problems. I am not trying to be mean but 3 hours sounds a little quick for e coli. My guess would be some type of poison.
 

Meg90

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I would think it was the lettuce. There was that terrible ecoli outbreak on spinach what, last year? Lettuce can have some scary things on it, if not cleaned correctly. Especially if you cleaned the cucumber of 90% of its peel, where most of the pesticides sit.

My heart just goes out to you. I can not imagine how this feels. I'm SO sorry you and the animals are suffering.
 

Kristina

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OMG, I am so so sorry. How absolutely horrifying.

I agree that it sounds more like some sort of poison/toxin than e. coli. Being a bacteria, it would take some time to multiply and cause toxic death, although in a hatchling it could happen faster than what I am thinking, and temperature would play a role as well.

The optimum temperature for multiplication of the bacteria is 98.6 degrees. I would suggest cooling the remaining tortoises off, that should slow the growth of the bacteria if that is what it is. If it is a toxin, soaking and pumpkin may help, but if it is e. coli then antibiotic therapy is your only option.

I can't imagine how heartbroken you are right now. My deepest condolences.
 

exoticsdr

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Wow Rachael, so sorry to hear about this devastation...I can't stress enough the need for a necropsy, especially taking the stomach contents for analysis, it may be the only way to prove it was the food. Activated charcoal, orally, may help if it is a poison on the cukes, and in my estimation it would have to be in order for it to happen so quickly,..E. coli would have an incubation period to cause it's damage (i.e. most likely more than 3 hours), though with the very young, who knows. I'll be thinking about you. Doc
 

DeanS

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vampire5003 said:
Hmm...someone will be able to better help you soon. I know for a fact cucumber and zucchini is a no no for tortoises. I know how it feels to loose some torts.

Better check your facts...there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with feeding cucumber or zucchini occasionally.

Rachael...I am so sorry for your loss!
 

Edna

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Rachael, I'm so sorry to hear about your losses. Can you take one of them in for a necropsy? It would help (all of us, too) to understand just what happened here. {{{{hugs}}}} and I'm going to go hug my torts, too.
 
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