Tortoises Sick

[Chicken]

My yellow footed tortoises has recently been sick. Jerry's (girl tortoise) eyes were filmed shut. I washed it head under warm water and opened one but the other is still shut. Noses are full of snot and she's shaking when she walks. Haven't seen her eat or poop. Garry's (boy tortoise) eyes are weird, nose is full of snot, but he also has feet sores? I haven't seen him poop or eat. They were at our barn for winter and it got very cold so I put a heating lamp and a heater in there. After I saw what was happened it moved them to my room (I made a wooden box for them to stay) to help them. Their eyes have been gooey before so we already have drops for them (Neomycin and Polymyxin B Dexamethasone Ophthalmic Suspension, USP Sterile drops) to put in their eyes every 12h.
Trying to steam their snot out as I write this.

PS: As I was writing this I took them out and Jerry's eyes are both open!

 

[Chicken]

Hes also biting himself.

 

[TheLastGreen]

It seems the cold temps have made the torts confused and stressed
Follow these

Redfoot Tortoise Caresheet

REDFOOT TORTOISE CARESHEET ALL Tortoises on the planet require that 4 parameters be "IN BALANCE". How this is accomplished ( or required ) is as varied as there are regions and keepers on the planet. Temperature - Humidity - Lighting - Diet Redfoot tortoises require the same parameters -...

tortoiseforum.org

Redfoot Tortoise Care Sheet

NOTE: I do not keep redfoots, and I only have one tortoise in total. With this in mind, remember that I am in no way an expert, and this should not be used as cold hard proof of how to raise a redfoot. I used information from great keepers on this forum to put everything together. This care...

tortoiseforum.org

@ZEROPILOT is the expert
The mucus and film is from stress from the wrong temps, the eye film can also be from too low humidity
How are they doing now? Can you send images of the enclosure, what are the temps and humidity? Do you keep them together?
Soak them in luke warm water which goes up to the rim where their upper shell (carapace) meets the bottom shell (plastron)

 

[Chicken]

It seems the cold temps have made the torts confused and stressed
Follow these

Redfoot Tortoise Caresheet

REDFOOT TORTOISE CARESHEET ALL Tortoises on the planet require that 4 parameters be "IN BALANCE". How this is accomplished ( or required ) is as varied as there are regions and keepers on the planet. Temperature - Humidity - Lighting - Diet Redfoot tortoises require the same parameters -...

tortoiseforum.org

Redfoot Tortoise Care Sheet

NOTE: I do not keep redfoots, and I only have one tortoise in total. With this in mind, remember that I am in no way an expert, and this should not be used as cold hard proof of how to raise a redfoot. I used information from great keepers on this forum to put everything together. This care...

tortoiseforum.org

@ZEROPILOT is the expert
The mucus and film is from stress from the wrong temps, the eye film can also be from too low humidity
How are they doing now? Can you send images of the enclosure, what are the temps and humidity? Do you keep them together?
Soak them in luke warm water which goes up to the rim where their upper shell (carapace) meets the bottom shell (plastron)

Yes, wrong temps make sense. I put them in the barn for the winter time but i guess it wasn't warm enough so I took them to my room. The humidity is 72% and the temp is also 72 fahrenheit. I'm going to put them outside today because the high is 82 (they have a little outside enclosure in my backyard for warm days). Any reason he'd be biting himself though? Stress? Skin Infection?

 

[zovick]

Yes, wrong temps make sense. I put them in the barn for the winter time but i guess it wasn't warm enough so I took them to my room. The humidity is 72% and the temp is also 72 fahrenheit. I'm going to put them outside today because the high is 82 (they have a little outside enclosure in my backyard for warm days). Any reason he'd be biting himself though? Stress? Skin Infection?

The barn was obviously too cold for the tortoises. They need to be kept close to 80 degrees almost constantly to be healthy.

The eye drops may help somewhat, but did you feed them anything during the winter or just expect them to remain inactive and not eat till spring?

 

[Yvonne G]

@Chicken - Think about it: tortoises don't make their own heat, they're 'cold blooded.' That means whatever the temperature is where they're sitting is what temperature their body is. If a mammal - let's take a human as an example - needs to have their inner core body temperature 98.6°F in order for what they eat to digest, then certainly a reptile must need their inner core temperature to be pretty warm in order for food to digest. 98.6°F is pretty darned close to 100°F! So it's not unreasonable to think that a tortoise's INNER CORE temperature should be more than 80°F. I keep the ambient temperature in my YF shed 85°F and there's a CHE Over one corner where they can sit and warm up more than 85°F.

Most probably ALL your tortoises' problems, including biting themselves, stem from not being warm enough.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

@Chicken - Think about it: tortoises don't make their own heat, they're 'cold blooded.' That means whatever the temperature is where they're sitting is what temperature their body is. If a mammal - let's take a human as an example - needs to have their inner core body temperature 98.6°F in order for what they eat to digest, then certainly a reptile must need their inner core temperature to be pretty warm in order for food to digest. 98.6°F is pretty darned close to 100°F! So it's not unreasonable to think that a tortoise's INNER CORE temperature should be more than 80°F. I keep the ambient temperature in my YF shed 85°F and there's a CHE Over one corner where they can sit and warm up more than 85°F.

Most probably ALL your tortoises' problems, including biting themselves, stem from not being warm enough.

I agree.
Take care of that obvious issue. Then go from there.
Not being able to digest food can quickly become a serious issue. Get that temp into the 80s ASAP

 

[ZEROPILOT]

It seems the cold temps have made the torts confused and stressed
Follow these

Redfoot Tortoise Caresheet

REDFOOT TORTOISE CARESHEET ALL Tortoises on the planet require that 4 parameters be "IN BALANCE". How this is accomplished ( or required ) is as varied as there are regions and keepers on the planet. Temperature - Humidity - Lighting - Diet Redfoot tortoises require the same parameters -...

tortoiseforum.org

Redfoot Tortoise Care Sheet

NOTE: I do not keep redfoots, and I only have one tortoise in total. With this in mind, remember that I am in no way an expert, and this should not be used as cold hard proof of how to raise a redfoot. I used information from great keepers on this forum to put everything together. This care...

tortoiseforum.org

@ZEROPILOT is the expert
The mucus and film is from stress from the wrong temps, the eye film can also be from too low humidity
How are they doing now? Can you send images of the enclosure, what are the temps and humidity? Do you keep them together?
Soak them in luke warm water which goes up to the rim where their upper shell (carapace) meets the bottom shell (plastron)

I'm not an expert
I still learn things as I go just like the rest of us.

 

[Chicken]

The barn was obviously too cold for the tortoises. They need to be kept close to 80 degrees almost constantly to be healthy.

The eye drops may help somewhat, but did you feed them anything during the winter or just expect them to remain inactive and not eat till spring?

I did feed them during the winter. I'm just not sure how to keep them at 80 degrees constantly. Any ideas would be great for keeping them warm at all times.

 

[Chicken]

@Chicken - Think about it: tortoises don't make their own heat, they're 'cold blooded.' That means whatever the temperature is where they're sitting is what temperature their body is. If a mammal - let's take a human as an example - needs to have their inner core body temperature 98.6°F in order for what they eat to digest, then certainly a reptile must need their inner core temperature to be pretty warm in order for food to digest. 98.6°F is pretty darned close to 100°F! So it's not unreasonable to think that a tortoise's INNER CORE temperature should be more than 80°F. I keep the ambient temperature in my YF shed 85°F and there's a CHE Over one corner where they can sit and warm up more than 85°F.

Most probably ALL your tortoises' problems, including biting themselves, stem from not being warm enough.

Thank you! I'm trying to keep them warm constantly now. But how do I keep them at 80 degrees outside constantly? In Alabama the temp is always changing, so its hard to keep them 80+ at all times. In the barn, I gave them hay to burrow in and a heating lamp, and the barn has heating in it. I'm just not sure how to keep them warm in the winter. Do I just keep them in my room when its cold? I think the one in my room is also stressing them out, but im not sure.

 

[Chicken]

I agree.
Take care of that obvious issue. Then go from there.
Not being able to digest food can quickly become a serious issue. Get that temp into the 80s ASAP

Yep! This is my first year taking care of them, so I guess I need to do more research. Or just learn from my mistakes

 

[Chicken]

@Chicken - Think about it: tortoises don't make their own heat, they're 'cold blooded.' That means whatever the temperature is where they're sitting is what temperature their body is. If a mammal - let's take a human as an example - needs to have their inner core body temperature 98.6°F in order for what they eat to digest, then certainly a reptile must need their inner core temperature to be pretty warm in order for food to digest. 98.6°F is pretty darned close to 100°F! So it's not unreasonable to think that a tortoise's INNER CORE temperature should be more than 80°F. I keep the ambient temperature in my YF shed 85°F and there's a CHE Over one corner where they can sit and warm up more than 85°F.

Most probably ALL your tortoises' problems, including biting themselves, stem from not being warm enough.

Also theres red spots around where he's biting, do you think its a skin infection? Or just the cold.

 

[zovick]

Yep! This is my first year taking care of them, so I guess I need to do more research. Or just learn from my mistakes

You just have to hope that while you are learning, your mistakes don't kill your tortoises.

It is always a good idea to do a lot of the learning/research BEFORE you get the actual animal(s) you wish to keep. However, we all started somewhere, just the same as you have, and are trying to help you now to make things better for you and your animals.

You could try getting one of those oil filled radiators to give off extra heat in the tortoise area in your barn for next winter. It might even help you right now with keeping a more even temperature in your room until spring gets here for good.

Another thing to remember is that when tortoises are wild, they go in and out of the sun to regulate their temperatures. Even if the air is not 80 degrees, they can heat themselves up by sitting in a sunny spot for a while. If they get too hot, they seek shade and/or dig down into the leaf litter where they can cool off.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Also theres red spots around where he's biting, do you think its a skin infection? Or just the cold.

Could they be FIRE ANT bites?
That'd be my guess

 

[Chicken]

Could they be FIRE ANT bites?
That'd be my guess

Is aloe ok to put on him if it is?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Is aloe ok to put on him if it is?

Yes.
But it may not help.
If there are Fire Ants around, get rid of them

 

[Chicken]

Yes.
But it may not help.
If there are Fire Ants around, get rid of them

Oh, no. They're inside. And hes held on for 3 days now, if they were just fire ants hed let go. I also bought him some liquid vitamin because he hasn't been in the sun in the winter.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Oh, no. They're inside. And hes held on for 3 days now, if they were just fire ants hed let go. I also bought him some liquid vitamin because he hasn't been in the sun in the winter.

He won't need any vitamins. Just some Calcium with D3 Sprinkled on his food a few times a month.

 

[Chicken]

He won't need any vitamins. Just some Calcium with D3 Sprinkled on his food a few times a month.

He wont eat though

 

[ZEROPILOT]

He wont eat though

Im sorry to say that i believe that there is something seriously wrong with your tortoise.
He needs a veterinarians assistance.