Updates and little support needed

Pushkin's mom

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Jan 24, 2022
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Woodinville/WA/USA
Hi all,
I am adding my first post at the end here for anyone who don't know who I am...
so, since my intro post I took Sir Pushkin to see the Vet (it is a special clinic that take care of reptile and exotic animal only, my regular vet recommended them to me).
It was one month ago - the Dr. said that his poop sample was clean, but his shell doesn't look good, his eyes are puffy, and his white blood cell count is high.
I left that day with an antifungal/antibacterial cream (Silver Sulfadiazine) I need to put on his shell, 10 antibiotic shots that I needed to give him in 3 days apart (total of 30 days), he got shots of vitamin A & D, got his beak trimmed...
Last Friday I got him back for re-testing. his shell still not looking good, Dr. said to continue with the cream. I brought another poop sample (just in case) and this time they found warms (so now I am treating him for that as well) and I am still waiting on his blood work to come back to see if the antibiotic helped...
I know it will take a while, but I really want him to get better. the one good thing he gain some wight. the Dr. was happy about that...

I think his feeding could be better - I will go out later today and take pictures of all the greens that are growing around me and see if you can help me recognize them to add to his diet.
I am in the PNW - if anyone has something ready - would love to get a share.
right now, I am buying all of his greens (only organic) from the store: escarole, endive, napa cabbage, mix greens (W/O the spinach), radicchio, turnip leaves, red dandelion leaves, wheat grass....
he is refusing to eat any pallets (dry or wet) so I am dissolving them (Mazuri, zoomed grassland tortoise food and zoomed gourmet tortoise food) in water and cover the leaves I cut him in this dressing to make sure he is eating some. I sprinkle the top with repticalcium (+vitamin D) and Repashy superfood super veggie. he also got Thimothy hay and orchid hay available to eat or sleep in. I have never seen him eating that.

I am still soaking him almost daily. I changed his water dish :)

here are some pictures for reference.


Intro post - https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/thank-you-so-good-you-are-all-here.196057/#post-1990148
 

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Yvonne G

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Your little russian tortoise doesn't look too bad. I see a bit of eye puffiness, but the shell is just beat up because he's a wild caught tortoise. All wild caught russians look like that and some look even more beat up. His beak is starting to look a bit overgrown, but he's got a lot of nice new growth on the shell. The cream is not going to have ant effect on the shell. All those spots are old scrapes and injuries. They aren't hurting or bothering him.

Just FYI russians aren't grass eaters, so the Grassland Tortoise Pellets won't interest him. The Gourmet probably not so much either.

What type light do you have over him (that might explain the eyes)?
 

biochemnerd808

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Hi there, and welcome. Where in the PNW do you live? We lived in Vancouver for 12 years, but I have tortoise friends in the Seattle area and around Portland as well. There are a few sticky posts here in the forum about keeping tortoises in the Pacific NW. :)

For identifying greens, how about I write down the following list of greens I know for a fact are growing in the PNW this time of year, and you go on a hunt. You can use The Tortoise Table database (google the weed and The Tortoise Table to get the link):
Violets, sow thistle, nipplewort, cats tongue, hawksbit, wild mustard, bittercress, chickweed, miner's lettuce, dandelion, mallow, creeping jenny, alyssum, various brassica.

What antibiotic did the vet give you? Ceftadizime? Who is your vet? :)

The shell doesn't look terrible to me, unless there is active rot on the underside somewhere. The carapace looks like a normal wild caught tortoise who liked to climb around on rocky terrain.

What lighting do you use? If yoy have a 'curly' style UV light, it can cause puffy eyes.

I hope your tortoise continues to improve. Remember that in reptiles, everything happens slowly. Give it time.

During worm treatment you will need to keep him on newspaper, switching it out daily, so he doesn't reinfect himself. Sorry, he will hate it. The current substrate will have to be discarded. A second round of worm treatment will be necessary after 12 days. Then after 2 weeks after that, you can put normal substrate back in.
 

LoriR

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Sep 16, 2021
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Portland, Oregon
Hello! I'm newer to this, too, so I won't speak to much except something I've become very familiar with: food. I'm in the PNW too, and the weeds are starting to really go crazy. This is unforunate for me and my back, but is wonderful for my lil Steve! I highly recommend two apps: 1. Tortoise Table-you can look up plants to determine if they are good for your tortoise-They also have a website that has even more plant species on it https://thetortoisetable.org.uk/ ; 2. If you don't know what the plant/weed is, use the "Picture This" app. It allows you to take photographs of any weed/plant and it will identify the species you've photographed. There are a bunch of apps like this out there that do the same thing. You can then take that info and plug it into Tortoise Table.

Beware: We do have some poisonous weeds in our region. Ragwort, groundsel, black mustard, nightshade are some of the things I've found growing in my yard that are toxic to tortoises. This is not a complete list-Just things I have identified growing at my house and checking on tortoise table.

Of course, please only feed weeds and plants that have not had herbicides or pesticides used on them.

Sir Pushkin is super cute. Love his hame, too. :)
 

TeamZissou

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I would avoid the Repashy Superveggie because it contains excessive vitamin A. They put a photo of a tortoise on the label, yet it has way too much vitamin A to be safe, especially for your tort since he recently got a vitamin A injection which is risky as well.

Rep-cal Herptivite is the best and safest supplement for tortoises:

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Pushkin's mom

New Member
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Jan 24, 2022
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Location (City and/or State)
Woodinville/WA/USA
as always - this forum is not letting me down. so good to have you all.
I will try to answer to you all by order:

@Yvonne G - originally, Pushkin had distinctively white spots on his shell and the vet said it was a bacteria and the cream will take care of it. indeed, after a week or so the spots turned brownish and flake off. on the second visit (few days ago) the Vet said that under his peeling shell (there are few spots that are peeling) the new shell should be brown color and it is creamy white and indicates poor nutrition or husbandry and it will take a while to recover. She said that the cream won't hurt so I can continue.
here is a picture from yesterday to clearly see his peeling area:
pushkin 10.jpg
for lights I use the following:
pushkin 7.jpgpushkin 8.jpgpushkin 9.jpg


Do you think I should stop mixing the pallets as a salad dressing on his greens? he doesn't mind that...


@biochemnerd808 - thank you so much for the exciting hunt you planned for me! will update on a different thread how that is going. will make sure to post it with pictures for any future PNW reader.
I live in Woodinville WA (outside of Seattle). I read the sticky notes about the PNW outdoor enclosure - that is my next month project:) to get Sir Pushkin out to nature for the summer days.
the antibiotic was Ceftadizime - you are correct. my vet is from the Evergreen Avian and Exotic clinic.
there is no active rot thankfully. so sad to know that he is a wild caught. will try to do my best to give him good life after all he is been through.
will take care of the substrate as recommended. I do have on the schedule to give Pushkin another doze of the worm medicine in 12 days and another visit to the vet a week after that to check his poop again and determine on the next round. So I think we are good there as well.

@LoriR and @TeamZissou - Thank you so much!!!!

again - Tortoise Forum community - you are the best!

THANK YOU!
 

Ink

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In case I missed it, I apologize, how often and how much calcium do you put on the food?
 

Pushkin's mom

New Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2022
Messages
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Location (City and/or State)
Woodinville/WA/USA
I sprinkle it almost daily on top of his greens. it is so little, and he doesn't eat most of his greens anyway.
here is a video from the Ring camera I have for him (that was taken last week) I hope you can see the link:
Pushkin lunch
 

Ink

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I can't see the video hopefully an expert can help. Have you tried a cuttle bone? I use that so I don't give too much calcium. My opinion and what I use but wait for an expert please @TeamZissou might be able to help
 

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