Urgent: Help needed. Herpesvirus confirmed in hatchling

Meganf

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Hello,
I am a new tortoise owner and I am looking for help from people with experience with tortoise herpesvirus. I received a phone call from my vet this morning with test results that confirmed my 3 month old red foot hatchling is positive for tortoise alpha herpesvirus. My tortoise is very ill and has been for almost 2 weeks. My vet said the prognosis is poor to guarded. I'm hoping to hear real life experience from people so that I can know what to expect. I know this is often fatal, but my vet said there is the possibility that he will improve. Thank you so much.
 

Meganf

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I decided to post additional information in case this is helpful for others. Keep in mind, I'm a brand new tortoise owner and have zero experience in identifying illness etc.

My tortoise is about 3 months old. I received him when he was approximately a month old. A month after I received him, I noticed he was less interested in certain foods. I thought he was just developing favorite foods. Around this same time, he started making a clicking sound. Not a whistle, not a gurgle--a click. I looked it up and thought it might be normal (stridulation). I'm still not sure if this is a sign of anything, but it may be worth noting. My tortoise still had the same amount of energy so nothing was alarming to me. My tortoise eventually began having dry eyes. I thought it might be a sign of dehydration, so I began brining him to his water bowl throughout the day. I did daily soaks for 20 minutes, and I brought him to his water bowl to drink during the afternoon and evening before sunset. Every time I did this, my little guy would always drink and his eyes looked normal after a drink. All of this occurred around 2 months old--so about mid-to-late June.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago (about Saturday, July 23rd), I noticed my tortoise had become less active and his eyes looked more dry even with the multiple water soaks. I thought this could be typical hatchling behavior since they tend to sleep a lot, but I also was considering the possibility of an upper respiratory infection. Because of this, I increased his humidity so that is was close to 90-100%. Come Monday, I knew something wasn't right. I really thought it was a respiratory infection. He started eating much less and hardly even drinking anymore. He rarely moved when in his enclosure. I was able to get an appointment to see a vet so I took him on Thursday, July 28th. The vet immediately suspected herpes, which I was completely surprised about, and a possible bacterial or fungal infection. I agreed to testing, and they sent swabs away to the labs to test for herpes as well as a "MiDOG" test. I received antibiotic drops and 'Critical Care' to try to feed him, while we waited for the results. He ate the following day, but has not eaten on his own since. I took him to the vet on Monday for force feeding of 'critical care' and scheduled another force feeding for today. Before the appointment today, I received a call from the vet. The results came back and my tortoise was positive for tortoise alpha herpesvirus and was given a "poor-to-guarded" prognosis. He also tested positive for an infection. I can't remember if I was told it was bacterial or fungal, but I do remember that my antibiotics work for whatever it is.

I guess that's all I can think of. I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say.
 

mastershake

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i have now seen multiple cases where they tested for both the herpes and the austwickia bacteria side by side. being in fl i wish they would have sent the samples over to dr oz he has far better understanding of these things and has the experience with all this stuff. im curious if they did just the swab or did they actually send a piece of the tissue away and was pcr testing done? was the other things they mentioned mycobacteria? midog has missed the austwickia bacteria in our testing when it was sent out to be tested so i dont really know how reliable it is. just some things im curious about. also who did you get this baby from were they here in fl?
 

Meganf

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Location (City and/or State)
Tampa, Florida
i have now seen multiple cases where they tested for both the herpes and the austwickia bacteria side by side. being in fl i wish they would have sent the samples over to dr oz he has far better understanding of these things and has the experience with all this stuff. im curious if they did just the swab or did they actually send a piece of the tissue away and was pcr testing done? was the other things they mentioned mycobacteria? midog has missed the austwickia bacteria in our testing when it was sent out to be tested so i dont really know how reliable it is. just some things im curious about. also who did you get this baby from were they here in fl?
They only used a swab for testing. They did not take any tissue samples. When the vet first told me tortoise herpes, I was so shocked that a lot of the information that followed was a blur. I honestly cannot recall if he mentioned mycobacteria or austwickia. I'll be back to the vet on Saturday and I'll ask for a copy of the results, maybe it'll have the information on there about which bacteria were tested. I may or may not be able to talk with the vet on Saturday since it is just for force feeding , so if that's the case, I'm going to make a follow up appointment to ask more questions.

I've been told this is typically fatal. Has this been your experience? The vet said the prognosis is "poor to guarded", but I don't know what makes him say it is guarded, rather than just poor. I'll be asking him these questions when I get a chance, but I just don't want to get my hopes up.
 

mastershake

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can you tell me who specifically that may help here? if we have seen it from them it may help you know. you can message me if you dont want to post it here i will not post it here either unless you want me to. i would def like to know though. we have a very detailed list of tracking all this we are keeping.
 

Meganf

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can you tell me who specifically that may help here? if we have seen it from them it may help you know. you can message me if you dont want to post it here i will not post it here either unless you want me to. i would def like to know though. we have a very detailed list of tracking all this we are keeping.
I'll private message you.
 

Meganf

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Today, when I picked up my tortoise, I noticed his carapace is incredibly soft. His plastron has been soft for a while, but now his carapace is too. I'm thinking he may not have much longer to live :(
 

mastershake

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im so sorry. im finally going to be allowed to leave tonight they kept me all day. it doesnt sound good. i feel so bad for you and your baby. i know this is tough but if you do decide to do the necropsy if they do pass i can get you all the info you need and the form you would need to fill out for them at the lab. this might answer a lot of questions for you. and please know this is not in ANY WAY AT ALL your fault. there is nothing you did that could have caused this at all so please do not think that in any way.
 

Meganf

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im so sorry. im finally going to be allowed to leave tonight they kept me all day. it doesnt sound good. i feel so bad for you and your baby. i know this is tough but if you do decide to do the necropsy if they do pass i can get you all the info you need and the form you would need to fill out for them at the lab. this might answer a lot of questions for you. and please know this is not in ANY WAY AT ALL your fault. there is nothing you did that could have caused this at all so please do not think that in any way.
Depending on the cost, we would definitely like to do a necropsy
 

Meganf

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im so sorry. im finally going to be allowed to leave tonight they kept me all day. it doesnt sound good. i feel so bad for you and your baby. i know this is tough but if you do decide to do the necropsy if they do pass i can get you all the info you need and the form you would need to fill out for them at the lab. this might answer a lot of questions for you. and please know this is not in ANY WAY AT ALL your fault. there is nothing you did that could have caused this at all so please do not think that in any way.
I’m glad you will be able to leave tonight! And thank you for the reassurance about my little guy. I can’t believe how difficult this has been. I truly would never have even imagined something so sad
 

mastershake

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its usually around 90-110$ roughly. i could be slightly off but that approx the normal cost for a baby.
 

mastershake

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i also know this is VERY hard to hear but if they do pass once you are okay and ready please let me know and i will send you to a few people i fully trust you will get a healthy baby from that is if you want to and once you are ready. also as i said i do not really ever recc re using anything after something like this. i know sometimes that is hard but its def the safest thing. that cost is to test EVERYTHING also along with a full report etc. they are VERY thorough there. now that they may have this in their stock i dont recc looking to them for another baby now. i hate to have anyone have to go through this twice. i do know someone who will get us with them soon and i guess they have some questions also regarding what all of this is etc. at least that was the info i got from a friend today who knows them down there. remember we are always here for questions for anything even care questions etc.
 

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