Very sick baby sulcata

ben32hayt

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2012
Messages
392
Location (City and/or State)
Long Island, New York
Hi I have a baby sulcata that has been very sick for a long time. It has come to the point where s/he will not eat or drink and I am not sure what to do. I purchased this tortoise from lll reptile called them and they told me what to do but none of this helped, I even emailed them photos of my enclosure and they said I was good to go but needed to add a hide which I did. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I also wanted to ask if there are any ways I could force feed my sulcata. Thanks again, Ben
 

wellington

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,660
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Unfortunately he was probably started dry. Probably has some pyramiding too? Give him a long soak in warm water with baby food carrots in it. Others will have more advice as well. In the mean time give us all the enclosure info you can, temps, humidity, etc, etc
 

TortieLuver

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2009
Messages
1,738
Location (City and/or State)
Arizona
Can you upload a picture of your enclosure/setup like you did to the shop? Also include some information on setup, such as temps, what you feed your tortoise, access to water or soaks, and what is a long time for being sick? What other things did you see that you feel your tortoise has been sick awhile. Do you have a picture of your tortoise and the plastron/bottom shell?
 

ben32hayt

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2012
Messages
392
Location (City and/or State)
Long Island, New York
Sadly I can almost guarantee that my baby sulcata has hatchling failure syndrome, s/he has all of the symptoms and it doesn't help that I bought my sulcata from a retailer not a breeder. I am assuming s/he is coming closer to her last few days because her shell is getting much softer and it has been a while since she opened her eyes. ;( Thanks everyone for the help- Ben
 

BrinnANDTorts

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
958
I'm so sorry about your baby
How have you been keeping the baby sully?
What are the temps? The Basking temp, cool side temp, and night time temp?
What lights are you using, what is his Uvb source?
What is the humidity levels? High and lows?
Substrate your using?
A pic of the enclosure would be great
Are you soaking everyday? What do u feed and how often?
 

TiyahLove

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2013
Messages
146
Tom said:
Read this:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-23493.html

See if any of this sounds familiar.

Tom, I really don't like the term hatchling failure syndrome. Myself and one other user feel that it is a very vague term. Yes they get weak and have trouble drinking and eating, even opening their eyes, but there is a reason for that particular thing. Kidney failure.
What about the other times that people have had hatchling failure syndrome? When I lost bumblebee they where right off the at to say hatchling failure syndrome, but going back through bumblebees history that baby had everything perfect and I know the breeder very well so she was started off in very good conditions. Once she got here she got everything she needed as well so there was absolutely no way it was kidney failure.
Upon further investigation after she passed away there was a large amount of fluid draining from her lungs. They took several x-rays and there was a blockage in her stomach and there was something in her lungs. Basically what had happened was she became impacted either eating a piece of substrate from my enclosure or the breeders it remains unknown where it came from, but because of the blockage she could not digest her food, causing her to gradually stop eating. As she got weaker she managed to inhale a piece of her food and because of her being so weak she could not cough it up. From her lungs continuously coating themselves in mucus she practically drowned herself.
Bumblebee showed every symptom of HFS but never had it. I wouldn't just jump to HFS unless you have done everything possible to prove something out. It's such a vague term that if we don't figured out what is actually wrong we will never learn from the mistakes we have made.
 

ben32hayt

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2012
Messages
392
Location (City and/or State)
Long Island, New York
Sadly she passed today, I just wanted to thank everyone for the help. Sorry I couldn't get back to you guys. I have been pretty busy.
Thanks again,
Ben
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
TiyahLove said:
Tom, I really don't like the term hatchling failure syndrome. Myself and one other user feel that it is a very vague term. Yes they get weak and have trouble drinking and eating, even opening their eyes, but there is a reason for that particular thing. Kidney failure.
What about the other times that people have had hatchling failure syndrome? When I lost bumblebee they where right off the at to say hatchling failure syndrome, but going back through bumblebees history that baby had everything perfect and I know the breeder very well so she was started off in very good conditions. Once she got here she got everything she needed as well so there was absolutely no way it was kidney failure.
Upon further investigation after she passed away there was a large amount of fluid draining from her lungs. They took several x-rays and there was a blockage in her stomach and there was something in her lungs. Basically what had happened was she became impacted either eating a piece of substrate from my enclosure or the breeders it remains unknown where it came from, but because of the blockage she could not digest her food, causing her to gradually stop eating. As she got weaker she managed to inhale a piece of her food and because of her being so weak she could not cough it up. From her lungs continuously coating themselves in mucus she practically drowned herself.
Bumblebee showed every symptom of HFS but never had it. I wouldn't just jump to HFS unless you have done everything possible to prove something out. It's such a vague term that if we don't figured out what is actually wrong we will never learn from the mistakes we have made.

I agree. No argument here. Did you read the very first sentence of that thread. This term has been used in the "business" for many years and its been used as a "catch all" kind of phrase.

I had a similar situation to yours. It seems the breeder would leave his hatchlings on their perlite incubation media for a few days while they absorbed their yolk sacs. Well, sulcatas eat the media during this time. I can't say for sure that other species do, but I wouldn't risk it. Anyway, they show typical "failing to thrive" symptoms and necropsy revealed "a gray sandy sludge lining most of the intestinal tract and blocking it in places".

Still, yours and my scenario are pretty exceptional from what I have seen, and the majority of these cases are due to kidney failure brought on by chronic dehydration.

I'd like to see none of them die...


ben32hayt said:
Sadly she passed today, I just wanted to thank everyone for the help. Sorry I couldn't get back to you guys. I have been pretty busy.
Thanks again,
Ben

Sorry to hear that Ben.


R.I.P. little one.
 

BeeBee*BeeLeaves

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Messages
2,312
Location (City and/or State)
Orange County, So Cal
So sorry Ben! It's always sad to read these posts. Sometimes they just do not get back on track from either being dry originally, or from eating some of that vermiculite (possibly the cause of that impaction) after they hatch, as stated above. Big bummer. : (
 

lighthiker2

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
185
Ben32hayt, I am sorry for your loss. It is gut wrenching to lose a little one that you tried with all your ability to save. I believe all animals have a heaven and trust your little one is better now. Blessings.
 

New Posts

Top