Wobbly walking

[turtlepiano]

My teenage/adult sulcata is wobbling when he walks. I live in Phoenix and we are transitioning to winter so there are some changes right now in diet and environment. In a previous post I noted he is eating chunks of top soil from the winter grass. I’ve penned him up so now his primary diet is Timothy hay and dandelion. Any suggestions/concerns about the significant change in his gate? He swings his butt side to side and stumbles as he walks.

Thanks,
Trent

 

[JoesMum]

Can you video it? Maybe with your phone? Post a video to youtube and then link to it here

 

[JoesMum]

Can you video it? Maybe with your phone? Post a video to youtube and then link to it here

 

[turtlepiano]

Yes. He is sleeping in his hole right now but I will video tomorrow. Thanks

 

[turtlepiano]

Here is a link to the video. He is moving better today. My theory is he was eating topsoil from newly seeded grass and not getting enough nourishment so I have him on the side yard eating hay, dandelion and a little bit of strawberry.

 

[turtlepiano]

From this angle you can see the buckling of the back legs

 

[JoesMum]

I see what you mean about him swinging his butt, but have no idea why it would happen. @Yvonne G have you seen this before?

 

[MPRC]

Occasionally my torts walk funny if they have something stuck in their shell poking them. Sometimes its a stick or something spiny and sometimes its just a chunk of poo. I'd take a look at his undercarriage to be sure.

 

[Yvonne G]

I've seen that in tortoises lacking calcium

 

[turtlepiano]

Thank you all for your input. I will keep with the diet and he will hopefully improve

 

[turtlepiano]

So, we got the blood work results back and apparently he had a mild scorpion sting. All better now though. Thanks again for all the input!

 

[JoesMum]

So, we got the blood work results back and apparently he had a mild scorpion sting. All better now though. Thanks again for all the input!

Now that’s a new one for me... especially as we don’t have scorpions here!

It’s definitely something that’s going in the memory banks though. We are so used to our torts being armour plated that it’s easy to forget that something like a scorpion could do serious damage.

Thank you for updating us and I am glad your tort is recovered.

 

[LoutheRussian]

My immediate thought was poisoning from either chemicals from fertilizer or a sting or bite from something. Glad you got it worked out.