WOW!! a really EXCITING picture!! (attention to those who know ayana's story!)

[moswen]

OOOOHHHHHH i can barely contain myself in order to not look like a crazy person when i type this! ...i can barely sit still long enough to type this lol!!!

okay, for those of you who know/have been following ayana's lack of growth and almost dying on me... remember this picture?

if you do, good. it's the last picture i've taken of yana's progress, after i separated her from mos and fina, and after she was able to eat without me holding a spoon up to her face.

NOW! here's the EXCITING picture!!!!!!!!!:

...don't see anything interesting about this photo? i'll give you a hint: look BETWEEN her scutes! a thousand hugs of excitement to the first person who gets it!!

 

[Torty Mom]

Yay!! It's a growth line!!!!

A thousand hugs right back at you and Ayana!!

What do you think was the most important thing that changed her situation? Did she ever eat mos' poopies? Or do you think it was having her OWN home?

I am so excited for you!!! Your are an awesome Tortie Mom and you are doing an awesome job!! I am sooooooooooooooo happy for you!!!

 

[Isa]

Yayyy I am so happy Ayana is doing better! You did and still doing an amazing job with her

 

[Yvonne G]

That's a whole lot of new growth she's showing there! Yippee!! Is she in a habitat all by herself?

 

[terryo]

Finally some good news. That's wonderful!

 

[Tom]

Looks like you got her over the "hump". She'll be one of the ones that make it. Nice work and very happy for you.

 

[moswen]

oh thank you everyone! i'm bouncing on my toes and really trying to restrain myself from holding her and petting her and telling her she's such a good tortoise lol!! somehow i don't think it would be recieved the same from a tortoise as a puppy... -

yes she's in her own home still!

and as to the most important thing i did... honestly, i'm torn. i obviously think that separating them was the first and BIGGEST step to her recovery when i noticed her slowing down and not eating, i just don't know how even if she was being bullied by mos, she could stop growing. i understand not eating and giving up, and hiding all the time, but not growing while she was eating? i even saw her bite mos's spur on his front leg so hard that he pulled into his shell! and he was coming up on her trying to push her away from her food, and she shure showed him who was boss! i really thought she was the bullier at that point... but if someone has information there please speak up! but the most important... hmm...! i did several things differently. here they are:

three things i notably did differently and they all involve diet: (well, 4 but that's only if you count separating her)
1) i fed her terry's stinky cactus and mazuri concoction. this was a mixture of cactus pads, mazuri, calcium powder and vits (the pink bottle of rept-cal), and a chunk of cuttlebone, all blended up together. i gave this to her every day, which i normally only feed mazuri once a week and cactus every few days.
2) i used maggie's miracle baby food carrot soaks every day for a while until she started perking up, then i went to every 3 days when she started walking around and eating on her own. i also discovered her affinity for carrots, up until then i never fed any of them carrots, so every day i either fed her a sprinkle of peeled and diced carrots that i peeled with a potato peeler, or i boiled carrot sticks and mashed them up, so she always had one of the two available to her every day. i gave her less since i fed it every day bc i know carrots are not a good daily food, but i noticed on the days i didn't give her any carrots she wouldn't eat, so i would sprinkle some chopped carrots onto her food and move her back to it, and she'd dig right in.
3) i fed her organic yogurt, just a dab mixed in with the cactus gunk, only once, the morning after the vet that recommended this on one of the threads i put up about yana. i only did it once, and that was several weeks ago, i don't know if it works or not if you only feed it once, but that is the last thing that i did differently for yana, and it was administered at a far enough away time that she could have benefited and grown from it, but it was not too far away that you could discount it. i THINK... does anyone know anything about growing in relation to feedings and stuff?

now, i also gave her constant access to mos and fina's poo, but she had that before when she was living with them, so i wouldn't count that as the divining factor, but i'm sure i would not say that it didn't help!

 

[terryo]

You put your whole heart into this, and it's working! Wonderful!!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Great!