Tortoise Info. PLEASE!

[GooglezNvincent]

I just received this e-mail and was wondering if any one can help me give some helpful advice.

i have a small indian star tortoise here is what is wrong with him:
sunken eyes
watery eyes
lose feces
very runny nose
light wieght
inactive
and a severe cold
if i can do anything please give me tips or cures thank you.
I have been keeping different breeds of torotises over the years but they never got problems like these please help me and my tortoise.

Thanks Ya'll

 

[Vegas Chad]

Sounds like its too cold for start, that will cause most of this.

Possible parasites.

URI.

Dehydrated.

Maybe Tyler will pop in here?

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Definitely very dehydrated and some upper respiratory problems at the least. Could be pneumonia, but make sure that tortoise is in quarantine! If it has mycoplasma or a herpes virus that can be very contagious, impossible to truly cure, and sometimes fatal to other species. I would at least start by making sure it is warm according to its species requirement, but since it's inactive make sure it doesn't get too warm since it probably won't move to a cooler area. Twice daily warm water soakings will help with the dehydration. But without a vet visit to get it started on the appropriate antibiotics it probably will not have enough strength to pull out of it on its own.

I'll take it!

 

[Julio]

I just received this e-mail and was wondering if any one can help me give some helpful advice.

i have a small indian star tortoise here is what is wrong with him:
sunken eyes
watery eyes
lose feces
very runny nose
light wieght
inactive
and a severe cold
if i can do anything please give me tips or cures thank you.
I have been keeping different breeds of torotises over the years but they never got problems like these please help me and my tortoise.

Thanks Ya'll

we need a little more information, such as temp the animal is kept at? enclosure setup? ari circulation? diet?

 

[kinyonga]

Can't give you a definite answer....but here are some sites that talk about some of the symptoms....
"There are several factors that can increase the chances of your tortoise getting RNS - dusty conditions, foreign bodies lodging in the nostrils, inappropriate humidity or temperature, lack of sunlight and the accompanying dampness, confinement in damp grassed areas with no access to sand, overcrowding, malnutrition, stress, and a deficiency of vitamin A"...
http://home.earthlink.net/~rednine/RNS.html

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/commondisease.html

 

[fluxlizard]

They need to get the tort to a vet for antibiotics for the URI and then read up on proper husbandry for that species paying special attention to things like temperature and humidity and make corrections to the environment. Probably the tortoise caught a chill somewhere along the way possibly combined with too humid or not humid enough environment and other stresses.

Bottom line- when they look like that, prognosis isn't the greatest and if they want the tort to stand a chance, they need professional help and antibiotics at this point.

 

[GooglezNvincent]

Thank you for all that helpful information guys and gals! I sent an e-mail with all the info to help the person.