Hi every one,

My 4 year old daughter droped Spike this am and he craked a small part of his plastron. He was bleeding so I got him to the Torty vet who has removed some of the outer plastron and has bandaged him up and he will come home later today on antibiotics and need to go back in 4 days to check for infection and if he is clear they will then put a patch on his shell.

The vet told me Spike was in shock which is why he developed diahorrea when I was taking him to the vet. What can I do to help him with this?

Also he wont be able to go outside or get wet so I cant bath him how is the best way to keep him hydrated?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Tracy and Spike

Hi Tracy,

Sorry to hear about Spike.

The best way to keep him hydrated is to offer high liquid foods such as cucumber and to wet down his food before placing it in his enclosure. Whilst the cucumber is of little nutritional value it does have a very high water content. Romaine lettuce is also very high in water.
No doubt your vet has advised you to keep him warm so the AB's are effective and his immune system is up and running.
May I ask if you use Nutrobal at all? This will assist with the healing of the plastron and should be spinkled on his food at a quantity of one pinch/kilo of tortoise.

Please do keep us informed of his progress.

HTH
Kindest Regards
Darren

Hi Darren,

Yes he does have nutrobal on his food and i will go get him some cucumber and the lettece u mentioned.

Im just setting up his encloser and have got him a combined heat and uv lamp at 125w. Spike is a spur thigh how high above his enclosure do u recommend putting his lamp? as the vet has said he is to be kept on newspaper and im worried about the fire aspect with the news paper.

Many thanks for getting back to me.

Tracy and Spike

Hi again,

As in previous posts I have said Spike has soft poop as im changing his diet to weeds ect. His poop was like water on the way to the vets is there any thing i can do to help him with this?

Many thanks again for all your help

Tracy and spike

As your vet said, it was probably the shock that made his stools runny. Once he settles down, hopefully this will rectify itself. A good supplemented weed diet will assist with the long-term firmness of his stools.
Try and purchase the organic/peticide free cucumber/Romaine for his hydration.

It is certainly a worry having newspaper in his enclosure, but I would imagine this is to keep the wound and dressings clean and not a long-term suggestion? I would be inclined to ensure your tortoise cannot burrow under the edges of the newspaper, so to lift the edges towards the lamp and run the risk of the newspaper igniting. It would be a good idea to tape the newspaper (around the edges) to the encloure floor (so the whole of the floor is covered) and add some shredded paper on top of this. Add a piece of slate, or the likes, so your tortoise has a platform to feed from.

HTH
Darren


You need to situate the lamp at a height that produces a basking area of 90 deg f.

Hi,

Many thanks for all your help spike is back at home and in his new table setup and really enjoying his new lamp.

A big thank you to all of you that have given me and spike some much needed advise and help.

All the best
Tracy and Spike

You're very welcome:-)

Glad he's back home Tracy & hope all's well.

TC
Darren

Hi I am a new member and would like to help so sorry about spike but small children and tortoise do not mix or more of what has happend will happen again. your diet seems to be totally wrong. this tort needs to have lots of grasses,flowers,weeds, avoid lots of fruit  can have alittle apple occasionly you have picked as a pet a dry arid tortoise so please read as much as you can go on the internet and read about your tort. do not listen to just any one find out for youself and good luck  Jean Barraclough ps only use a reptile vet if you havent already

Hi Tracy,

How's Spike doing today?

Thought this link might help, if you've not come across it already for his new weed diet:-

http://www.tlady.clara.net/id16.htm

Did you manage to set up his new lamp OK?

It would be worth adding a cuttlefish to his enclosure. Whilst it's not as easily digested as limestone flour, it does give him the option to regulate his own calcium intake.

HTH

Kindest Regards

Darren