smelly tortoise

[Denise aka Martini]

My leopard tortoise who is 7yrs old is still showing signs of unrest, climbing the walls, pacing around the house, and earlier when i picked her up she had a clear sticky liquid dribbling out of her cloaca, and it smelt very strong, kind of an acidy smell if that makes sense to anyone? Aplogies if it sounds disgusting . Just wondered if anyone has any ideas plz?

[84KB11]

Could be egg bound?

I would take her to the vet for an x-ray, just in case.

If you do not already have a good tort vet try:

Chris Artingstall
The Rowe Veterinary Hospital
Bradley Green
Wotton Under Edge
Gloucestershire
GL12 7PP
Tel: 01453 843295 (24 hours)
www.rowevetgroup.com

He is the best one locally to us.

Hope she gets well soon,
David

[fantapants]

Originally Posted by Denise aka Martini

My leopard tortoise who is 7yrs old is still showing signs of unrest, climbing the walls, pacing around the house, and earlier when i picked her up she had a clear sticky liquid dribbling out of her cloaca, and it smelt very strong, kind of an acidy smell if that makes sense to anyone? Aplogies if it sounds disgusting . Just wondered if anyone has any ideas plz?

doe she have a nesting site? it certainly does sound like she is carrying eggs and is looking for a place to lay. the stringy liquid is the mucuc that surrounds the eggs, acting like a bungee cord so they dont get broken as they drop into the nest. you need a large area of soil, around 4ft square minimum and atleast 12-15 inches deep. she will also need to be full of fluids and really well warmed up to nest.

[Denise aka Martini]

How much calcium should i be giving my leopard if she is pregnant?

[EVIEMAY]

I would give it to her daily Denise - I made mine little calcuim cakes too.

I had one of my leopards induced but my other female had a clutch of 10 eggs 2 weeks ago - I knew she was ready as she was pacing from 7.00 am - luckily it was a warm day so she laid in the garden but she took 7 hours to dig and in the end we had to make up a cover so she was protected from the rain.

Is this her first time?

[fantapants]

Originally Posted by Denise aka Martini

How much calcium should i be giving my leopard if she is pregnant?

i use equal amounts of nutrobal and calcium with all my reptiles across the board. but i also use MVB lamps and that decreases the need for D3 in the nutrobal. depends on what sort of uvb you have.......you CAN overdose your tort on oral D3 so need to be careful to keep the balance right.

[Denise aka Martini]

a nesting site should consist of soil and sand is that correct, should it be equal amounts of both? As said earlier not sure if she is pregnant, am waiting to make an appt with my vet. What happens if a tortoise cant find a suitable laying site or just refuses to lay how long do you wait? Im just guessing at the moment,until i get confirmation. So will keep everyone posted.

[fantapants]

Originally Posted by Denise aka Martini

a nesting site should consist of soil and sand is that correct, should it be equal amounts of both? As said earlier not sure if she is pregnant, am waiting to make an appt with my vet. What happens if a tortoise cant find a suitable laying site or just refuses to lay how long do you wait? Im just guessing at the moment,until i get confirmation. So will keep everyone posted.

a nesting site can be just soil......leopards will be perfectly happy to dig a hole in the garden in the summer. every symptom you have mentioned is an indicator of being gravid so i would strongly suggest arranging a nesting site URGENTLY and consider the vet appointment only if she hasnt laid within a week. if she doesnt lay the eggs, they can become over calcified and have to be removed via surgery if she cant pass them. surgery is VERY invasive and very expensive too as no insurance companies cover breeding issues. MOST pacing girls will lay as soon as they are presented with a suitable site and enough warmth.

EDIT-----your vet will confirm the eggs with an xray, i am very reluctant to expose my animals to that level of radiation until i have exhausted all the "natural" and obvious routes. it would be much cheaper, and less stressful on the tort for you to buy a few sacks of compost and wait a week. chances are, she will lay on her own without medical intervention.

[Denise aka Martini]

I have soil already, perhaps it needs to be thicker, maybe im worrying about nothing, im alittle worried about having her xrayed i gotta admit, how should i keep it warm at night, i have a heat mat where she is up against her wall, but the bit where i have made her nesting bed doesnt have anything apart from her lamp during the day?

[fantapants]

Originally Posted by Denise aka Martini

I have soil already, perhaps it needs to be thicker, maybe im worrying about nothing, im alittle worried about having her xrayed i gotta admit, how should i keep it warm at night, i have a heat mat where she is up against her wall, but the bit where i have made her nesting bed doesnt have anything apart from her lamp during the day?

how big is she? what does she weigh?

how you control the heat depens on what sort of environment it is. is it a table? a shed? free roaming? i control my leopards night time heat as they are in my reptile room overwintering and the temps never drop below 20c. if yours is in a table i would suggest getting a ceramic heat lamp and a stat to keep her warm as that doesnt interfere with the photo period.

a daytime lamp above the nesting area is good, she will need fully charged batteries .

just as a note, most heat mats dont increase tnhe ambient temperature at all. they are infra red and will only heat what is actually touching them over periods of time.