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| Mystery Skin Condition - HELP! Posted: 23/02/2015 by allinedepaula |
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Hi all, Our little Horsefield, Roxy, has been struggling with a skin condition that no vet or specialist we consulted seem to be able to identify. Maybe you can help me? Here is an account of her case, and pictures attached. We got Roxy from a petshop back in October, they believed she was about 6 to 8 weeks old then. At first she was fine, eating well and very active. Towards mid November she slowed down quite a bit, would only eat if hand fed and very little. We took her to a vet, who found a cut on her neck while examining her. The vet pulled the skin off, leaving a raw skinned wound behind. She prescribed 5 days of Baytril, cleaned the wound and gave us Hibiscrub to clean the wound at home, plus Chloramphenicol and Soother Plus for the wound. We took her back the following week, the wound was better and Beirbre was happy to take her off Baytril and the creams. She also prescribed a course of 5 doses of Panacur, as our other tortoise had worms and she said Roxy would need it too (although she was not tested for worms). The following Sunday after her second dose of Panacur, Roxy had really bad diarrhea and started to gag. We were told by other tortoise keepers that 5 doses for her size was too much, and Panacur would aggravate it if she was already poorly. We stopped Panacur immediately. A month later she had another wound on her neck. Once again the skin fell off leaving a wound. This time we noticed it made it very hard for her to open her jaw, which we think is the reason why she won't eat much. Since then, she has had two more broken skin episodes. She is kept on a tortoise table with top soil, but at the moment we removed the soil and keep her on a towel. Temperatures are kept at about 30-37 degrees for 12 hours a day, along with a UV lamp. At night temps would go down to early 20s. Humidity is kept at 50-60% at all times. They are both fed a mixture of salad leaves, weeds and Mazuri and Komodo pellets, although at the moment we feed her apples, bananas ans cucumbers more often than we would like, but we want to keep her eating. We also soak her at least once daily, and we've been putting Critical Care on the water to keep her hydrated. > We have been talking to quite a feel keepers, and one them in America told us about this condition he observed in Hermann hatchinlins: due to high humidity during their first few weeks, they develop nodes/nodules under their skin that escalate to open wounds. He said he never saw it in Horsefields or in slightly older tortotoises like Roxy. If that is the case, he said Iodine and patience are the only way. She did have a mole/wart looking lump on her neck when we got her, see picture attached. Any help would be greatly appreciated! | |
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| Re: Mystery Skin Condition - HELP! Posted: 25/02/2015 by sky |
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How often do you bath your Tortoise, by keeping up hydration will help your tort with it shedding skins...but please dont be tempted to pull loose skin off or apply cream. re the cuts abrasions on your torts skin, l think its time you found a herp vet.. for sepcialist advice. | |