Tortoise diseases
There are many environmental factors that can spoil the health of your tortoise. Proper attention and care should be provided to pet tortoise in order to prevent it form diseases. Proper precautions should be taken to reduce the possibility of disease in tortoise. Some of the common tortoise ailments are mentioned below with their respective treatment.
Common tortoise ailments:
1. Swollen tortoise eyes: This is the swelling around the eyes which is mostly appeared due to the unhealthy environment. This ailment can be prevented by keeping your pet tortoise environment clean. It can also be appeared after hibernation or sudden drop in temperature. This can be treated with medicines such as fiver percent solution of Protargol or Argyrol. If your tortoise is suffering from this ailment then keep your tortoise out of the water for at least four hours after applying this medicine.
2. Tortoise Scratches sand Bites: This ailment should be treated as early as possible. This can be treated with antibiotic cream or powder. After applying the medicine keep your tortoise out of the water.
3. Tortoise soft shells: It is a dangerous disease and it should be treated at an early stage. This ailment can cause the death of small tortoise. It is caused due to the deficiency of calcium and lack of sunlight. It is essential for owner to supply proper amount of calcium to his pet tortoise ion order to prevent it from this disease. This ailment can be treated with by the addition of calcium lactate or simply a block of plaster – of Paris to the water. Hatchling suffering from this ailment should be provided with a natural diet. You can serve water snails, small fish and mosquito larvae to your hatchling in order to prevent it form this ailment. You can also add medicines such as aureomycin or terramycin in the tank in order to treat the tortoise from this ailment.
4. Tortoise respiratory infections: The respiratory infections are mostly caused due to low temperature of enclosure. It is important for you to detect this disease as early as possible because it is a very deadly ailment. The common signs of this ailment are drooping of the head, lack of the usual alertness of eye, discharge from the mouth and nose in the form of bubble or liquid and loss of appetite. You can prevent your tortoise form this ailment by raising the temperature of the enclosure. Medicines such as Sulphamezathine, aureoyamycin or sulpadiazine can be used for the treatment of this ailment. The medicine of this tortoise should be served in the liquid form approx. 30 mg per day. This process should be repeated for three to four days. If you didn’t’ notice any sign of improvement in your tortoise then you should take it to vet.
The basic reason of ailments in tortoise is unhealthy environment. It is important for owner to provide healthy environment to his pet tortoise in order to prevent it form disease.