Sick Hermann Tortoise :(

Can anyone give me any advice or tell me why this has happened to Speed. In the past week and a half his condition has quickly diteriorated, he is six years old and never had any problems with anything. A week and a haf ago i was putting some lettuce in his tank and noticed he had a few scales missing on his front right leg, it was bleeding a little but didnt look too sore or to be bothering him. I told my boyfriend and we decided to take him to the vets the next day (he needed his beak trimming too) and she told us it was because he was overweight and couldnt lift his shell up enough to walk so it was rubbing on his legs, she trimmed his beak and we left. I changed his woodchipping substrate to paper towel immediately to avoid infection and i hoped it would help him walk better. The next day a lot more scales had come off and it looked quite sore, over the next two or three days i watched him closely; three of his legs had lost over half the scales supposed to be there and had swolen and looked very fresh and sore. We took him back to the vets where they gave him some cream, fuciderm gel, for the swelling. I have been applying it twice daily as it says but it hasnt done much to be honest, i can see he is in a lot of pain but the vet didnt seem concerned both times we took him in. I had a good think yesterday and over all the panic i've had about his health getting so bad so quickly i hadnt noticed something quite important - he hasnt been to the toilet what so ever since i changed to paper towels - whether he hasnt been before then is hard to tell as it does blend in with the woodchippings with him walking around and mixing it in, there was some poo in his wood chippings when i emptied his tank but that could have been there for a week or so.

Yesterday he stopped eating, he hasnt touched his food. He slept all day under his UV light and didnt move. His paper towel is constantly covered in blood and puss as the bottom of his back left foot is in the same condition and it doesnt stop weeping. I have been taping cotton wool onto the edge of his shell with medical tape everyday since the first time i took him to the vets but it hasnt helped. I was hoping the cotton wool would stop him rubbing his legs and cutting them and then he can begin the healing process but his scales come off even with the cotton wool. I feel so sorry for him, he looks absolutely miserable. I soaked him in the sink in warm water for ten minutes just now and he is wrapped in a towel snoozing at the moment. If this has happened to anyone else's tortoise or anyone knows of anything i can do for him, anything at all, to help him heal or to stop the pain or something! I would appreciate it so much, thankyou

He's now not using his back legs at all, seems hard for him to move about his tank and refuses to eat at all. Could this be gallstones? I thought he could have a skin disease resulting in his scales falling off and loss of appetite but it must be more serious than that. Can anyone help? I don't want to lose him

Pop in to a forum called www.thetortoisetable.org.uk they are a very friendly group and with any luck someone might be able to help you out.

Fingers crossed for you that he makes a speedy recovery.

Thankyou, i have posted on there now too

Brilliant, how is he now?

did you take him to a reptile/exotic specialist vets? I hope he's okay and that he gets well soon

I took him to a reptile specialist in Leeds, he stayed there overnight where they forced fluids and gave him anti biotics but he didnt respond much to them. He had septicemia (sp) blood poisoning. They thought he might have been getting better but he passed urine with blood in it and looked as though he was getting worse this morning. We decided it wasnt fair to put him through anymore stress or pain. R.I.P Speed <3

awww I'm so sorry to hear about Speed.
RIP little guy x

Oh Marnie I am so sorry to hear this. I wish you could have gotten him better

I'm really sorry Marnie. RIP Speed

So so sorry Marnie, RIP Speed

Thankyou for helping him through that hard stage in his life and for helping me through it too