The Cold Blooded News The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society Volume 28, Number 11;   November, 2001

Life With Thelma

by Rebecca Speer

Egyptian tortoise, Egyptian tortoise...mmmm? Chelonians are not my strong point, but "Egyptian tortoise" seemed to ring a bell. I called back. "I think that Egyptians are a small species, so I don't know if one would even be usable in the education department. We really do not have a place for another tortoise."

I would discover that Testudo kleinmanni, which is also known as the Egyptian or Kleinmanns tortoise, is indeed a small species. The males may reach a straight carapace length (SCL) of 4 inches (10.16 cm) and the larger females may reach a SCL of 5 inches (12.7 cm). Further reading revealed that this species likes cooler temperatures and does not do well in humid conditions. It was a good thing that we had turned down this donation, as our zoo is located in southwest Florida which is not known for a cool, dry climate!

I was back at work and a call came from the office. "Becky, the tortoise is here."

"What tortoise?"

"The Egyptian tortoise."

Oh boy. "OK, I'll be there in a couple of minutes." Some people just will not accept "no, thank you" as an answer.

A small box was on the counter and the top of a light brown carapace was visible. "Thelma" as I would learn was her name, was a very large female who would probably beat us all in the age category.

After introducing myself, I started to explain why the zoo could not take this animal. In the middle of the explanation, I noticed that Thelma was unable to pull her back legs into her shell. My first thought was that she was obese, but then I could see that the problem was something else. What is normally loose skin on the rear legs was ballooned out with fluid. I pinched one of her back feet and there was no response.

Thelma was a very sick tortoise and she had been brought to the zoo in the hope that we could help her. She had not been eating, defecating, urinating, or even moving around. The owner had not been able to find a veterinarian that could discover what was wrong with her. If we did not take her, she was going to be sent to a veterinary school where she would become nothing more than an experiment. We were asked to reconsider our answer.

What a dilemma. The zoo did not have the facilities for this species nor the staffing to care for such a critically ill animal. Looking at the face of this tortoise made the other choice unbearable. A decision needed to be made immediately as Thelma's owner was on his way out of town and needed to start on his way. The owner did not want the animal to return to his residence.

A decision was made. I would take Thelma.

At home I took a closer look at Thelma. Things were worse than I had thought as I could now see that the edema was also in the front part of her body. She was very lethargic and did not move her legs. I wondered how much longer she would live.

Holding her in my hands, I looked into her face and wished that she could tell me what was wrong. Then, I came to the realization that she WAS telling me what was wrong - I just needed to listen to her with my eyes, not my ears.

What would follow would be months of trial and error. It would mean giving her "physical therapy" for several hours a day. This meant soakings and moving her backs legs to stimulate urination. Sometimes it would take more than an hour to get results - that is if there were any results at all. I did not make things easy for her as I knew she needed to exercise in order for her systems to start functioning again. I would place her on the carpeted floor where she could get some traction and she would have to drag herself to her food. At the start, she could only pull herself along for 6 inches before she would be overtaken by exhaustion. This distance would gradually increase.

I believe the best way to explain Thelma's treatments and their results is through excerpts from my daily journal. These excerpts, which begin on the first day that she was in my care, follow:

29 April 1999:

Soaked. Passed lots of very yellow urine but no uric acid or urates. Edema now somewhat reduced. Put plate of chopped endive, escarole, romaine in front other. She chowed down! There is hope if she is still eating. SCL is 5 in.

30 April:

Soaked. Urine only. Ate escarole and cactus pad.

01 May:

Soaked 2X - nothing. Seems stronger as she is now able to get up on front legs and there is now lots of tail movement. I wonder if she is having trouble with gas in her digestive tract. Added Mylanta to her diet. Still eating.

02 May:

Soaked. Passed 4 large bubbles of gas. Mylanta added to diet again.

03 May:

No urine but passed lots of gas while sitting on floor. Will continue Mylanta daily.

04 May:

Soaked and passed lots of clear urine. More movement in tail and back legs. Edema is less. Is now able to pull back legs (especially left) into shell.

05 May:

Outside for some early sun. Started to pull herself around with front legs. Soaked and passed lots of gas. Back legs more active. Soaked again. Lots of urine and appears to be trying to have a bowel movement. Wt. 419.3 grams (446 grams on 09 April).

06 May:

First bowel movement and it was on her own. Looked normal. Took her to Calusa Herp meeting. Speaker Chris Clark was talking about tortoises. He along with others gave suggestions. Melon (sugars) and banana (potassium). Thelma refused both but did want escarole. No one seems to think her chances are good. Most think that it is kidney failure. I cannot give up as she seems to have a will to live.

09 May:

Defecated yesterday but nothing today. Is really bloated and lethargic.

10 May:

Some urine. Seemed to strain. Defecated (negative for worms). Legs are stronger, but still not using rear ones.

12 May:

Defecated. Full of vermiculite. I have been using newspaper as substrate. Soaked. Lots of urine and some gas. Defecated more vermiculite. Much more active now. Wt. 402.2 grams.

15 May:

Defecated. Sticky, globs of gelatinous, brown/red substance plus vermiculite.

18 May:

Soaked - nothing. Very bloated and really needs to urinate. Ate. Passed some urine, but really straining. Defecated. Full of vermiculite, chunks of bark and wood. Very tired. Wt. 428 grams.

21 May:

Early outside sun. Pulled herself around some. Tired rest of day. Passed gas and urinated lots but she is now exhausted.

25 May:

Ate a little. Not very alert. Fluid from nostrils. Keeps stretching out neck and opening mouth. Soaked. Nothing.

26 May:

Not really pulling herself around as she was. Swimming with front legs instead of getting up on them. Not very alert. Took to vet. Urine and feces while there. Feces full of sand, vermiculite, gravel, wood. Radiograph did not show any abnormalities. Edema is very bad today, even after urinating. Very lethargic. Diagnosis is grim - probable kidney failure. Wt. 440 grams.

27 May:

Soaked in saltwater. Lots of gas. Edema down some. More alert and better appetite. More active, but not as much as before. (Note: The veterinarian's diagnosis in combination with Thelma's deteriorating condition had caused me to reach the decision to have her euthanized. I had planned to take her that afternoon to the veterinarian. But before I took her, I decided to soak her one more time. The following results changed my decision.) Soaked for the third time today. This time in regular water. Passed lots of gas and urine. Did not strain this time - urine with every push. Edema down and walking on front legs again. Wt. 398.45 grams.

28 May:

Took to different vet. (Dr. Sandra Gross). Urine is low in protein and other levels are normal. More active than usual. Actually crawling without a food incentive. Able to now sleep with head and legs pulled in.

29 May:

Very alert. Started on Lactation to aid defecation. Appetite increased. Front legs strong.

30 May:

Still passing vermiculite and sand. Can now insert small finger into body cavity through rear leg opening. Back legs starting to show strength, but she is not using them.

10 June:

Edema is back. Her condition keeps going up and down. Soaked. Gas and urine. Crawling and moving both back legs forward in a walking motion for the first time.

17 June:

Started series of barium radiographs. (Note: It took one week for the barium to move through her and the results were negative.)

26 June:

Called John Coakley in Connecticut. Got lots of good husbandry help.

03 July:

Continuing to have problems urinating. She pushes and nothing comes out. Wonder if there is some blockage like a large urate. Held her in my hands, rolled her upside down, tilted her head downwards and then slowly rolled her back to the upright position but kept her head lower than her posterior. Results - lots of urine. I will continue to use this rolling technique. (Note: The idea for this rolling technique came about when I started to think about how one would get liquid out of a bottle that had a marble lodged in its neck.)

14 July:

Soaked. Urine after rolling technique, but then she kept pushing and pushing with no result. Rolled her some more and she passed a big glob of soft uric acid that had a hard center. First uric acid passed. Wt. 372 grams. (Note: We had been trying to schedule Thelma for surgery as we believed that a large bladder stone was causing problems. Surgery is especially serious in this species because of its small size, thick shell, and hinged plastron. She had been scheduled for the third time when she started passing urates on her own. Surgery was happily cancelled.)

30 July:

Seems to have finished passing debris in feces.

01 August:

Passed urates. Now actually pushing with back legs.

31 August:

Has finally finished passing urates. At times she was passing 10 grams worth. (Note: Many of the urates that she was passing appeared to have been part of a layer on a larger urate. They reminded me of pieces of a broken concretion. If not familiar with this type of rock formation, visualize pieces of the hard candy coating which have been broken off of a malted milk ball.)

04 October:

Walking more normally than ever - more of a walking instead of a pushing motion with back legs.

29 March, 2000:

Now stands on back legs. So, what had caused this Testudo kleinmanni to have so many problems? According to the people that brought Thelma to the zoo, she was not eating when they received her from a dealer three or four months earlier. My guess would be that somewhere along the way she became dehydrated, which resulted in a bladder full of large urates. Passing feces which were full of sand, vermiculite, bark, and wood indicates that she had been kept and/or fed upon an improper substrate. I also know from conversations that she had been kept an environment that was consistently too warm, and that only added to her problems.

Tortoises are tough creatures. I do not know of many living things that could have gone through what this little tortoise did and still have survived. People describe tortoises as "slow" and that is true when it comes to healing and, also, when it comes to dying. "Life with Thelma" has been written with the hope that there will never be another Thelma (the one that suffered, not the one that survived); that the information contained herein will never need to be used.

In closing, I would like to thank the following: Calusa Herpetological Society, Chris Dark, John Coakley, Dr. Sandra Gross and her staff, Andy C. Highfield.

References:
Highfield, Andy C. and Martin, Jill. (July 1995). Captive Breeding of the Egyptian Tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni). Reptiles Magazine. Irvine, California. Fancy Publications, Inc.
Wall, Jerry G. (1996). Tortoises: Natural History, Care and Breeding in Captivity. Neptune City, New Jersey. T.F.H. Publications. Inc.

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