Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently got a 2 month old leopard tortoise. I had him for about 3 months and I came home to find him dead. I fed him green leafy lettuce along with collard greens, mustard greens, and occasional fruits and some dried grass (not sure which kind... got it from my tortoise loving friend). He had a full spectrum light for about 14 hours a day along with a heat pad at night. He also got a water bath just about every day. About a week before he died I took him in to see his brothers and sisters at the pet store and he had grown to be almost DOUBLE their size so I assumed I was doing a good job at taking care of him. When I found him dead he had spit up a little bit of blood. Can anyone give me some kind of a reason for his death??? I am clueless as to what may have happened and am hoping that someone can help so that it does not happen again if I decide to get another Leopard Tortoise in the future.

I am so sorry.. you just never know.. I doubt if there was anything that you did!

I've kept mine on a light timer of 12 hours.. with a place to hide.. mainly dandelions and weeds to eat (no fruit).. clean water to drink/soak in at all times.. plain Rabbit pellets for substrate.. 80 degree temp range.

I've sold all of mine.. (can't help that way).. I wish I could help more. Don't give up.

Terry

I am really sorry hearing about your loss.

Of course nobody will be able to tell the cause for sure, but if the temps were o.k. (so he didn't get too hot and got dehydrated, which could cause kidney failure), one possibility would be the fact, that you let him visit his 'friends'.
Letting torts visit other torts or other reptiles is never a good idea. Even the shortest contact might be enough to make them pick up a virus infection (check the Tortoisetrust website 'Articles' section for more info), that can have serious consequences.
That is why one always should quarantine new animals, and why adding new animals to ones established ones always bears a certain amount of risk.

One other thing,- even though I don't know that much about leopards: I think, that they are very badly equipped in terms of sugar digestion. Which means, that they should not be fed fruit from what I know. As they don't have the kind of gut bacteria to digest the fruit properly, certain bacteria as well as potentially present parasites can take over and have a potentially lethal effect.
Did you have your baby vet checked / treated for parasites after aquiring him?

Best of luck,- try not to get discouraged,
Gaby

I know how you feel & am sorry for your loss. The 2nd tortoise I got was a hatchling leopard. He was given everything he needed to survive & was doing fine for about 6 months. One day he seemed a bit sluggish & the next day he was dead. No idea why. A risk with any baby reptile is occasionally you come across one that fails to thrive

he did not come in contact with the other babies so that could not have been it... who knows... now I'm just a little apprehensive to try another tortoise