Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Got 4 baby leopards 4 months back did great. Two weeks ago one stopped eating. And died in a week. Now another is doing same. A third was doing great. Eating etc. no issues. Dead in cage this morning. The fourth is doing fine now. Two lights including uv. Calcium. Proper foods soaked in warm water on paper towel changed daily. Have kept torts for 50 years. Never had this issue with any other species that i bought or hatched. Any ideas.

Have you ask the seller or breeder if they had any die. A necropsy might help. Very spooky. Did you know if they were losing weight even thought eating. I had cases were torts were eating BUT not with vigger. If you kept weights maybe you can tell. I've also known the Alfalfa pellets (the dehydrated kind) can exspand in the gut when water is taken in. The Tort will dehydrate almost instantly. If you have worked with them for 50 yrs then you might have noticed if they were dehydrated looking suddenly. Very disribing to have a feeding animal die.This is all I could think of in my experence, but would be freeking too! Good luck and let us know what you find out. Vic

there is an alert issued on the Tortoise Trust website for viral
infection (herpes) in tortoise collections in Europe
they include a case history involving leopard tortoises -
sorry for your troubles

Hi Wayne (I think that is who posted this message anyway). From the wording of your email, I am not quite sure if you bought these Leopards or hatched them yourself. If they were purchased from a dealer or a breeder, you might want to check to find out whether they have experienced this problem themselves at their own facility or had any other reports of similar problems from other buyers of their stock. If so, ask if anyone has had a vet look at one of the sick ones or do a necropsy on a dead animal to see what caused it to die. Knowing that, you mighty be able to treat the ones you have which are still alive.

Were these babies kept by themselves or were they in with any others? Do you have any other sick animals now?

As Vic said, a necropsy might help you determine how to treat any other sick ones and prevent more deaths if that is possible.

What was the origin of the babies? Where they really babies or 4inches ?

>>Got 4 baby leopards 4 months back did great. Two weeks ago one stopped eating. And died in a week. Now another is doing same. A third was doing great. Eating etc. no issues. Dead in cage this morning. The fourth is doing fine now. Two lights including uv. Calcium. Proper foods soaked in warm water on paper towel changed daily. Have kept torts for 50 years. Never had this issue with any other species that i bought or hatched. Any ideas.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care