African Leopard tortoise check up?

[CherryBerry]

Hi everyone,
I have a tortoise who I got when he was a baby in 2009 at Christmas, and I was just wondering a few things. He is an African leopard tortoise btw

So first of all I was wondering if his eyes seem ok, as in his lids look fine and eyes look healthy. I worry he gets dehydrated even though I do bathe him and he constantly has water there for him, but I'm probably just a paranoid owner, I want the best for him.


I was also looking at his nails, I've noticed a black one, I don't think its dirt, does anyone know why this is? The rest seem fine. He hides his back legs when i want to check it by cleaning so I'm not sure what it is.


And finally this is his shell, I just want to make sure this seems like correct growth to you, I give him his calcium as required and such, but I just want to check.


I'm probably just being paranoid about everything but I just want to check with fellow tortoise owners. I will most likely be taking him to the reptile shop we got him from to see what they think too as they have lots of tortoises and advised us on taking care of them.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

The eyes look fine to me.

The black nail is just pigment. Leopard tortoises have dark and light spots of skin and that particular nail is growing out of a dark part of the skin, so it's dark too.

The shell is slightly pyramided, but that's because you've raised him on dry pellets. He would have grown smoothly is you had used a moist substrate like coco coir or cypress mulch or orchid bark.

That's a very nice-looking leopard tortoise you have there.

 

[tortoise5643]

Yes he does have some pyramiding but its not terrible. This can be prevented by daily soakings and high humidity. The toenail looks fine to me but let others chime in as well. That substrate is not good for the tortoise, plain dirt or coco coir is MUCH better.

 

[CherryBerry]

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

The eyes look fine to me.

The black nail is just pigment. Leopard tortoises have dark and light spots of skin and that particular nail is growing out of a dark part of the skin, so it's dark too.

The shell is slightly pyramided, but that's because you've raised him on dry pellets. He would have grown smoothly is you had used a moist substrate like coco coir or cypress mulch or orchid bark.

That's a very nice-looking leopard tortoise you have there.

Thank you for the reply, is the pyramiding at the moment anything to worry about? I was advised that the substrate I am currently using was good for the tortoise but after reading the advice on here I will be ordering new substrate as I want the best for him, of course. And thank you, he is my little baby.

 

[CherryBerry]

Yes he does have some pyramiding but its not terrible. This can be prevented by daily soakings and high humidity. The toenail looks fine to me but let others chime in as well. That substrate is not good for the tortoise, plain dirt or coco coir is MUCH better.

Thank you, we were misinformed as we were told that substrate was correct for the tortoise. I will be getting new substrate for him soon as I wouldn't want to cause any problems. When you say soaking him daily, should I give him a little bath every day? Have you any other tips to help prevent anymore pyramiding?

Thank you again, the help is much appreciated.

 

[CherryBerry]

Thank you for the replies, I will be ordering a different substrate for him, I was told that the dry pellets were right for him by the shop owners but clearly it isn't. I want what's best for him as he is precious to me! Any tips on food for African Leopard tortoises? I want to give him a more varied diet, any suggestions?

 

[teresaf]

@Tom has all the must read links memorized for a leopard tortoise. Hopefully he can chime in. If you increase the humidity you need to keep the temps up in the enclosure above 27 to reduce risk of RI. You've been following pet shop advise so are you using the coil type bulbs? THey have been know to blind torts....Leopards LOVE dandylions, mushrooms and cactus pads... they just pounce on them. Oh and Mazuri nuggets (not mazuri LS pellets-yuck) are great too, soaked. Baths are just a couple inches of warm water for him to wade around in or soak. High enough to cover the area where the top and bottom shells meet. phew! I'm done. lol

 

[crimson_lotus]

The advice given so far is great, I just wanted to add that his beak is a bit long. I would offer cuttlebone or perhaps start feeding him on some kind of rock or slate surface. A lot of the members use terracotta saucers, so when they eat, their beak scrapes up against it.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Unfortunately most pet shops give horrible old outdated advice. We here on this forum are trying to fix that, but so many people find the pet shop first and us later. Most of the products that pet shops sell are also useless or dangerous for tortoises. THe hardware store has most of what you need.

Here are the threads that explain everything:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hatchling-failure-syndrome.23493/