Madagascar radiated limping

Ayana

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Hello everyone. My radiated started limping. He hasn't injured it, I don't know what may be the reason of it. Maybe that's because of his shield deformation? It has been deformated for years(look photo). He is not that active type of tortoise (I have also Asian turtle which always runs as Usain Bolt), but still my radiated is quite active, eats a lot and so on. Don't know what to do.

712c3136-1491-4e13-8141-5eb90194db4a.jpeg 712c3136-1491-4e13-8141-5eb90194db4a.jpeg 3dbe1dd2-dfdb-4068-a5d2-bc843426dc25.jpeg
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome!

I don't see that the shell is deformed??? Maybe he pulled a muscle or something. We really have no way of knowing.
 

TammyJ

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What a beauty! Have you checked the care sheets for this type of tortoise?
Check to see if there is something lodged somewhere in the skin up under where his legs come out, or any swelling or cut.
 

Pearly

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How about giving him nice warm long bath, then check him over under really good light, look at all the crevices, scales, skin folds, look for injuries, foreign body, insect bites, parasites, etc. Look at both hind legs, hips, butt area
 

zovick

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Hi, and welcome!

I don't see that the shell is deformed??? Maybe he pulled a muscle or something. We really have no way of knowing.

The seam between the last central scute and the last right costal scute has stopped growing. If you look at the photo, you can see that the areolae of those two scutes are very close together rather than spaced apart as they should be as the areolae of the other scutes are. This throws off the "symmetry" of the animal because it causes oddly misshapen scutes as you can see if you look closely at the back of the pictured tortoise.
 

zovick

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Hello everyone. My radiated started limping. He hasn't injured it, I don't know what may be the reason of it. Maybe that's because of his shield deformation? It has been deformated for years(look photo). He is not that active type of tortoise (I have also Asian turtle which always runs as Usain Bolt), but still my radiated is quite active, eats a lot and so on. Don't know what to do.

View attachment 208559 View attachment 208560 View attachment 208561

Can you take the tortoise to a good vet to have an X-ray picture of the leg which is involved? It may have a type of bone cancer which would show on an X-ray picture. Hopefully, though, it is not that, but if you don't know any other possible explanation, that is what I would recommend.

I once had A Radiated Tortoise which began favoring one leg and DID have bone cancer (osteosarcoma) and in the end needed her leg amputated. This is how I know and why I recommend the vet visit if you cannot think of any other reason the tortoise would be limping.
 

Pearly

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Can you take the tortoise to a good vet to have an X-ray picture of the leg which is involved? It may have a type of bone cancer which would show on an X-ray picture. Hopefully, though, it is not that, but if you don't know any other possible explanation, that is what I would recommend.

I once had A Radiated Tortoise which began favoring one leg and DID have bone cancer (osteosarcoma) and in the end needed her leg amputated. This is how I know and why I recommend the vet visit if you cannot think of any other reason the tortoise would be limping.
Oh man! That didn't even cross my mind! I am sorry you had gone through such bad experience. Here I still hope it's a ... thorn stuck in that foot, or jagged edge of the shell rubbing on soft flesh, or bunch of ticks stuck in the groin causing localized inflammatory response, or some other soft flesh wound that reopens every time she tries to move this leg. I'd check all the moving parts: foot/ankle, knee, hip joints, check for swelling, bruising any skin changes. Let's hope and pray it's one of the things listed above which should be pretty easy to fix. Good luck. My healing joojoo going your/your Tort's way. Please keep us posted. You know that where more than one person get together and turn their hearts to Divine Power, the Impossible and unheard of starts happening
 

TammyJ

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Watching and hoping for the best!
 

jorg

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I also have one Where the scutes stay together, hope it begins to growImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1496293612.980740.jpg
 
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