Hey
So a brief introduction, this isn’t about my tortoise but my friends who I am very concerned about. I own two myself and they are doing well but my friends tortoise is concerning me big time and I need advice.
So my friend has an 8/9 month old spur-thighed tortoise. She (or he) is very small for her age, I don’t know full size but I know the latest weight for her was only 25g and I know my two are approaching the 40’s in grams and are also two months younger. This already concerns me.
So I was over today and I gave his tortoise a good check, she has gone very pale in colour, not sure if her shell is meant to be like a pale colour but I’m sure it never used to be that colour. She is also tiny, like so small and I’m sure if she is reaching a year old she should be about the size of my pinkie finger which she isn’t.
I turned her over to stroke the underside of the shell (which my two like but not sure if it’s right to do this) but I noticed that the shell of my friends tortoise is very “bony” is you can call it that and it has kind of like concaved itself in. It was also very soft too. I knew straight away that something was up and we did a bit of research together which highlighted to me that it could be early signs of metabolic bone disease. I don’t think she is getting enough calcium in her diet so I have told my friend to ensure he gives her more.
Is this it though or should we be more concerned? I only ask as my friend did initially have two tortoises but one died quite early on, we were told maybe because of a defect or something when she was born, but now I’m starting to worry that maybe it was something my friend neglected to see?
Advice would be welcomed please. I have asked my friend to give more calcium, like every meal if he has to and he has also bought cuttlefish. I am just worried that the damage has already been done and it’s too late?
Thanks for reading
Dan
So a brief introduction, this isn’t about my tortoise but my friends who I am very concerned about. I own two myself and they are doing well but my friends tortoise is concerning me big time and I need advice.
So my friend has an 8/9 month old spur-thighed tortoise. She (or he) is very small for her age, I don’t know full size but I know the latest weight for her was only 25g and I know my two are approaching the 40’s in grams and are also two months younger. This already concerns me.
So I was over today and I gave his tortoise a good check, she has gone very pale in colour, not sure if her shell is meant to be like a pale colour but I’m sure it never used to be that colour. She is also tiny, like so small and I’m sure if she is reaching a year old she should be about the size of my pinkie finger which she isn’t.
I turned her over to stroke the underside of the shell (which my two like but not sure if it’s right to do this) but I noticed that the shell of my friends tortoise is very “bony” is you can call it that and it has kind of like concaved itself in. It was also very soft too. I knew straight away that something was up and we did a bit of research together which highlighted to me that it could be early signs of metabolic bone disease. I don’t think she is getting enough calcium in her diet so I have told my friend to ensure he gives her more.
Is this it though or should we be more concerned? I only ask as my friend did initially have two tortoises but one died quite early on, we were told maybe because of a defect or something when she was born, but now I’m starting to worry that maybe it was something my friend neglected to see?
Advice would be welcomed please. I have asked my friend to give more calcium, like every meal if he has to and he has also bought cuttlefish. I am just worried that the damage has already been done and it’s too late?
Thanks for reading
Dan