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    Pyramiding

    I would ask what are the temps at various locations in the enclosure (warmest and coolest)? You can also run into problems if they are basking most of the day. That often indicates air temps are too cool, so they bask excessively, which counteracts the benefit of higher humidity. Normal...
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    Help identifying tortoise species and gender!!

    I’m not sure we know life expectancy for sure but I would imagine at least 50 years. For an outdoor pen I would try to do at least 4x8 feet in size with a lot of plants, both sun and shade areas, and a hide. Here is an 8x8 pen. I think bringing him indoors to brumate is wise. During...
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    Preventing cross contamination.

    On the original topic, some thoughts: Do not keep large numbers of animals together where they can contact each other - especially if you have species that are rare or have conservation value. It is smarter to keep multiple small groups or even house them individually. Treat each group as if...
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    Help identifying tortoise species and gender!!

    @Juliaboris 1. This is a Chaco tortoise. I am 100% certain. The reason it was initially incorrectly identified as a sulcata tortoises is that so few people in the US have actually seen or worked with Chaco tortoises. 2. I am pretty sure you actually have a male, not a female. This is...
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    Abnormal growth lines?

    Some of the scutes are "stuck together" and are not growing apart properly. Hard to say for certain why this happens, but I have seen it before, generally on hatchlings that I've bought versus ones I have hatched myself. I suspect this tortoise was not growing properly just after it was...
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    Where to Buy - Western Hermann

    Be patient. Watch for ads on morphmarket or faunaclassifieds. Usually they show up a few times a year. A couple of suggestions: 1. Your best odds are to buy directly from a breeder and from someone fairly small / specialized (to hopefully minimize risks of diseases or the tortoises being...
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    Best practice of cleaning eggs before incubation?

    Eggs can safely be washed and disinfected with dish detergent. There are valid arguments both for and against doing this. However, it’s becoming more common that captive bred hatchlings are infected with various diseases, including austwickiosis and TINC, in the US. These diseases can most...
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    Bell's Hingeback and Testudine Intranuclear Coccidiosis - A Case-study by Aaron Johnson

    @wellington you are way off base here. Aaron is doing better than anyone else in the US with this species - and has multiple clutches of eggs to show for it. He’s got at least a couple decades of experience with tortoises and is one of only a handful of successful Chaco tortoise breeders. He...
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    How does Austwickia (yellow bumps) spread?

    I did not have a lot of time to reply earlier, but I agree with discarding the stuff if you can. Definitely whatever that touched the tortoise directly, if it is porous at all, will be difficult to properly sterilize. This stuff doesn’t have enough value to be worth the risk or cost of dealing...
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    How does Austwickia (yellow bumps) spread?

    Should not be airborne. My belief is it’s likely spreading through contaminated soil in most cases, and perhaps fecal material.
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    antibiotics

    For what it’s worth: I have used Baytril a few times. It clearly causes great pain at the injection side as tortoises would “baby” that let afterwards, for a few days. But it also worked, even in a case where fortaz wasn’t working. I understand the preference for fortaz for most cases...
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    incubator trouble

    You are very lucky it failed in that manner. Overheating is much worse and would have killed the eggs. I’ve had this happen and heard of several other instances, seems to be a common problem with reptile egg incubators. The repti-bator seems to be the simplest and perhaps less failure...
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    Expected Delivery from Garden State Tortoise

    Out of curiosity, did you get your tortoise finally?
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    Hermann in winter: plan in NC?

    No, they were moved back outside when the weather warmed. When it cooled again they dug back down on their own. I only fed them a small amount and only on the first day or two after bringing them inside, so they didn’t go back to sleep with a full stomach. We are prone to having warm snaps...
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    Hermann in winter: plan in NC?

    I am in South Carolina and have some eastern hermanns as well. i have allowed mine to brumate outside. This species is probably the best fit for this area being as our climate is very similar to their native range in Eastern Europe. However if you’re going to attempt it, you want to be...
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    Indian Star makes squeaking, whining sounds and no nasal discharge

    Some respiratory infections do not result in a runny nose but still have the other symptoms as you are seeing. Also it may not be a full blown infection yet but will assuredly turn into one if temperatures are not corrected. Provide heat 24/7 so that the tortoise is kept at 85F or more until...
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    Whitei(?) care advice needed

    This statement is not correct. T.g.whitei is currently recognized/ approved after being unrecognized for a while. This happened because T.g.graeca was reassigned and is now the valid name for tortoises previously called T.g.soussensis which is now an invalid name. Oddly, when graeca was fixed...
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    Whitei(?) care advice needed

    It is one of the North African subspecies for sure. It is very hard to differentiate tortoises from Libya all the way to Morocco visually, so I would not be certain it is T.g.whitei without DNA testing being done. Care is not grossly different than for other Greek tortoises, but there is...
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    TYPE OF TORTOISE

    Lol. I think it’s a desert tortoise. But certainly an odd looking one.
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    Help is this shellrot? My Redfoot losing plastron scutes

    Is it possible she got the fabric off and came in contact with the hot warmer directly? Or maybe it got wet / peed on so the heat transmitted through more? Tortoises are dumb when it comes to heat from underneath. They will not necessarily crawl off of a warm object even if it is burning...
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