A few people have asked to discuss this, so I have opened a new thread.
The full story 2012-14 can be seen in these threads
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...-tgg-with-a-one-track-mind.48004/#post-461301
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hormone-implant-for-male-tgg-with-a-one-track-mind-2013.70814/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hormone-implant-for-male-tgg-with-a-one-track-mind-2014.92930/
In a nutshell, we had a pretty bad time with Joe 2011-12. He had an URI. Then he followed that up with excessive testosterone levels that led him stop eating and drinking and he got repeated liver infections.
His testosterone reading was 59.5
Having got a very bad reputation for bad behaviour at my vet, he was given a Suprelorin hormone implant in 2012. This works by flooding the system with testosterone, which seems counter-intuitive, but after 3 weeks of even worse behaviour Joe settled down and started eating and gained weight and hibernated successfully.
Post implant testosterone was 0.3
Mark, my vet, said the implant is used in zoos so they can keep groups of male animals of all types together and it's even used on over-aggressive male birds. This is an exotics practise - they have an elephant calving expert! He had no record of it being used in tortoises, so had no idea how long it would last, but decided write Joe up as a paper. In fact he treated another male tort a few weeks later as well.
Spring 2013 and his testosterone was still 0.3
Roll forward to spring 2014 and Joe came out of hibernation fighting. So I took him straight back to the vet who described him (with a grin) as "a swine" and the implant was done again. His testosterone was at 16.35, nowhere near the 2012 level, but still high.
So two years later, where are we?
Joe came put of hibernation relatively well behaved. He's been butting things throughout this, but he has been eating and drinking and gaining weight. All good
BUT... his behaviour is deteriorating. This last week his pacing is getting much, much worse and he has bulldozed through his fence twice which he has never done before.
So the jury is out and I am monitoring his weight and eating. I will not rule out another implant this year though I would prefer not to if I can.
The full story 2012-14 can be seen in these threads
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...-tgg-with-a-one-track-mind.48004/#post-461301
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hormone-implant-for-male-tgg-with-a-one-track-mind-2013.70814/
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/hormone-implant-for-male-tgg-with-a-one-track-mind-2014.92930/
In a nutshell, we had a pretty bad time with Joe 2011-12. He had an URI. Then he followed that up with excessive testosterone levels that led him stop eating and drinking and he got repeated liver infections.
His testosterone reading was 59.5
Having got a very bad reputation for bad behaviour at my vet, he was given a Suprelorin hormone implant in 2012. This works by flooding the system with testosterone, which seems counter-intuitive, but after 3 weeks of even worse behaviour Joe settled down and started eating and gained weight and hibernated successfully.
Post implant testosterone was 0.3
Mark, my vet, said the implant is used in zoos so they can keep groups of male animals of all types together and it's even used on over-aggressive male birds. This is an exotics practise - they have an elephant calving expert! He had no record of it being used in tortoises, so had no idea how long it would last, but decided write Joe up as a paper. In fact he treated another male tort a few weeks later as well.
Spring 2013 and his testosterone was still 0.3
Roll forward to spring 2014 and Joe came out of hibernation fighting. So I took him straight back to the vet who described him (with a grin) as "a swine" and the implant was done again. His testosterone was at 16.35, nowhere near the 2012 level, but still high.
So two years later, where are we?
Joe came put of hibernation relatively well behaved. He's been butting things throughout this, but he has been eating and drinking and gaining weight. All good
BUT... his behaviour is deteriorating. This last week his pacing is getting much, much worse and he has bulldozed through his fence twice which he has never done before.
So the jury is out and I am monitoring his weight and eating. I will not rule out another implant this year though I would prefer not to if I can.
