Red Foot tortoise face growth

[David howarth]

My red foot tortoise gets frequent face growths. They go away and come back maybe once a month. Any idea what it is? I will make a vet appointment soon.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

No idea what it is, but I'm going to ask some of the same questions I ask when someone posts about baby sulcatas with yellow bumps.

Where did you get the tortoise from?
How long have you had it?
How long have you noticed the growths on the face?
Do you have any other reptiles?

@mastershake

 

[David howarth]

No idea what it is, but I'm going to ask some of the same questions I ask when someone posts about baby sulcatas with yellow bumps.

Where did you get the tortoise from?
How long have you had it?
How long have you noticed the growths on the face?
Do you have any other reptiles?

@mastershake

I got it from an expo
i got it in January
In march I temporarily housed a sulcata with the redfoot and the growth appeared around the same time.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

I got it from an expo
i got it in January
In march I temporarily housed a sulcata with the redfoot and the growth appeared around the same time.

Where did the sulcata come from?
Was it a baby?
Did you notice any yellow bumps or yellow spots on the sulcata?
How has the sulcata been doing?

@mastershake @Tom @KarenSoCal

 

[Pastel Tortie]

@David howarth Is Ellensburg in Washington state?

 

[David howarth]

@David howarth Is Ellensburg in Washington state?

yup

 

[David howarth]

Where did the sulcata come from?
Was it a baby?
Did you notice any yellow bumps or yellow spots on the sulcata?
How has the sulcata been doing?

@mastershake @Tom @KarenSoCal

Sulcata came from Ballands tortoise ranch. It was hatching and seemed sickly when I got it. But no yellow dots or bumps. Its still pretty sick i think it dying.

The only issue I've had with the redfoot has been its face. I really like the red foots and would like to focus on them but i don't want to infect another redfoot with the face growth.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Sulcata came from Ballands tortoise ranch. It was hatching and seemed sickly when I got it. But no yellow dots or bumps. Its still pretty sick i think it dying.

Is it a normal looking sulcata, or a special morph (ivory, albino)?
Do you know how much the baby sulcata weighs?

Maybe I should just ask you to start a new thread about the sulcata in the Tortoise Health section. Or maybe we could ask a moderator to move this thread over there with the other lesion type issues we've been seeing lately... ?

 

[David howarth]

Is it a normal looking sulcata, or a special morph (ivory, albino)?
Do you know how much the baby sulcata weighs?

Maybe I should just ask you to start a new thread about the sulcata in the Tortoise Health section. Or maybe we could ask a moderator to move this thread over there with the other lesion type issues we've been seeing lately... ?

Its a regular sulcata. It's never passed 60 grams. I think they only fed it lettuce and that's all it eats. I tried so many other things. I feel bad saying it but perhaps some babies are just duds.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

The only issue I've had with the redfoot has been its face. I really like the red foots and would like to focus on them but i don't want to infect another redfoot with the face growth.

I hate to say it, but... Assume whatever the redfoot has is highly contagious. Assume the sulcata has it as well.

Definitely hold off on any more tortoises (or any kind of reptile) until this gets sorted out.

 

[David howarth]

Yeah its vet time!

 

[Pastel Tortie]

If you have time, you may want to read up on some of the threads about yellow bumps or yellow spots (and the occasional yellow fungus) in the Tortoise Health section. When we have updates or more information about the yellow bumps, that's where you're likely to see it.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Yeah its vet time!

Do you have a good reptile veterinarian?

 

[David howarth]

There's one nearby IDK how good it is though
What do you do if you have a tortoise that can never be in a group because it has some infectious disease? What is the ethical decision with a sick tortoise?

 

[Pastel Tortie]

This may be (at least partly) what's going on with the sulcata.

"Hatchling Failure Syndrome"

I've heard this term for many years and I don't like it. Its a way to excuse our ignorance and failure. I will agree that an occasional hatchling is born that is just not going to make it no matter what anybody does, but MOST of them, if they make it full term and hatch, SHOULD survive and...

www.tortoiseforum.org

In this particular situation, there may be a disease component as well (possibly more than one).

 

[Pastel Tortie]

There's one nearby IDK how good it is though
What do you do if you have a tortoise that can never be in a group because it has some infectious disease? What is the ethical decision with a sick tortoise?

Good question. Depends on the situation. Depends on the disease(s) or condtion(s). Depends on prognosis, quality of life, any number of factors.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

There's one nearby IDK how good it is though
What do you do if you have a tortoise that can never be in a group because it has some infectious disease? What is the ethical decision with a sick tortoise?

I'd wait for the vets diagnosis before jumping the gun.
It might be a foreign body infection or something else that is treatable and not contagious.
Do get him to a vet before he gets near any other tortoises

 

[crimson_lotus]

tort has a very sweet little face. hope its nothing too serious

 

[mastershake]

so im waiting for full details from the lab now BUT we do know this is contagious and not only to sulcata. so it can def have come from the sulcata, the sign of them not growing also tells me the sulcata may have what we are looking at (we have the same symptom here with 2) i can NOT be 100% sure its the same thing. but if your vet would like to take a piece off and send it to the lab doing the testing for this please message me and i will get you instructions to do so.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Note to @Yvonne G or another moderator:

Please move this thread into the Yellow Bumps subforum.

Thanks!