ale92
Member
Hello all,
I am a new member on this forum, but had a red eared slider growing up, so I'm a little familiar with turtles (maybe not so much tortoises, hence my questions here). This is a long story, so I apologize in advance. So I recently bought a 12 inch long adult Redfoot male from a breeder. He arrived perfectly healthy and is eating like a pig. Anyways, a few days ago I stopped by Petco to get some supplies for him, and I saw they had a Redfoot that was discounted at $189. It was in a tank that was horribly small. We're talking 4 feet by 1.5 feet. The food in their food bowl was shriveled up greens, and humidity was at a dismal 35%. I really felt terrible for it. I thought about the tortoise over the weekend and today I stopped by Petco again just to see if the tortoise was still for sale. He was, so I asked one of the employees if I could take a look at it. The tortoise seemed responsive, eyes were clear, and his scales looked fine. The employee told me the poor thing had been at the store for months because no one wanted to buy him. He also said once they sell this one they would not stock Redfoots again due to their low demand. He told me if I was interested he could try to lower the price to $161. I left without the tortoise, but I'm really conflicted still about going back and buying him. I know we should all stick to breeders like I did for my current redfoot, and that buying from Petco/ Petsmart means I'm just funding them to get more poor animals to sell, even if they really don't sell Redfoots anymore. However, I just feel so bad for this tortoise. Now the employee to his credit seemed very knowledgeable about tortoises and lamented with me that the enclosure was definitely too small and the care was substandard, but unfortunately this is a very busy Petco so I completely understand that he can't devote all his time to one tortoise, and management likely has the final say in enclosure size. And now my dumb heart is telling me to go back to Petco and bring this little guy home to give him a better life. So enough with the back story. I attached a couple pictures I took of the tortoise. My questions follow below the pics:
1) Obviously because of the low humidity he already has some pyramiding at only 7ish inches long. How severe is this pyramiding? I'm ok if it's only "cosmetic" damage but I'm concerned if this pyramiding already has some internal damage. I'm aware pyramiding isn't reversible.
2) I know it might be hard to see in the photos, but the top of his shell has some white marks where his shell rubbed against the too-small hide. Petco doesn't allow customers to touch the animals because of COVID so I couldn't feel the white spots but it doesn't look like layers are peeling off or anything. Nevertheless, I was wondering if any of you seen this white marks from rubbing, and if it will eventually heal/ if there is any treatment I need to do if I buy him? Is having shell damage like this a good reason not to buy him?
3) At $161 it seems cheaper than most breeders who seem to ask $250 for RF's of the same size. I'm not worried about the price, so much as the origin of the tortoise. Being almost $100 cheaper than reputable breeders can't be a good thing. Looking at tortoiseforum it's been mentioned that Petco gets their Redfoots from tortoise farms in South America. Those posts were from 2010, so does anyone know if Petco still gets their Redfoots from farms? I prefer to stay away from wild caught.
From what I've read on this forum it's not a good idea to house two males together, so I'm prepared to build another enclosure if I bring this one home. Thanks so much!!! I've never agonized this much over an animal like this before.
I am a new member on this forum, but had a red eared slider growing up, so I'm a little familiar with turtles (maybe not so much tortoises, hence my questions here). This is a long story, so I apologize in advance. So I recently bought a 12 inch long adult Redfoot male from a breeder. He arrived perfectly healthy and is eating like a pig. Anyways, a few days ago I stopped by Petco to get some supplies for him, and I saw they had a Redfoot that was discounted at $189. It was in a tank that was horribly small. We're talking 4 feet by 1.5 feet. The food in their food bowl was shriveled up greens, and humidity was at a dismal 35%. I really felt terrible for it. I thought about the tortoise over the weekend and today I stopped by Petco again just to see if the tortoise was still for sale. He was, so I asked one of the employees if I could take a look at it. The tortoise seemed responsive, eyes were clear, and his scales looked fine. The employee told me the poor thing had been at the store for months because no one wanted to buy him. He also said once they sell this one they would not stock Redfoots again due to their low demand. He told me if I was interested he could try to lower the price to $161. I left without the tortoise, but I'm really conflicted still about going back and buying him. I know we should all stick to breeders like I did for my current redfoot, and that buying from Petco/ Petsmart means I'm just funding them to get more poor animals to sell, even if they really don't sell Redfoots anymore. However, I just feel so bad for this tortoise. Now the employee to his credit seemed very knowledgeable about tortoises and lamented with me that the enclosure was definitely too small and the care was substandard, but unfortunately this is a very busy Petco so I completely understand that he can't devote all his time to one tortoise, and management likely has the final say in enclosure size. And now my dumb heart is telling me to go back to Petco and bring this little guy home to give him a better life. So enough with the back story. I attached a couple pictures I took of the tortoise. My questions follow below the pics:
1) Obviously because of the low humidity he already has some pyramiding at only 7ish inches long. How severe is this pyramiding? I'm ok if it's only "cosmetic" damage but I'm concerned if this pyramiding already has some internal damage. I'm aware pyramiding isn't reversible.
2) I know it might be hard to see in the photos, but the top of his shell has some white marks where his shell rubbed against the too-small hide. Petco doesn't allow customers to touch the animals because of COVID so I couldn't feel the white spots but it doesn't look like layers are peeling off or anything. Nevertheless, I was wondering if any of you seen this white marks from rubbing, and if it will eventually heal/ if there is any treatment I need to do if I buy him? Is having shell damage like this a good reason not to buy him?
3) At $161 it seems cheaper than most breeders who seem to ask $250 for RF's of the same size. I'm not worried about the price, so much as the origin of the tortoise. Being almost $100 cheaper than reputable breeders can't be a good thing. Looking at tortoiseforum it's been mentioned that Petco gets their Redfoots from tortoise farms in South America. Those posts were from 2010, so does anyone know if Petco still gets their Redfoots from farms? I prefer to stay away from wild caught.
From what I've read on this forum it's not a good idea to house two males together, so I'm prepared to build another enclosure if I bring this one home. Thanks so much!!! I've never agonized this much over an animal like this before.