I've been keeping and breeding tortoises for 10-15 years as a hobbyist. I love it and love how my kids interact with them. I do sell some however I never make a profit and do it just for the personal rewards of keeping tortoises. But I recently came across a tortoise with some leg issues and I'm wondering if anyone had any advice, thoughts, opinions, etc.
I got this redfoot from someone in a trade (pics below). I really should have asked more questions but after I received the tortoise, it was clear the person I received it from was trying to unload it. I like to think I screen people ahead of time really well and this one fell through the cracks. Lesson learned on my end. Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, it looks like a perfectly good, healthy, beautiful female redfoot. But in closer inspection you'll notice her back legs have issues. It's missing most of its back nails and the bottoms are more like stumps or clubs than feet. The front legs are perfectly fine. When it walks it wabbles. Not the typical tortoise wabble - it's shakey like it's unbalanced. I also noticed that one leg might be slightly shorter than the other. The combination of club feet and a shorter leg I'm sure adds to the wabbles. It does awkwardly walk but often sometimes prefers to sit in one place and pull itself by its front legs rather than use it's back.
The person I got her from was less than honest on her condition and I own that I should have done more research. Later he told me he got her from someone who kept her on rocks but he said she walked fine (not true). Aside from the leg issue, she's perfect in every way, friendly, and eats like a champ. Having said that, has anyone seen this before? Do they have the ability to regenerate nails? Any ideas on how to strengthen those back legs? She's going to be fed a boatload of good, healthy food with a nice variety. I gave her some cuttlebone thinking there may be a vitamin deficiency. Aside from cuttlebone I'm not big on vitamin supplements preferring to make sure they get what they need through a varied diet but I'm thinking I might have to supplement with this one.
Here's my major concern... can I put her with my existing group? Right now she's in quarantine and will be there for at least a few more weeks. But I would like to introduce her to my existing redfoot group. I'm not worried about aggression. Redfoots are generally calm with one another and I've never experienced any aggression with mine. I'm not really worried about access to food or food competition because I monitor them several times daily and know I could easily make sure she gets what she needs. What I am most worried about is if my male redfoot mates with her. Can she dig a nest? If she can't, will she get egg bound? Does the ability to dig a nest even correlate with egg laying? In other words, if she can't dig a "good" nest, will she still lay albeit on the ground or in a less than ideal nest? If the common thought would be she would just expel the eggs in some way I would feel a lot better. But if she can't dig a good nest and that results in egg binding, I can't let that happen.
If anyone has had experience with this issue I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm guessing it's the result of a vitamin deficiency or something but her shell is solid and there's no pyramiding to speak of so I'm not certain.
I haven't decided if I'll keep her or not. I guess it depends on whether she improves at all and advice I get along the way. I do love keeping them but I don't really have the extra space in the winter time to accommodate a single redfoot so that's a concern. Had I felt comfortable introducing her to the group by winter it would have been another story. I know she would make an outstanding pet for someone because she's perfect in every other way, very tolerant of people, and just good looking to boot! I am just not sure how she would do as part of a group.
Any thoughts or shared experiences? Thanks!
I got this redfoot from someone in a trade (pics below). I really should have asked more questions but after I received the tortoise, it was clear the person I received it from was trying to unload it. I like to think I screen people ahead of time really well and this one fell through the cracks. Lesson learned on my end. Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, it looks like a perfectly good, healthy, beautiful female redfoot. But in closer inspection you'll notice her back legs have issues. It's missing most of its back nails and the bottoms are more like stumps or clubs than feet. The front legs are perfectly fine. When it walks it wabbles. Not the typical tortoise wabble - it's shakey like it's unbalanced. I also noticed that one leg might be slightly shorter than the other. The combination of club feet and a shorter leg I'm sure adds to the wabbles. It does awkwardly walk but often sometimes prefers to sit in one place and pull itself by its front legs rather than use it's back.
The person I got her from was less than honest on her condition and I own that I should have done more research. Later he told me he got her from someone who kept her on rocks but he said she walked fine (not true). Aside from the leg issue, she's perfect in every way, friendly, and eats like a champ. Having said that, has anyone seen this before? Do they have the ability to regenerate nails? Any ideas on how to strengthen those back legs? She's going to be fed a boatload of good, healthy food with a nice variety. I gave her some cuttlebone thinking there may be a vitamin deficiency. Aside from cuttlebone I'm not big on vitamin supplements preferring to make sure they get what they need through a varied diet but I'm thinking I might have to supplement with this one.
Here's my major concern... can I put her with my existing group? Right now she's in quarantine and will be there for at least a few more weeks. But I would like to introduce her to my existing redfoot group. I'm not worried about aggression. Redfoots are generally calm with one another and I've never experienced any aggression with mine. I'm not really worried about access to food or food competition because I monitor them several times daily and know I could easily make sure she gets what she needs. What I am most worried about is if my male redfoot mates with her. Can she dig a nest? If she can't, will she get egg bound? Does the ability to dig a nest even correlate with egg laying? In other words, if she can't dig a "good" nest, will she still lay albeit on the ground or in a less than ideal nest? If the common thought would be she would just expel the eggs in some way I would feel a lot better. But if she can't dig a good nest and that results in egg binding, I can't let that happen.
If anyone has had experience with this issue I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm guessing it's the result of a vitamin deficiency or something but her shell is solid and there's no pyramiding to speak of so I'm not certain.
I haven't decided if I'll keep her or not. I guess it depends on whether she improves at all and advice I get along the way. I do love keeping them but I don't really have the extra space in the winter time to accommodate a single redfoot so that's a concern. Had I felt comfortable introducing her to the group by winter it would have been another story. I know she would make an outstanding pet for someone because she's perfect in every other way, very tolerant of people, and just good looking to boot! I am just not sure how she would do as part of a group.
Any thoughts or shared experiences? Thanks!