Hello everyone!
Been a couple years, a couple kids, and a few moves since I’ve been active on the forum, but we and our tortoises have made it to the promised land and we’re all set up and settled in and I’ve fallen back in the habit of perusing Craigslist for rescue opportunities.
Most of the time when I come across a tortoise that looks to be in poor health and it’s a feasible option, I just buy it from the person. I typically don’t haggle the price or point out the poor husbandry or condition of the animal, as I’ve had people drop back into the ether and pull ads when I start questioning them and then I have no idea what becomes of the tortoise.
I recently came across an ad for two “girl turtles” that turned out to be Sulcatas with pretty serious pyramiding. The pictures weren’t great and when I started asking questions the person mentioned that she’d had the tortoises since they were hatchlings and that now they were five years old. I decided they fit my criteria for rescue and picked them up from her.
Both are pyramiding pretty heavily, but one (Lucy) is worse than other (Ethel). Here’s some photos:
Lucy:
And Ethel:
Both tortoises are active and displaying the normal voracious appetite and are passing the profound poops that are typical of sulcatas. By all appearances, they seem to in pretty good shape. Despite, you know, their shape.
My question regards Ethel, the less deformed of the two. Ethel’s rear scutes are surprisingly sharp and cut into her legs when she walks. She shows what appear to be evidenced of cut and healed wound on her rear legs from rubbing against those shell daggers. For some reason I can’t get the photos or videos of her rear legs to upload, I’ll try to add some more later.
My question is this: does anybody have any experience with having to modify a shell on an adult tortoise? If so, how do you go about it? I’ve repaired broken shells before, but never had to “adjust” a compete one. I’m in Southern Idaho, and the closest reptile vet to me in is Utah. I plan on taking them out there for some x-rays to make sure there’s no serious issues, but am wondering if there is an at home way to manage shells that go awry like this. Thank you in advance!
Been a couple years, a couple kids, and a few moves since I’ve been active on the forum, but we and our tortoises have made it to the promised land and we’re all set up and settled in and I’ve fallen back in the habit of perusing Craigslist for rescue opportunities.
Most of the time when I come across a tortoise that looks to be in poor health and it’s a feasible option, I just buy it from the person. I typically don’t haggle the price or point out the poor husbandry or condition of the animal, as I’ve had people drop back into the ether and pull ads when I start questioning them and then I have no idea what becomes of the tortoise.
I recently came across an ad for two “girl turtles” that turned out to be Sulcatas with pretty serious pyramiding. The pictures weren’t great and when I started asking questions the person mentioned that she’d had the tortoises since they were hatchlings and that now they were five years old. I decided they fit my criteria for rescue and picked them up from her.
Both are pyramiding pretty heavily, but one (Lucy) is worse than other (Ethel). Here’s some photos:
Lucy:
And Ethel:
Both tortoises are active and displaying the normal voracious appetite and are passing the profound poops that are typical of sulcatas. By all appearances, they seem to in pretty good shape. Despite, you know, their shape.
My question regards Ethel, the less deformed of the two. Ethel’s rear scutes are surprisingly sharp and cut into her legs when she walks. She shows what appear to be evidenced of cut and healed wound on her rear legs from rubbing against those shell daggers. For some reason I can’t get the photos or videos of her rear legs to upload, I’ll try to add some more later.
My question is this: does anybody have any experience with having to modify a shell on an adult tortoise? If so, how do you go about it? I’ve repaired broken shells before, but never had to “adjust” a compete one. I’m in Southern Idaho, and the closest reptile vet to me in is Utah. I plan on taking them out there for some x-rays to make sure there’s no serious issues, but am wondering if there is an at home way to manage shells that go awry like this. Thank you in advance!