Tort ID help please.

LeiiMaa

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Hi again everybody!!

One of the girls who I work with has rescued a tortoise ... although she has the best of intentions, she's not brilliant when it comes to caring for things properly. (I'm still fighting a loosing battle with her to put a basking spot in with her bearded dragon but that's a different story!!) She already has a hermanns who I recently identified for her as she has no idea. He wanders around the house and eats her dogs food ... she now feeds it a tortoise pellet however this isn't a brilliant one ... she now has this second tortoise who she's housing with her hermanns. And by the sounds of it, it's going awfully as expected.

Here's the tortoise in question. "He's" apparently lived in a shoe box most of his life. With no lights at all. She says he's extremely flat but is adamant that this is a species trait and perfectly normal for him. She was told the species but said it wasn't a common one that she's ever seen in a pet shop before. Any help would be appreciated then I can try and get as much help for it as I can.

Thanks again :)

1423052532908.jpg
 
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tortdad

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That's a Russian tortoise with what appears to be a bad case of MBD (metabolic bone disease). There is a species of tortoise that is flat called a pancake tortoise but this is not one. Your friend really has now clue how to care for exotic animals. Have her sign up here so we can show her image of what a healthy one looks like.
 

tortdad

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Is there anyway you can get another picture as a side view so we can see just how flat it is?

This is a picture of a healthy Russian tortoise. Notice how the shell is domes at the top and the outer band of scutes is turned downward to create the side of the shell. The one in the image you provided appears to have an outer row that is flat not turned down which is why I asked for another side view shot.
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1423056435.062687.jpg

Here is an image of a heathy pancake tortoise. I stole this image form @african cake queen. Note the differences in the shape of the scutes
ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1423056622.720664.jpg
 

tortdad

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It may not be russian, it could be a she has another hermanns tortoise but I know it's not a pancake
 

Yvonne G

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I think it's a Hermanni. And it's flat because it's suffering from Metabolic Bone Disease. Let's send a shout out to @HermanniChris
 

russian/sulcata/tortoise

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That's a Russian tortoise with what appears to be a bad case of MBD (metabolic bone disease). There is a species of tortoise that is flat called a pancake tortoise but this is not one. Your friend really has now clue how to care for exotic animals. Have her sign up here so we can show her image of what a healthy one looks like.
thats not a Russian!!!!!!
 

juli11

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Testudo hermanni but I don't know exactly if it is boetgeri or hermanni..
 

LeiiMaa

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I'm unable to get anymore photos of the little guy yet. I was pretty sure he suffering from MBD which is the other reason I posted the photo for someone else to confirm this.

My next question. Tortoises with mbd, how is it treated and managed? I've dealt with this a lot in various different geckos and other lizards, never in a tortoise. As far as I'm aware the tortoise is being housed with another Hermanns. I'm going to try and see if I can get her to give the tortoise to me so I can give it the best chance it's got. Thank you for the replies guys.
 

Heather H

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That is 100%, without any single doubt, an eastern Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni boettgeri) with poor growth.

dang it I was wrong . I thought it was western :( even after watching your youtube videos. guess I need to watch them again .
 

Yvonne G

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Either the sun or a good UVB light along with calcium supplement and calcium rich foods. The calcium doesn't work unless it is coupled with the UVB.
 

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