It's Never Just a Tortoise....

That is a quote I credit my wife with from about 4 or 5 tortoises ago. Typically this refers to "needing" to buy a new/ upgraded enclosure or more lighting or thermostats or other shell-puppy(as we call them) accessories. That $400 or $600 plus shipping quickly spirals upwards in overall cost. 

A week and a half ago I found a female cherryhead for sale in my state at a very reasonable price, $200. To add to that luck, I had just moved my larger redfoot to a bigger enclosure and just happened to have a full set up ready for a new tenant. This time, it was really just going to be the cost of a tortoise! Had I been more familiar with non-traumatic sickness in tortoises I would have spotted the issue immediately. 

    


Standard new-acquisition-excitement combined with convenience clouded my objective thinking skills. In fact the person was willing to hold onto her for a week and a half and deliver it to Anchorage from Fairbanks, a 6 hour drive. We met in a an easy to find parking lot in Anchorage, she handed the wife the tortoise and I handed her the money then talked briefly about what she had been feeding it and how long she had it. They drove away and we got ready to drive home and I immediately heard the sound of fluid filled breathing. 

Realizing after just a brief conversation with the seller that it was amazing the tortoise had lived as long as it did; this girl has a better chance of making it with us than its previous owner so we made the decision there to keep her and do what we can to help her recover. In for a penny, in for a pound we are! Maybe we were over reacting and the girl is just stressed from the long, air conditioned car ride that she spent on a person's lap :-/ Nope, not that easy.

Clear fluid discharge indicative of a Upper Respiratory Infection

Least of worries but still an issue is the over-grown front beak.  I'll take care of that once the URI is gone.

Extended limbs & neck are a sign the tortoise is trying to open up its distressed respiratory system

Despite having been sick for at least 3 weeks, likely more, the URI hasn't progressed too far. Her bubbly snot is still quite thin & clear and her ENT pathways appear free of build-up. And something I should have notice in the CL advertisement is her drooping head and limbs(attempts to maximize internal lung surface area)

One odd symptom however is stunted locomotion. She walks oddly and lists side to side like a boat in a storm. In fact she has twice rolled herself onto her side. Could there be other factors at play besides a URI, perhaps kidney damage from being kept improperly is making walking a painful task. I tried asking some followup questions from the seller to help with diagnosis to no avail. Not surprisingly, she has shown zero interest in food but over the last three days I've soaked her daily in a water/pedialyte solution. This has added a meager 40 grams to the 1700g weight from Saturday. While it has no caloric value, this solution could help replace electrolytes essential to nerve conduction and muscle function. 

We took a trip to the vet today. Our vet confirmed the obvious URI. The vet took snot swabs to be cultured over the next week and also did blood work to check kidney function for me as she was also kind of bewildered by the odd walking. 

We left $317 poorer

We also got some parting souvenirs, 10 days of baytril and this stuff called critical care intended to give calories and vitamins to sick critters and help stimulate appetite.

       





         

And so, the fun begins. Can you consider a new tortoise a rescue if you paid a "re-homing" fee? 

        

No, it's never just a tortoise.

Come Say Hello to my Indian Star Tortoises!

Here is the second Species profile on my YouTube channel, an episode dedicated to my Indian Star Tortoises.

Getting that Natty-Light, and I don't mean cheap beer....

     We are in yearly the bridge between Winters up here in Alaska.  The rest of the country refers to that as Spring, Summer, and Fall.  Up here its more of a shortened combination season.  Be that as it may, the sun and temps are perfect for bringing the tortoises and turtle outside to soak up some natural UV light.  The tortoises produce vitamin D3 when exposed to UV spectrums of light which helps them synthesize calcium.  Most of the year I use supplements to provide the vitamin D and full spectrum bulbs to simulate the UV waves.

     I can't build permanent outdoor enclosures for several reasons.  The night time temps are too low and I haven't enough backyard space to install a greenhouse.  I have a huge front yard but HOA rules prevent me from making adequate tortoise pens. There is also the native wildlife to consider.

     While there are no raccoons up here to make off with the smaller tortoises, we do have foxes, bears, and ravens that would happily make a meal out of all but the biggest tortoise.  Also, moose wander through our yard routinely.  While they would not eat the tortoises, if a moose were to step on any one of the tortoises, large or small, I'd have at the least a cracked shell to deal with or, more likely, a smushed former-tortoise.

     Pictured below is my solution to get a few hours of daily natural light for the tort-herd.

To corral the smaller tortoises I bought non-permanent raised plant bed walls from Sam's Club. I can set these up and take them down in less than 3 minutes.  

The Indian Star Tortoises, Rigel(closer) and Andromeda, exploring their outdoor playpen before chowing down on the clover fields.

The Redfoot Tortoises, Harambe(bigger bumpier one) and Sauron, greeting each other than off exploring while the wife watches the smaller walled-in tortoises in the herd.

Pi the Pancake Turtle reveling in the warm rays and munching down on the sweet clovers

Separated in nature by an ocean and two continents, here in my yard a mere 8" wall between Jones the Eastern Box Turtle and Rigel the Star Tortoise.

Tiffany's eyes sparkle much like her name-sake's jewelry lines.

Tiffany trying to make a break for it while Jones looks on.

The young Leopard Tortoises out enjoying some real sun and fresh clovers. Valentine is off by herself.  Eclipse is at the top, Multi-Scute is the center-most, and Contrast on the right has the large white new growth portions.

Valentine(above) and Multi-Scute eating the natural weeds in the lawn.

First Reptile Introduction Video Uploaded!

Well I finally had the time to shoot and edit a video dedicated to my longest lived pet, Zeus.  I got him as a birthday present back in 1992 and he is still with me today.  Have a look below, and, if you have not already, go to my YouTube channel.  Watch my other videos and subscribe so you never miss an update ;-) 

New Pancake Habitat

     I recently decided to upgrade my Pancake Tortoise's home. I used the same technique for the substrate and irrigation as in every other habitat.  You can see the grass is growing nicely, the lettuces I planted are being grazed upon, and the two spineless catuses are doing well also.

     Unique to this cage is the tiered hiding escarpment I made for him.  I used ceramic tiles for each "floor" and slate as the spacers to make the basic levels. Beneath the structure and within the center wall I used a 50 watt heating wire made by Exo Terra.  Utilizing a dimmer switch with the heat wire I have the tiles in a stable, low 90sF range.  Without the dimmer the heat wire warms the tiles to over 110F, a bit hot for his "cumfy" place.  The heat lamp has his basking spot at around 105.  Between the heated surfaces, lamp and the ret of the cage, he is able to thermoregulate very well.

You can see the wire for the heat tape to the right.  And I may find a new place for my weekly tortoise chore chart.

HE isn't much of a grass eater but those lettuce may last another week and that cactus shoot's days are numbered as well.

One of my favorite pats about raising tortoises is watching their shell patterns come in.  The radiating lines have been there from the beginning, but as you can see he has completely different "striping" beginning around the edges of his scutes with much more white.  It kind of looks like my leopard tortoises.

Being avid climbers i had to design this habitat with climbable surfaces but also keep them far enough from the walls to prevent a means of overzealous exploration leading to escape.

The wire hanging down is the temperature probe I use to monitor his hiding spot.

Most Recent View of the Collection

My First post on here a few years ago started out with some shots of the areas of my house which are used for my enclosures.  I thought I would add some up-to-date pix for everyone.

Most people have Dining rooms next to their kitchens, not me....

This is the left side of the reptile area of my house.

Here in the top cage we have Zeus, the Boa Constrictor that I have owned since October of1992 and a pair of Eastern Box Turtles below him.

On the right side of the Reptile area is Harambe, a young adult Redfoot Tortoise

These two enclosures house my baby Leopard Tortoises(glass terrarium) and my smaller Redfoot Tortoise below

The Indian Star Tortoises live in the bottom enclosure, my Pancake Tortoise lives in the large glass terrarium and there is a corn snake on top in a larger critter cage.

These are the various dry Zoo Med foods that I feed my tortoises and turtles.

Here is that same shelf from the side.  I have an abundance of Mazuri brand tortoise chow and Zoo Med canned Box Turtle Food.

Feeding Tortoises Fresh Fruits and Veggies

Here is my most recent video.  I am showing folks the steps I go through to prepare my tortoises' dishes on the days that they get fed fresh produce.