Here's some pics of poor Nefti as we found him before the de-oiling, and also a pic of a typical Soviet era oil well in Nefti's habitat.

And then a couple of pics of him all cleaned up.

You can see the damage on his shell in the AFTER photos

Steve
   
   
   
   
   
   

This post was last modified: 05-27-2008 01:06 AM by Baku Steve.

He looks good. The shell should heal well.

Its hard to tell from the picture, but I don't think you have anything to worry about with the crack in the shell. It doesn't look like it goes deep into the flesh. If you notice flies hanging around it, then you know I'm wrong in my assessment.

Yvonne

Good job! So glad you came upon him.

Ahh that is so pitiful and sad that they leave those oil wells like that to soak into the Earth. Thats a very lucky tort that you came along and cared enough to clean him up.

what kind of tort is this guy?

Well done on the work you have done with him. I recently took on two tortoises that had been regularly oiled for many years by their previous owners. It's proving a formidable task to remove it. The shells have become brittle and prone to cracking along the edges and one will need reconstructive work at the vets eventually. if only they had been left alone they would have been beautiful tortoises now.

Nefti is a Mediterranean Spur Thighed Tortoise.

Steve

What did you use to clean his shell?

Well done for the hard work :~)

Steve, your cleanup is impressive. That is one lucky tort and your one special guy for caring for him.

I don't want to hijack Steve's thread, so can I ask a really big favor of you? I would love to hear (and see) more of this case. Would you be generous with us and create another thread about the two your working with? Please. Like I would like to know why did they get regularly oiled? What kind of oil?