Hello!
A few days ago I acquired a Indian star tortoise from an old friend, after a visit she had at the vets scared her into thinking she couldn’t look after it, and offered me to look after it, since I’ve had years of experience with a sulcata tortoise (which eventually I had to donate to a zoo as he grew to big and I wasn’t at the time able to give him the support he needed)
Anyway! Back to the story and details of the tort;
The tort is 3 years old, weighs 40g showing light pyramiding. The vet that examined the tort noticed it’s under shell was fairly soft (I’ve checked it is a little soft, mainly seems to be soft on the back end of the tort near the bum.
Also they noticed the tort has a beak issue on one side.. it appears over grown.. (I’ve tried to get a photo but as it’s so small you may not see it on the image..
The vet also advised the basking bulb would needed to be changed to a ceramic bulb.. something when I owned torts afew years ago was a no no?
Well anyway, I’m here back on here again after a few years, with my rusty knowledge to try my damned best to get this tort growing and back to good health..
Here’s what the set up currently looks like
Here’s the size of the tort next to food
And here’s a photo of my attempt to show the lip issue (the lip has a growth on the torts right side)
I believe in later months the previous owner began to lose the will to care for the tort.. things I have currently changed are: adding cuttlefish (2 different types to see if he goes for any) the previous owner said he didn’t touch them, so she instead sprinkled it on his food.
I’ve increased humidity, every 3-4 hours or so I am topping up the tank with a good blast of mist to keep humidity high. I’ve added various food to his diet to test him on different items to see what he enjoys and doesn’t. (He has runner beans, broad-beans, dandelion leafs, zoomed grassland food, various flower toppers, hibiscus leafs and cress) I’m mixing this all up in small portions and he is eating.. although I think the lip issue isn’t helping with eating, he seems to miss the food..
So anyway, if there’s any advice I could get or improvements that could be done, or anything to help increase the strength of the shell, support his growth, and or if anyone has had a similar issue with the over growth on the lip?
Any support would be great thank you.
A few days ago I acquired a Indian star tortoise from an old friend, after a visit she had at the vets scared her into thinking she couldn’t look after it, and offered me to look after it, since I’ve had years of experience with a sulcata tortoise (which eventually I had to donate to a zoo as he grew to big and I wasn’t at the time able to give him the support he needed)
Anyway! Back to the story and details of the tort;
The tort is 3 years old, weighs 40g showing light pyramiding. The vet that examined the tort noticed it’s under shell was fairly soft (I’ve checked it is a little soft, mainly seems to be soft on the back end of the tort near the bum.
Also they noticed the tort has a beak issue on one side.. it appears over grown.. (I’ve tried to get a photo but as it’s so small you may not see it on the image..
The vet also advised the basking bulb would needed to be changed to a ceramic bulb.. something when I owned torts afew years ago was a no no?
Well anyway, I’m here back on here again after a few years, with my rusty knowledge to try my damned best to get this tort growing and back to good health..
Here’s what the set up currently looks like
Here’s the size of the tort next to food
And here’s a photo of my attempt to show the lip issue (the lip has a growth on the torts right side)
I believe in later months the previous owner began to lose the will to care for the tort.. things I have currently changed are: adding cuttlefish (2 different types to see if he goes for any) the previous owner said he didn’t touch them, so she instead sprinkled it on his food.
I’ve increased humidity, every 3-4 hours or so I am topping up the tank with a good blast of mist to keep humidity high. I’ve added various food to his diet to test him on different items to see what he enjoys and doesn’t. (He has runner beans, broad-beans, dandelion leafs, zoomed grassland food, various flower toppers, hibiscus leafs and cress) I’m mixing this all up in small portions and he is eating.. although I think the lip issue isn’t helping with eating, he seems to miss the food..
So anyway, if there’s any advice I could get or improvements that could be done, or anything to help increase the strength of the shell, support his growth, and or if anyone has had a similar issue with the over growth on the lip?
Any support would be great thank you.