My tort’s beak has been developing marking that make his beak not smooth anymore. I noticed it about a year ago and just assumed it was normal.
I took him to the vet for his annual last month and they didn’t mention anything.
Does it look concerning or normal?
UPDATE: I finally moved to the US about a year ago and brought my tortoise with me. I had the privilege of working with a very professional and patient Fish and Wildlife inspector at the Champlain, NY border. I got the export permit from Canada, got it stamped on the Canadian side of the border...
Yes, he’s never been better. The vet also said his kidney, pancreas and weight levels are great (even with minimal medication). He’s very active, has a great varied diet and munches away several times per day.
Bad husbandry, bad diet and negligence by my part, I have to own up to my faults, and I'm trying to do better now - I got him when I was 6 years old with no knowledge on how to care for a tort. I only learned how to a bit on how to better care from him from my pet store (the owner told me I was...
UPDATE: The culprit was the EicosaDerm (Omega 3). About a year into the treatment, my tort's symptoms got even worse with insane swelling of his neck (to the point he could not put his head into his shell).
Roughly 3 years ago (about a year after the time this thread started), I ran out of...
Thanks for the driving tips, I know it's tough on a tort to drive. I also prefer to drive since I can keep an eye on him and avoid any neglect done when shipping. I've heard stories of tort's dying in transit on a cargo planes due to neglect.
That would be another point, I'll be driving him...
I'm currently in the process of moving to Florida from Montreal (Quebec, Canada) to live with my fiancée via a K-1 Visa.
My tortoise, by the name of Turtle, will definitely be coming with me :)
I contacted the US Fish and Wildlife department and also am in touch with the CITES Canadian...
Thank you all very much for your support, it's very hard to do this alone.
I decided that I would give him the best summer I could, he'll get a bunch of sun, exploration and treats throughout the summer.
If his health doesn't improve over the summer, then I'll know what to do. Hurts to say...
For the last 2 years my tort has been suffering from renal disease. At first it was manageable with medication and my tort was living relatively comfortably.
Every once in a while my tort would rebound from being lively and active and would have a bout of lethargy, swollen neck (water...
It's definitely a huge concern right now.
There aren't many exotic vets where I live unfortunately. The two vets I'm in contact with are the best options in my city (Montréal, Canada). I've looked and those are the only exotic vet centers available.
Also, they are really expensive. I spent...
Yes a lot of bloodwork was done. But it's been almost 3 months since his last bloodwork.
I asked the vet to give him a little time to recover since we were doing bloodwork once per month. My tort wouldn't eat and would need to adjust every time I brought him back home which sucked. So we're...
Also to add. At the time the puffiness and skin color change had already started, so I asked him about that too. He didn't know what it was. I think he mentioned it might be related to his renal disease. That's if the diagnosis is correct.
I've been working closely with my normal vet. She's a generalist with exotic animals and she mentioned she's worked with turtles in the past. After a lot of testing and back and forth - things weren't looking very good for my tort at one point and she was out of options. She told me to consider...
But his neck is not constantly swollen. I feel like it's water retention because his neck often shrinks back down to a relatively normal size. And then the next day, I'll wake him up to see that his neck is supper puffy, and maybe later in the day it'll go back to normal.. it's very strange...
I've been giving his soaks almost every day because I don't believe he drinks on his own when I'm not around during the day. He's been well hydrated, I've been paranoid about that, so I'm sure that's ok.
His neck started puffing maybe two days after I got him back from the initial treatment at...
Also wanted to add that his skin is constantly shedding around his neck. He also completely changed colors after the treatments at the vet. He turned much darker in color on his front legs and face/head. Has anyone seen this before? Anyone have a guess what caused this? No answers from vet on...