health

Hello, so I know a there’s a decent amount of posts about Rose of sharon…. I have some massive ones in my yard. I just realized today what it was and I could feed it to my baby sulcata! But my only concern was there’s a lot of pollen on the stigma…. is that okay for him to eat?? Thanks everyone!

We took over the care of our tortoise Schmidt a few weeks ago, from a family member who was moving out of the country. It’s wild, we were told she’s either a Sonoran desert tortoise or a Sulcata and we have an appointment coming up with the vet and a tortoise specialist soon to try to get it...

Pretty much no other symptoms. Eating and pooping. Last week, petunia seemed to feel a little under the weather and was lethargic but eating and (less than often pooping). So… acting completely normal….. but looks swollen….am I just paranoid? Its between 11-13 months old.

Hello! This morning after their daily soak i noticed this small ''bump'' on their shell in the front middle as seen in the pictures. Is this normal growth or should i be concerned about pyramiding and such? Thank you

Hi y’all, so this is a largely unnecessary post, but you gave me a lot of really great advice so I wanted to provide an update on my 12 year old Russian tortoise, Pepper. As I’ve shared in a previous post, Pepper was the victim of improper husbandry due to lack of research on modern best...

I have two sulcatas, both slightly different in age. Both rescued, so age assumption is just an approximation. They both get soaked and fed on the same schedule. But, one grows much slower than the other. The smaller one has just flashed me, so we now know that they are both boys. I’ve heard of...

I left my tortoises out in the heat without checking if they have enough water, summer started so i assumed it will be just 40C but when they did not react at 1pm i panicked. One of them is in their shell the other one slightly out i only just checked the temperature it was 46C i did not put...

Please let me know if you think he is overweight? I just got him and if he is how do I make sure not to make him more overweight?

Hello everyone, I'm new here and joined the forum to help my aunt find some answers about concerns she has for her 4 year old sulcata. Her tortoise has recently developed some new spacing and texturing along the sutures of her shell. She has sent along some photos that I'll post below. The...

Hello everyone! I am a new tortoise owner and recently got three tortoises (two Russians and one red foot), all from petsore. They currently live in three enclosures and seem to be happy and active most of the time. Based on the online medical info I ordered Panacur (Fenbendazole) animal...

So, I got two male Russian tortoises from PetSmart a few days ago, and both of them look happy and healthy so far. I separated them into different enclosure because I noticed that they did not get along in the same enclosure when they were in PetSmart. Now I noticed something that is wrong...

This might be a really obvious question lol, because it seems like obviously there has to be some sort of nutrients in aquatic plants. My turtle is eating the plants like crazy, and I love it. I’m considering getting a whole separate aquarium just to grow plants in so I can put them in his tank...

Hello everybody. Back in January I bought a red footed tortoise (Rio) from a reptile expo. The picture shown is just minutes after I got him. He had a large nice enclosure with heat lamps and pads, thermometers, a layer of soil and coconut husk, and was soaked frequently. His enclosure was kept...

Hello! Recently purchased a Sulcata hatchling (?) I can’t tell how old it is. Based on weight and length I’m assuming around 2 months old. I have some concerns about its face though. When we purchased it. It looked very dry and the substrate provided wasn’t ideal. We have improved its tank...

Hey, Im a new reptile owner and bought a Sulcata from a market here in Thailand back in June, when i got him he was 38g he quickly (1 month) gained weight up to around 54g and now we are in february, aka 9 months later and he is hovering around 53g - he peaked at 58g but been settling around...

I got an Eastern Painted Turtle last week. She arrived with these white spots on her shell. There was a mix up with the delivery and she was in the package for 2 days without sunlight. So far these spots have not grown but the company we purchased from has recommended that we apply Lotrimin to...

Hi all, My name is Kristy. I’m a student at ASU doing some research on tortoise upper respiratory infections and I’m looking for tortoise owners who could be able to help me with this study. I have a Sulcata of my own who suffers from a URI, so I made this brief research survey to help me find...

Past few weeks/months I've noticed some white marks/blemishes appear on top of my redfoot's shell. At first I didn't take much notice to it as I thought it was shedding + having a dry shell. I also spray her down + her enclosure and the wet shell can hide the white blemishes. I'm starting to...

I have had my sulcata for about 2 weeks now after adopting him from a woman who could no longer take care of him. She fed him an improper diet of dogfood and bananas for all 22 years of his life, so he has some deformation in his shell and is small for his age I believe. I have tried fixing his...

I had to emergency rescue this tort from an awful living condition arrangement, but as a new tort owner….yeah. I do not think this hatchling looks healthy. What is wrong with it ? The shell…. It is behaving fairly normally, is very curious, and eats a little (although mostly from my hand)...