Hello! I was first here back in November when we adopted a Russian from Petco based on my brother-in-law-who-works-there telling me he was fine and healthy. It turned out that he was a she and unhealthy as all get out. She was with us for 5 days before returning her based on our vet's recommendation.
ANYWAY! We adopted a new one 3 weeks ago today - his name is Mr. T (short for Tortoise of course, lol) and he's a bonus male from a breeder and is right around 7yrs old. I figured a breeder was a better choice than the pet store but it seems our little guy didn't exactly have ideal care. He spent the first week or so passing stools that included whole kernels of corn and meal worm exoskeletons! He's been getting nothing but healthy greens and weeds from us though and is quite the pig - if it's green, he'll eat it, lol.
He tested positive for strongyle and he's due for his 2nd dose of panacur on Monday. There were enough worms present that the vet felt strongly about treating them...especially since he's also been presenting some cold-like symptoms starting on maybe the 3rd day or so that we got him. It's clear, watery, and only out of one nostril so we're all hoping that knocking out the worms and letting him get more settled in his new home will clear that up on its own. I'm glad the vet wasn't quick to push antibiotics. We need to get him a little beak trim too but since it's not getting in his way the vet said we should just leave it for now - no need to add extra stress to his life so we'll wait until late summer/early fall to do that one. In the meantime I make eating off the slate a little more work than it needs to be - things like laying clovers individually and with the leaves flat so he has to really make some scraping effort to get them
So he's active and hungry and full of personality already - I'm still terribly nervous about the whole thing because of our previous bad experience but I'm trying to relax. It's not easy, but I'll (hopefully) get there
ANYWAY! We adopted a new one 3 weeks ago today - his name is Mr. T (short for Tortoise of course, lol) and he's a bonus male from a breeder and is right around 7yrs old. I figured a breeder was a better choice than the pet store but it seems our little guy didn't exactly have ideal care. He spent the first week or so passing stools that included whole kernels of corn and meal worm exoskeletons! He's been getting nothing but healthy greens and weeds from us though and is quite the pig - if it's green, he'll eat it, lol.
He tested positive for strongyle and he's due for his 2nd dose of panacur on Monday. There were enough worms present that the vet felt strongly about treating them...especially since he's also been presenting some cold-like symptoms starting on maybe the 3rd day or so that we got him. It's clear, watery, and only out of one nostril so we're all hoping that knocking out the worms and letting him get more settled in his new home will clear that up on its own. I'm glad the vet wasn't quick to push antibiotics. We need to get him a little beak trim too but since it's not getting in his way the vet said we should just leave it for now - no need to add extra stress to his life so we'll wait until late summer/early fall to do that one. In the meantime I make eating off the slate a little more work than it needs to be - things like laying clovers individually and with the leaves flat so he has to really make some scraping effort to get them
So he's active and hungry and full of personality already - I'm still terribly nervous about the whole thing because of our previous bad experience but I'm trying to relax. It's not easy, but I'll (hopefully) get there
