By the Book - Beware

[dabayliss]

Today we rescued to sorry looking redfoots. Both have pyramidding; one severe and lots of dry-rings on their shell, cracked dry skin and 'wheezes'. Very sadly; we rescued them from a caring lady in a million+ dollar mansion.
The problem: this lady was doing things 'by the book'. She even gave us the well-thumbed book 'Turtles and Tortoises - A Complete Pet Owners Manual'
From Page 36: "Housing for tortoises" - Tortoises need almost the same type of enclosures as the semi-terrestrials, but prefer even drier conditions.
It then goes on to recommend alph-alpha pellets as the best substrate PROVIDED the owner fishes out any damp ones to 'keep the environment dry'

Fortunately - the lady was not restricted to a general purpose book - she also had TWO different tortoise care sheets from Underground Reptiles. These had check-boxes that instructed her to:

Use Alph-ALpha as a substrate
Avoid any organic materials in the pen
Not provide a bathing bowl
NOT mist
and maintain LOW to Medium humidity
Feed Dry Grasses - Timothy Hay & Meadow grass
Give a weekly feeding of moistened monkey pellets

I don't completely exonerate the lady - these poor things looked awful - but it is still very sad when pet professionals send an enthusiastic amateur down completely the wrong path

 

[pdrobber]

what a shame, but good job taking them in! you mean alfalfa pellets? like made of alfalfa hay?

 

[LindaF]

Good luck. Glad they now have a good home.

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

That is really sad! Out of curiosity what made her want to re-home them?

 

[dabayliss]

They now have a puppy; and were worried it would bother the tortoises ....

 

[Torty Mom]

Yay! Excellent job on the save!!! They will be happy and healthy in no time!!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

They are already on the way to a better life!

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Lucky day for the tortoises, maybe not so much for the puppy, j/k.

 

[Angi]

That is very sad, but when I told a lady at the pet store that the pellots were not a good substaigh for baby salcatas she said "that is what the care sheet the breeder gave us says to use". She also said they don't need hides. So I can see how people can be mislead. I was totally confused before finding this forum. Sad, sad ,sad........

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That is very sad, but when I told a lady at the pet store that the pellots were not a good substaigh for baby salcatas she said "that is what the care sheet the breeder gave us says to use". She also said they don't need hides. So I can see how people can be mislead. I was totally confused before finding this forum. Sad, sad ,sad........

 

[Madkins007]

Underground Reptiles seems to be a reptile place like most reptile places- mostly snakes, some lizards and arachnids, and our shelled friends shoved into a corner.

Here is a quote from their 'Available Now' list: "BABY SPUR THIGH TORTOISE - $89.99. Captive bred, Geochelone Sulcatta, approximately 2" in length, exceptionally beautiful shelling, very calm and intelligent, these guys makes excellent pets!"

Besides the puffery in the post (intelligent, shelling, etc.), they get the common name and scientific name wrong- not even formating the scientific name right. Probably just poor editing, but not someone I would expect to get a care sheet for a species they are not as interested in correct.

It IS very sad that getting good, reliable information is so incredibly tough in our society, ESPECIALLY with the Internet!

 

[dmarcus]

I am glad they are in a better place, I am sure you will do a great job getting them on the right track..

 

[terryo]

Even given a care sheet I would still go on the Internet and start researching and comparing care sheets. Those poor torts are very lucky you have them now.

 

[Geochelone_Carbonaria]

Good show, well done !

 

[Saloli]

you know i really hate generalized care sheets and books.....

 

[Jacob]

Great news, hope the best

 

[HarleyK]

Looks like the book was published in 1996, but the lady should have looked for species specific needs. It's sad that many ppl still think redfoots should be placed on alfa alfa pellets. I got mine and he lived with alfa bedding the first few months of his life.