Deformed Turtles and Tortoises

[Cowboy_Ken]

They do now

When I took this one in, I excepted the understanding that it would be like this for life. I was in an automobile induced coma for awhile and while there he and many other tortoises of mine were relieved from me, so unfortunately, I can’t give y’all a solid answer.

 

[Yvonne G]

I am assuming that they will be like this forever ,but can you get the turtles and tortoises back to a healthy/ normallish appearance after they have gotten this bad? Or, once the shell grows that way, there is no turning back?

No, they will never grow back to 'normal.'

 

[Yvonne G]

I obviously note the pyramiding but what led to the other issues? Were they fed dog food or other very inappropriate diets?

Various causes - lack of UVB, diet, small enclosure, temperature, etc.

 

[Turbo'smom]

The people I gave turbo to had a 120 pound Sulcata that they rescued from a fire. He has no claws in any of his feet. So sad.

 

[Sleppo]

Thanks for sharing, mother nature can sure throw in some weird mutations but sadly most are the result of human ignorance.

 

[Raymo2477]

This is Clyde. I rescued him and he has a deformed shell, nails, and a deformed jaw, but a lot of personality. His original owner got as a hatchling and kept in a bathroom.

 

[Yvonne G]

Frank when I got him, he was around 2-3 years old.. (2011) severe MBD and pyramiding, he also had kidney stones (the size of golfballs) he was the size of a dinnerplate and really flat for a sulcata. I was completely unsure if he would survive. He was kept inside whiteout uv and fed iceberg lettuce, he also was kept by someone who was under the impression that he would get all the water he needed from his food.

View attachment 281228View attachment 281229

Him now

View attachment 281230View attachment 281231View attachment 281232View attachment 281233View attachment 281234

Aw heck! I was anxious to see Frank's then and now pictures, but I get an error message and they won't open for me. Dang it!

 

[BrookeB]

Frank when I got him, he was around 2-3 years old.. (2011) severe MBD and pyramiding, he also had kidney stones (the size of golfballs) he was the size of a dinnerplate and really flat for a sulcata. I was completely unsure if he would survive. He was kept inside whiteout uv and fed iceberg lettuce, he also was kept by someone who was under the impression that he would get all the water he needed from his food.

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh wow. Frank should be called Stalagmite! My sister up in Oregon has a badly deformed sulcata too, but he's not nearly as bad as Frank.

Frank isn't in your signature. Just an oversight? or has he passed?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

This is my little deformed Redfoot thst6a was given by a teenage girl on Craigslist.
He has eye and facial deformities. But the most shocking part is that he is over 20 months old now. And he's the size of a 2 month old at best.

 

[Tortoise Rescue Brenda]

The bad part is all these people thought they were doing right by their pets. They just didn't know the correct way to tend them and made no attempt to educate themselves.

The fact that they made no attempt to educate themselves is ridiculous.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

The fact that they made no attempt to educate themselves is ridiculous.

And unfortunately to me I place the blame simply on “The System”.

 

[BrookeB]

Oh wow. Frank should be called Stalagmite! My sister up in Oregon has a badly deformed sulcata too, but he's not nearly as bad as Frank.

Frank isn't in your signature. Just an oversight? or has he passed?

Lol frank is Bertha... tortious sexing isn’t that easy [emoji849] and he is definitely still alive [emoji16]

 

[Tortoisesarecool]

These following pictures are from the web:

View attachment 273304 View attachment 273305 View attachment 273306 View attachment 273307 View attachment 273308 View attachment 273309

These photos are so disturbing and sad no tortoise should look like this

 

[Srmcclure]

Does a deformed dog count?

This is my Dixie. She was born with her eyes not being fully developed. She can see 'shadows' out of her one eye. The other one is not sealed, just formed that way and as you can see her eyes are very small, with no real form... she was thrown out of a car and my customer pulled over and grabbed her out of the road before she was hit ( she saw the whole thing) 2 years later she gave her to me due to health issues. She walks around ok so long as you don't move the furniture around on her, but she does have seizures and they don't know if its from being thrown out of the car or if its linked to her eye issues

 

[SassiPaws]

I was looking through the rescues I've taken in over the years and thought you all might be interested in seeing some of the deformed animals that came my way. If you have deformed animal pictures, please feel free to add them to this thread. The water turtle in the 4th, 5th and 6th pictures was the worst one I've ever taken in.

View attachment 273090 View attachment 273091 View attachment 273092 View attachment 273093 View attachment 273094 View attachment 273095

Hi Yvonne G, I had to say you're an amazing person for what you do! Thank you for caring for the animals in need. My jaw dropped seeing the water turtle, the poor thing. It looks like it's never shed. Do you have any idea what caused that, or if shedding had anything to do with it?

 

[SassiPaws]

These photos are so disturbing and sad no tortoise should look like this

I agree,, there so hard to look at. I hope they weren't disfigured intentionally.

 

[Sarah2020]

I agree,, there so hard to look at. I hope they weren't disfigured intentionally.

This is the result of appalling tortoise care and housekeeping inc diet, heat, enclosure, substate, hydration etcccc this is obvious over time so owners can seek advise and correct. The shell pyraminding causes problems with the spine and other health issues.

 

[SassiPaws]

This is the result of appalling tortoise care and housekeeping inc diet, heat, enclosure, substate, hydration etcccc this is obvious over time so owners can seek advise and correct. The shell pyraminding causes problems with the spine and other health issues.

It's sad that people don't do enough research. I think for some It's a novelty toy they put away after the honeymoon.
I've been doing as much research as possible after finding my painted turtle hatchling. I would have found a good home for it if I wasn't willing to commit.