Hello,
Here is Turdy a 10+ year old Russian tortoise. I rescued him from a family friend in 2012 that had him in his backyard for 10 years living with the family yellow lab without any problems. (We have all heard this story before).
Last June 2012 the lab took to chewing on the tortoise. First they told me that the dog just picked Turdy up in his mouth and walked around with it, without chewing on Turdy. They said they punished the dog for doing that and thought everything was fine and still left the two alone together in the yard. Well after a few more times and a couple of weeks later the dog started to chew on him, like a piece of rawhide. Thankfully they found him before the injuries were fatal and quickly took Turdy out of the backyard and put him into a 15 gallon tank in the garage.
After a week or so without him eating or walking around, they called me and ask if I could take him. Turdy was very moist/wet, smelly and had blood all over his shell when I got there. I already had an outdoor enclosure (5’x5’) that I had made for baby Sulcata’s that was not occupied so I took him home that day.
Today he is super active and eats like crazy, but his shell has a long way to go.
Below you can see photos of this shell today and the damage the dog caused. I did not take photos of him when I got him but he had a hole on his underside and lots of chew marks all over his shell, along with 2 chips on the back edge of his shell.
Here is Turdy a 10+ year old Russian tortoise. I rescued him from a family friend in 2012 that had him in his backyard for 10 years living with the family yellow lab without any problems. (We have all heard this story before).
Last June 2012 the lab took to chewing on the tortoise. First they told me that the dog just picked Turdy up in his mouth and walked around with it, without chewing on Turdy. They said they punished the dog for doing that and thought everything was fine and still left the two alone together in the yard. Well after a few more times and a couple of weeks later the dog started to chew on him, like a piece of rawhide. Thankfully they found him before the injuries were fatal and quickly took Turdy out of the backyard and put him into a 15 gallon tank in the garage.
After a week or so without him eating or walking around, they called me and ask if I could take him. Turdy was very moist/wet, smelly and had blood all over his shell when I got there. I already had an outdoor enclosure (5’x5’) that I had made for baby Sulcata’s that was not occupied so I took him home that day.
Today he is super active and eats like crazy, but his shell has a long way to go.
Below you can see photos of this shell today and the damage the dog caused. I did not take photos of him when I got him but he had a hole on his underside and lots of chew marks all over his shell, along with 2 chips on the back edge of his shell.
.....and without the dog!!!!!!
