New Desert Tortoise

dmarshall1991

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Today I got the desert tortoise rescue that I've been anticipating the past two weeks. The poor thing is in worse shape than I expected.. he is 5 years old, hatched in 09. He fits in my palm, has pretty bad pyramiding for a desert tortoise, he was attacked by the previous owners dogs countless times. They would find them chewing on him.. he has a messed up jaw, it looks misplaced or something. His top beak doesn't line up with the bottom. He's also got his back toenails growing around and curling up into his poor little feet. He also was fed a very poor diet of fruit and tortoise pellets made for forest dwelling tortoises. He's going to take some TLC but I have no doubts he will be happy and healthy in no time :) he will not be hibernated this winter. Here are some photos I took off him. His name is Wrangler. :)
 

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Yvonne G

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Aw, poor little guy. Desert tortoises are hard to sex until they get almost full grown, but that one certainly looks female (at the moment). I've never see toenails to grow like that. For cryin' out loud!!! And with that beak, I'll bet it's hard for him/her to bite off pieces of food. Keep us up to date on the tortoise's progress. I love a happy ending.
 

Ciri

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Wow! Sorry to hear Wrangler has had such a tough time. But what an angel you are for changing his life for the better. The curling toenails are probably due to too much fruit in his diet – but I could be wrong. I'll be very interested to hear what the vet says. I think this little guy is going to do really well in your care.
 

dmarshall1991

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Thank you everybody. I have very high hopes for him! (I just always assume my torts are boys until they prove me wrong) lol. I will definitely keep this thread updated on his progress as time goes on :)
 

Kenno

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Does Wrangler walk well? My Desert Torts walk on grass, concrete, and terra cotta tiles and all their toenails stay short and trimmed. Earlier pictures of Wrangler showed him on linoleum, which probably wouldn't grind his nails.
 
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dmarshall1991

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Does Wrangler walk well? My Desert Torts walk on grass, concrete, and terra cotta tiles and all their toenails stay short and trimmed. Earlier pictures of Wrangler showed him on linoleum, which probably wouldn't grind his nails.
Wrangler has a kind of strange walk. His back two legs kinda just are there. He uses them and pushes with them but I think most of his weight is carried on his two front legs. He was kept on a concrete patio. A very smooth almost plastic like concrete. I think it had some sort of coating on it from what I saw when I was there. So it wasn't something that would keep his nails filed down.
 

kathyth

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poor guy!! i'm really happy he now has a home that will provide proper care.
I wonder is he was getting adequate UVB and calcium.
Please keep us posted.
 

Kenno

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Does he ever walk with all four legs, raising his shell off the ground? His back legs do look pretty thin.
 

dmarshall1991

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Does he ever walk with all four legs, raising his shell off the ground? His back legs do look pretty thin.
I have yet to see him do this in the 24 hours I've had him. He just sits there he doesn't hardly move. I think he might have been starting to go into hibernation because he was kept outside and the temps are getting down in the low 40s at night now.. but he didn't have a burrow to go into or anything. Like I said earlier he was being kept on a concrete appartment patio. I'm hoping the warm temperatures of his basking light help get him moving some so I can get a chance to see him walk around.
 

dmarshall1991

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poor guy!! i'm really happy he now has a home that will provide proper care.
I wonder is he was getting adequate UVB and calcium.
Please keep us posted.
He was getting no uvb and no calcium other than what little amounts were in the poor food he was being fed. Im starting to suspect that he has MBD.
 

dmarshall1991

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I just gave him a soak in warm water and he dunked his head and drank for a good 20 minutes straight only coming up for air 2 or 3 times. It scared the crap outa me so I kept pulling him up out of the water. If i didn't do it I don't think he would have even come up for air once. After he drank this stuff came out of him.. and I'm not sure what it means or even is. I THINK it's urates.. but I don't know because it's tan in color and it looks like sawdust. What does this mean?

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Carol S

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Poor baby. He must of have been very dehydrated. Soak him every day and have a saucer of water available at all times (I like the terracotta plant saucers - a big enough one for him to self soak and drink whenever he wants). He needs to have a good UBV bulb (I personally like the ZooMed PowerSun mercury vapor bulb); however, nothing is better than real sunshine when the weather permits. I hope your baby has a speedy recovery to good health.
 

Ciri

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That is uric acid. In your initial pictures when you first brought him home, his face looked pretty dehydrated. Of course, with soaks that will soon clear up. Over time there should be less uric acid coming out. Meanwhile of course you are flushing his system and that helps a lot.

This is heartbreaking – the people who had him neglected him to the point of abuse. It's really good they let you take him. I'll be really interested to hear what the vet says.
 

Kenno

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Does he ever walk with all four legs, raising his shell off the ground? His back legs do look pretty thin.

I've been noticing in some videos that some young torts drag their shells and just push a little with their back legs.
Would someone who raises little ones care to comment on this?
 

Kenno

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Wrangler has a kind of strange walk. His back two legs kinda just are there. He uses them and pushes with them but I think most of his weight is carried on his two front legs. He was kept on a concrete patio. A very smooth almost plastic like concrete. I think it had some sort of coating on it from what I saw when I was there. So it wasn't something that would keep his nails filed down.

(This is what I meant to quote)
 

Ciri

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I've been noticing in some videos that some young torts drag their shells and just push a little with their back legs.
Would someone who raises little ones care to comment on this?
Hatchlings don't normally drag themselves, they walk. Where are these videos?
 

Momof4

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Poor thing! I am just curious to why the rescue didn't clean him up before adopting him out? Couldn't they have at least trimmed his nails and beak? Maybe a vet check? Maybe there are no funds for this. So glad he is being taken care of now. Keep us updated.
 

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