PetsMart Greek (Golden?)

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biochemnerd808

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What a beautiful tortoise - looks a lot like my little Testudo graeca terrestris (formerly called 'antakyan' but I am told that classification is old). I agree, she looks to be a female.

Since she is most likely wild-caught, I do recommend bringing a fecal sample to the vet. Most wild-caught tortoises have some level of parasites (worms or amoebes) in their gut. Depending on the load, some worms may be visible, or you may never see them, and the vet will only see eggs. Regardless, good to take care of that now, rather than having to fight them later on... Some vets will allow you to have a fecal test without an office visit. Call around... my favorite vet charges $63 for a fecal, but the other reptile vet in town charges $26...

Rogue said:
jjuchems said:
Rogue,

Sorry to hijack your post with my pictures. My females are 7-7.5 inches. Pretty good size for PetsMart. I can not wait for winter to end and to get them outside and hopefully breed.

No worries, my initial post was to get more info about the golden greeks at PetsMart, and you've provided good info. I guess my girl will be getting bigger, judging by the size of yours! She's a porker.

Can anyone provide a guess at age? I just read that WC jordanian greeks might have 2 growth cycles per year, which puts her at roughly about 7 yrs?
 

Rogue

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Yes, I plan on taking her in to a vet tomorrow for a full checkup and fecal sample analysis.

biochemnerd808 said:
What a beautiful tortoise - looks a lot like my little Testudo graeca terrestris (formerly called 'antakyan' but I am told that classification is old). I agree, she looks to be a female.

Since she is most likely wild-caught, I do recommend bringing a fecal sample to the vet. Most wild-caught tortoises have some level of parasites (worms or amoebes) in their gut. Depending on the load, some worms may be visible, or you may never see them, and the vet will only see eggs. Regardless, good to take care of that now, rather than having to fight them later on... Some vets will allow you to have a fecal test without an office visit. Call around... my favorite vet charges $63 for a fecal, but the other reptile vet in town charges $26...
 

biochemnerd808

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Awesome! It is so nice to see an owner get off to a great start with their new pet. :) Good luck!

Rogue said:
Yes, I plan on taking her in to a vet tomorrow for a full checkup and fecal sample analysis.

biochemnerd808 said:
What a beautiful tortoise - looks a lot like my little Testudo graeca terrestris (formerly called 'antakyan' but I am told that classification is old). I agree, she looks to be a female.

Since she is most likely wild-caught, I do recommend bringing a fecal sample to the vet. Most wild-caught tortoises have some level of parasites (worms or amoebes) in their gut. Depending on the load, some worms may be visible, or you may never see them, and the vet will only see eggs. Regardless, good to take care of that now, rather than having to fight them later on... Some vets will allow you to have a fecal test without an office visit. Call around... my favorite vet charges $63 for a fecal, but the other reptile vet in town charges $26...
 

Rogue

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Back from the vet - poor thing had round worms and hook worms. I was wondering why she was always so hungry. She was also underweight at 405 grams. She's on deworming meds, so I'm optimistic she'll start gaining weight soon. Other than that, she's healthy.

I'd suggest if others haven't yet, to take their Petsmart greeks (or any other tortoise) for a full checkup.
 

jjuchems

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I have used Reptile Xtra by Jungle Laboratories with good results on newly imported chelonia and have started these Greeks on it.
 

biochemnerd808

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Sorry to hear that she had worms! Glad you had her tested though... and you know, if you bring the print-out of the diagnosis to PetsMart, they will refund you the cost of the test and the treatment.
The panacur (fenbendazole) might ruin her appetite for a few days, and make sure she gets soaked every day while on the meds... but once the worms are gone, I bet she will grow and thrive!

Rogue said:
Back from the vet - poor thing had round worms and hook worms. I was wondering why she was always so hungry. She was also underweight at 405 grams. She's on deworming meds, so I'm optimistic she'll start gaining weight soon. Other than that, she's healthy.

I'd suggest if others haven't yet, to take their Petsmart greeks (or any other tortoise) for a full checkup.
 

Rogue

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biochemnerd808 said:
Sorry to hear that she had worms! Glad you had her tested though... and you know, if you bring the print-out of the diagnosis to PetsMart, they will refund you the cost of the test and the treatment.

I spoke to the manager, and he said because I didn't call them first and use "their vet," he might not be able to reimburse me. Whatever, I'm glad I had my tortoise seen by my competent vet, and I wouldn't trust to hand my tortoise back to Petsmart's incompetent care anyways.

They still had 2 males in the display tank, and one was really stressed and trying to walk through the front glass. Seriously, if I had the room for another tortoise...
 

Phobi

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I wished they would have reimbursed your money... "just because you didnt call their vet" stupid... :/ I hope she gets nice and fat hehe, also how much are the greeks at petsmart? ty
 

Rogue

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Right now, they should be on sale for $82 until the end of the month.
 

Rogue

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Yeah, they also marked up the russians from $99 to $150 here last month (but now now on sale for 25% off of that).
 

Tortoise

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We pay several hundred dollars for everything!!!!(not much under $500 for anything in a store here)
up to $1200 for a star.
If they stocked tortoises like you can get in regular pet stores here I would have a house full!!!
 

jmhoesch

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How can you tell if they have worms? We got ours from Petsmart at the end of Jan. His poops look good, I don't see any wiggly things. Do they have other symptoms? He eats and drinks normally, is very active and interacts w/ us a lot. We got ours on sale for 79.99.
 

jjuchems

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jmhoesch said:
How can you tell if they have worms? We got ours from Petsmart at the end of Jan. His poops look good, I don't see any wiggly things. Do they have other symptoms? He eats and drinks normally, is very active and interacts w/ us a lot. We got ours on sale for 79.99.

1. I got my first two at $79.99 and went back and got price adjustments on the three I bought last week and bought another this evening. Hopefully I will have two nice breeding groups.

2. Fecal exams are needed. Once the float is prepared you can see the eggs, larvae, and worms clearly in the microscope. Herps can live with parasite, however stress and poor diet can put the digestive system in flux, and allow parasite to take over. Typical symptoms are diarrhea and anorexia. I have never experienced vomiting, but have read that it is a symptom.
 

Phobi

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Ive heard alot of the petstores, being Petco and Petsmart have a worm problembeing because theyre wild caught. If you happen to find out he/she has worms call the store back and they will pay for the vet visit and stuff :)


oh and also im getting a Golden Greek for $40 from a local here in town SO excited! For $83 at petsmart might just have to get me another one from another city.. as ours only carry Russians
:) hmmmmmm
 

theelectraco

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Phobi said:
Ive heard alot of the petstores, being Petco and Petsmart have a worm problembeing because theyre wild caught. If you happen to find out he/she has worms call the store back and they will pay for the vet visit and stuff :)


oh and also im getting a Golden Greek for $40 from a local here in town SO excited! For $83 at petsmart might just have to get me another one from another city.. as ours only carry Russians
:) hmmmmmm



jjuchems said:
1. I got my first two at $79.99 and went back and got price adjustments on the three I bought last week and bought another this evening. Hopefully I will have two nice breeding groups.

2. Fecal exams are needed. Once the float is prepared you can see the eggs, larvae, and worms clearly in the microscope. Herps can live with parasite, however stress and poor diet can put the digestive system in flux, and allow parasite to take over. Typical symptoms are diarrhea and anorexia. I have never experienced vomiting, but have read that it is a symptom.


I would really advise you to check with the store before expecting PetSmart to pay for the vet visit and deworming for 5 different tortoises. Not saying they won't, but it may be a little more difficult to get them to pay for all 5 compared to others who have gotten one or two.


Some of them also request for you to see their in store vet or the specific reptile vet they use.
 
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