Please Please Read This

[Meg90]

There is a homes hingeback tortoise for sale at my local ACE hardware store
(they have a pets section) and he is terribly underweight, his eyes are
swollen, and his beak is overgrown.

I am at a loss of what to do here....I really want to rescue him,
but I don't want to KEEP him.

Is there anyone on here in central WI? That would be able to help me rehome him? He's been at the store for over a year and the manager of the pets
section is a moron.

What do swollen eyes indicate?

 

[Maggie Cummings]

There is a homes hingeback tortoise for sale at my local ACE hardware store
(they have a pets section) and he is terribly underweight, his eyes are
swollen, and his beak is overgrown.

I am at a loss of what to do here....I really want to rescue him,
but I don't want to KEEP him.

Is there anyone on here in central WI? That would be able to help me rehome him? He's been at the store for over a year and the manager of the pets
section is a moron.

What do swollen eyes indicate?

Swollen eyes could indicate any number of things. You could print out a care sheet and take it to the manager. Tell him you are going to keep on top of this. If his care doesn't change right away contact their national headquarters. Or buy it yourself and turn him over to your local tortoise rescue...

 

[Meg90]

I really want to buy him, but i can't afford to. I just recently
got a tortoise myself, and after setting him up...money is tight.

Is there anyone I can contact about this? Rescue wise?

Can they do anything about care given to animals in petstores??

 

[spikethebest]

i would contact law enforcement or a humane society for neglect. the manager might get scared he would get fined or put into prision, and he might just give you the tortoise so he doesnt have to worry about paperwork.

 

[TortoiseMa]

Hi! I am in Southeastern Wisconsin, and if there is anything I can do to help please let me know. What city is this store in?

We just got our first tortoise three weeks ago, and really enjoy her but not ready to add another one. However, I know some "reptile people and will ask if anyone knows anybody who might be willing to take it in if you could get it somehow.

Good luck, and keep me posted...

 

[Jentortmom]

If it were me I would print out a caresheet, take it to the head manager of the store explain to them that the tortoise is sick probably with a RI and a vitamin deficiancy. Tell them that if they don't take it toa vet or find a knowledgable home with in 24 hours you are going to call the authorities. Explain that this animal will die w/o a trip to the vet and it is wrong to sell this tortoise to any consumer do to the costs that will be required for vet care. Be nice, and go back with in 24 hrs, but personally I would still call the authorities. If you come in with this information they may just give the tort to you instead of dealing with it. If they give it to you, you could then take it to a vet. Most likely this tort will need a vitamin shot and a round of antibiotics. I'm not saying that is what he has but sounds pretty likely. Hopefully by talking to the store manager they will do something. I use to go to this one store three days a week for crickets and worms, I would look at every tort and turtle they had every visit and I would tell the manager if I saw something wrong, one day I walked in and he came up to me and asked me to take a sick boxie that they had been trying to care for w/o vet care. So I said yes now he is a healthy boxie who has found a permanent home with a friend of mine. So keep trying and be persistent.

 

[Meg90]

I actually went and purchased him. The woman who runs the Serpent Sanctuary in Ft. Atkinson is re-purchasing him from me and going to take him on. Below is an update.

TortoiseMa: If you know of anyone willing to take him on (he will definately
need vet care...)I can get you in touch with Heather from Serpant Sanctuary....Just let me know.


UPDATE:

I have decided to call him Emerson. I am not sure about his sex yet...but that could be cute either way.
His tail is longer, and goes to the side like any average male tort, so I think its a pretty safe assumption that he is a boy.


OK


So all and all, I am still so upset about him that I can hardly type all this down.

Back at ACE before I went and found the "manager" I took a look again in the enclosure, and his temps and humidity were WAY WAY off. His hotspot was 100 F, and the humidity was 30%. In the cool end it was 85% and 35% humidity.

Hingebacks are supposed to have 75-85% humidity, and a hotspot MAX of 83 F from what I have read.

I also innocently asked the manager how many crickets/worms he was being fed a week and was told "Oh, tortoises don't eat bugs. And how would he even catch crickets?"

Hingebacks are mainly insectivores. He was also mainly being fed sweet potatoes, cucumber, and raspberry. Along with a little romaine. (dusted w/ calcium when they remembered too)

So basically, he has been deprived of protein for an entire year. He had no cuttle bone available either. His lights went on at 7 and off when the store closed. (at 6 on saturdays and sundays) and the manager told me that I could set that to "what ever I wanted"

He said nothing about soaking him, nothing about what humidity level he should have (other than telling me that yes, those meters in the tank were correct)

I could not believe it. I just looked at my BF and made faces. It was incredible. Over a year and they had not even ATTEMPTED to improve his care. He also had not grown in the time that he had been there. And
feels very light when picked up. (at 4 inches he is just a baby...I was stunned)

Right now I have him in the bathroom, with a humidifier at full tilt and I ran a space heater to bring up the temp from the 76 degree reg that my appt usually is, to 80 degrees, so he will be warm enough tonight.
In 25 mins I took the humidity level from 40% to 85%.

I hope he improves...also, he makes a "click" sound every time he breathes. Does this suggest respiratory infection? (does that go hand in hand with buggy eyes?)

 

[JustAnja]

Yup as I stated over on WI the click is most likely a RI, and the swollen eyes are probably from a Vit A deficiency but could also be related to the RI. Im going to paypal Heather some $$ to help out with this one.

 

[Meg90]

[split] New Star Tortoises!

jpeck425---

I see in your sig that you own Forest Hingebacks...I rescued what I
believe to be a Homes Hingeback today (was listed as Forest too)

He is in pretty bad shape. I was wondering if you could send me some
pics of your healthy Hingebacks, and give me some info about their care.

I am not keeping this poor little guy, just holding him for a rescue that
should be picking him up the week after next. But I would love to know
of anything I could do (short of vet care) to make him comfortable.

I think he has a Vit A def. as well as an RI. (he was also basically deprived of protein for the last year---
what types of protein do you feed yours?)
The petstore was horrible to him. The whole story is in my other thread (titled: Please please please read this)

I would REALLY appreciate you taking a look and giving me some input...
I am scared for him and only want to do right by him. I would gladly take
any help you can give me.

 

[Meg90]

Oh Anja, thats AWESOME!

I felt so bad asking for money from her...but it was that
or not pay rent this month. and Emerson REALLY needed
a good home....

I am really glad you're helping....I hope others do to.

 

[Bernie]

Is there something I can do? Cash is a little tight but I'd be happy to make a small donation.

 

[Meg90]

Bernie -
Do you about the Serpent Sanctuary?
This is Heather's website: http://www.serpentsanctuary.org/3001.html

I'm not sure if she's a member here...her tag at WIreptiles is
mhPython...

you could try contacting her and letting her know what the donation
is for...or if you have an account on WIreptiles.com you could find
this thread there and get a hold of her.

I am so thrilled that there are still good people out there that care
about tortoises that they will never meet...(and other reptiles for that
matter as well)

Just let her know its for Emerson, the Hingeback. And THANKYOU
sooooo much, for anything you can contribute. It means sooo much to me.

 

[Bernie]

I emailed her to get info -- like an email address for paypal. Unfortunately I can only make a small donation right now but everything helps, right?

Thanks for giving Emerson a new shot at life!

 

[jpeck425]

RE: New Star Tortoises!

jpeck425---

I see in your sig that you own Forest Hingebacks...I rescued what I
believe to be a Homes Hingeback today (was listed as Forest too)

He is in pretty bad shape. I was wondering if you could send me some
pics of your healthy Hingebacks, and give me some info about their care.

I am not keeping this poor little guy, just holding him for a rescue that
should be picking him up the week after next. But I would love to know
of anything I could do (short of vet care) to make him comfortable.

I think he has a Vit A def. as well as an RI. (he was also basically deprived of protein for the last year---
what types of protein do you feed yours?)
The petstore was horrible to him. The whole story is in my other thread (titled: Please please please read this)

I would REALLY appreciate you taking a look and giving me some input...
I am scared for him and only want to do right by him. I would gladly take
any help you can give me.

Hi there,

Mine are also Home's Hingebacks. Initially, most of the imports arrive severly stressed, dehydrated and heavily parasitized. They can start out rather shy and need plenty of visual barriers, such as plants and bark caves.

I use a mixture of the ground coco fiber(Eco-earth, Plantation soil, etc...), spaghnm moss and soil. I keep 2/3 of it semi-moist and 1/3 drier. There are an abundance of silk plants and cork bark tunnels to walk around and explore.

Forest Hingebacks love to soak so I provided a 24"x12"x2" tray of water. I change it daily, because they will track a lot of substrate through it.

In the beginning, my would only eat nightcrawlers(earthworms) and bananas. I've found their dietary interests to be more similar towards box turtles than your typical tortoises. Now they are acclimated, they readily consume nightcrawlers, banana, berries, yellow squash, cactus pears, pumpkin, romaine lettuce, turnip greens, green beans, mushrooms, tomato and occasional thawed "pinkie" mice.

They have low UV requirements. You can provide a 5.0 at one end, but it is not essential for this species. They do not appreciate bright light, as they normally inhabit dense ground foliage.

If a vet trip is not an option, Jungle makes a couple of products that seem to help. They are handy to have on hand, if you are dealing with rescues. One is for parasites and the other restores benefical bacteria to the digestive tract.

I spray my cages down a couple times per week to simulate rain showers. Forest Hingebacks seem to love these showers and it is after this that most of their mating attempts seem to occur.

Here's a couple of pics:

I hope this helps. Let me know if I can be of any further assistance. This can be a very rewarding species once acclimated.
Be well

 

[JustAnja]

I emailed her to get info -- like an email address for paypal. Unfortunately I can only make a small donation right now but everything helps, right?

Thanks for giving Emerson a new shot at life!

Heather's paypal address is [email protected]. Im sure Emerson will have plenty of vet bills to be covered and yes, thank you, every little bit helps. Heather does good work there in WI and I know her personally from my time living up there the last 2 years.

 

[Meg90]

RE: New Star Tortoises!

jpeck425---

What would make his shell feel oily to the touch?

I don't think he has parasites....his stools are normal, well formed.

But i can't get him to eat for me. I chopped up spring mix with
some zucchini, and some mushrooms and he wouldn't touch it.
I added some apple and hoped that would help...and he still
hasn't eaten.

His beak is VERY overgrown. I had to practically mince his food in
hopes that he will eat it. I will hopefully post some pics soon, and
you can tell me if you see anything else abnormal or wrong with him.

He's been in captivity for over a year...he was at the petstore for over
a year, and they told me that they got him from their aquatics supplier
down in Chicago. He's pretty little, so I thought there might be a chance
he was CB, and he must have been in good health at some point, to make
it a whole year of horrible care with out dying...

I'm going to go and get bananas and worms tonight...any more help
is appreciated. Right now his overall temp is about 80F and his humidity
is 65-70%.

Is that right for him?

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: New Star Tortoises!

I'll reply about the hingeback in your other "please read this" thread.

Yvonne

 

[Yvonne G]

This is what you posted on the Stars thread:

"What would make his shell feel oily to the touch?

I don't think he has parasites....his stools are normal, well formed.

But i can't get him to eat for me. I chopped up spring mix with
some zucchini, and some mushrooms and he wouldn't touch it.
I added some apple and hoped that would help...and he still
hasn't eaten.

His beak is VERY overgrown. I had to practically mince his food in
hopes that he will eat it. I will hopefully post some pics soon, and
you can tell me if you see anything else abnormal or wrong with him.

He's been in captivity for over a year...he was at the petstore for over
a year, and they told me that they got him from their aquatics supplier
down in Chicago. He's pretty little, so I thought there might be a chance
he was CB, and he must have been in good health at some point, to make
it a whole year of horrible care with out dying...

I'm going to go and get bananas and worms tonight...any more help
is appreciated. Right now his overall temp is about 80F and his humidity
is 65-70%.

Is that right for him? "

You can take some baby shampoo and a soft bristle brush to wash off the greasy feel. As for feeding, you need to go back to the pet store and find out what the tortoise is used to eating. Even if its not the correct diet, you have to start out by feeding him what he's used to. Every time you feed him you add a bit more of the kinds of foods he's supposed to be eating until you finally have him converted to a good diet. Some tortoises are VERY hard to convert. It may take 6 months or a year. But be patient, you can change him!

YVonne

 

[Meg90]

that's the thing...his food in the pet store yesterday looked untouched.

I don't know the last time he's eaten...I did see him drink at the store,
and he puts his whole head in the dish...even eyes under water.
Is that how all tortoises drink?

He's been using his water dish...I put a very large one in, though its only
about an inch and a half deep. I really want to take some pictures of him, but
am afraid to do so (I don't want to stress him)

I will do that with the baby soap...I have some at my moms. Do I just put
alittle on the toothbrush, scrub him, and rinse?

(Also...He REALLY likes having the sides of his shell scratched. He will
stretch up the legs on the opposite side being scratched and
"lean" into my fingers) I think he would enjoy being cleaned.

I put some banana in with him, and I will try worms tomorrow. I wish I had
money for vet bills...he needs his beak trimmed badly. I am hoping to be
able to drive him to heathers on sunday, instead of next week.

Does any one have any extra info for me on Hingebacks? Are they a rarer
tort? I've never seen one before this...

(also, he really seemed to perk up when I misted him.)

Sorry about posting so sporattically...I have just been cruising around the
forums, and I spotted the Hingeback think in J's signature and couldn't help
myself. THANK YOU to whoever got all my posts together on this thread, I
do appreciate it!

 

[egyptiandan]

That was me that moved the posts

Danny