Hey everyone,
I recently acquired a Sulcata as a temporary foster "child" to get it out of a terrible situation where it lived in a Bath tub with no light and an improper diet. I've had him for about a week and half to monitor for health issues and so far he's looked very healthy, especially considering his previous conditions. His appetite is amazing, his feces is sometimes a little watery but looks very fiber filled. His skin is a little pale (assuming from dietary issues) and he has a little bit of flakeyness on the shell. All things that didn't exactly worry me considering his lack of care.
However about four days after he arrived I was feeding him a special treat (Yellow Squash in small amounts), and I noticed a weird red lesion(s). I was able to get a photo a couple days later using the treat method to get him to open his mouth and the color of the lesions took on a more brown color.
No vet has seen the actual lesions in person (that will change tomorrow), but two of them that I work with (at a Wildlife Rehab center) think the lesions may be herpes like.
Based on the photos could anyone who has seen Tortoise Herpes in person confirm similarities? We will be doing Cytology very soon and finding out for sure, but my mind is going a mile a minute now.
I also have two Russian and two Red-Foot Tortoises that have made NO direct contact with him, but I worry that during diet making or after moving one or the other I may have forgotten to wash my hands once or twice. I am panicking about the possible transmission to my other torts. No direct contact has occured via bodily fluids, but I might have touched the shell of one and then the other. I just can't find much info on transmission vectors and viral shedding on the disease, so I'm extremely restless.
Any information you may have will be greatly appreciated.
I recently acquired a Sulcata as a temporary foster "child" to get it out of a terrible situation where it lived in a Bath tub with no light and an improper diet. I've had him for about a week and half to monitor for health issues and so far he's looked very healthy, especially considering his previous conditions. His appetite is amazing, his feces is sometimes a little watery but looks very fiber filled. His skin is a little pale (assuming from dietary issues) and he has a little bit of flakeyness on the shell. All things that didn't exactly worry me considering his lack of care.
However about four days after he arrived I was feeding him a special treat (Yellow Squash in small amounts), and I noticed a weird red lesion(s). I was able to get a photo a couple days later using the treat method to get him to open his mouth and the color of the lesions took on a more brown color.
No vet has seen the actual lesions in person (that will change tomorrow), but two of them that I work with (at a Wildlife Rehab center) think the lesions may be herpes like.
Based on the photos could anyone who has seen Tortoise Herpes in person confirm similarities? We will be doing Cytology very soon and finding out for sure, but my mind is going a mile a minute now.
I also have two Russian and two Red-Foot Tortoises that have made NO direct contact with him, but I worry that during diet making or after moving one or the other I may have forgotten to wash my hands once or twice. I am panicking about the possible transmission to my other torts. No direct contact has occured via bodily fluids, but I might have touched the shell of one and then the other. I just can't find much info on transmission vectors and viral shedding on the disease, so I'm extremely restless.
Any information you may have will be greatly appreciated.
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