Tick on My Russian

[pdelpizzo]

I just discovered a what I think is a very engorged dog tick on my Russian tortoise. His vet and the next closest exotic vet are out of town for the weekend. The 3rd closest exotic vet is fully booked. I'm reluctant to try to remove this myself. Is it critical that it be removed? Not sure what to do.

Thanks.

 

[Pearly]

Yuck!!!! I hate ticks! Did you take it out???

 

[Nicole M]

I just discovered a what I think is a very engorged dog tick on my Russian tortoise. His vet and the next closest exotic vet are out of town for the weekend. The 3rd closest exotic vet is fully booked. I'm reluctant to try to remove this myself. Is it critical that it be removed? Not sure what to do.

Thanks.

Yes! It is draining blood from your tortoise. Remove it as you would remove a tick from yourself or any other pet. http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html

 

[Kasia]

I just discovered a what I think is a very engorged dog tick on my Russian tortoise. His vet and the next closest exotic vet are out of town for the weekend. The 3rd closest exotic vet is fully booked. I'm reluctant to try to remove this myself. Is it critical that it be removed? Not sure what to do.

Thanks.

That is a big one

 

[pdelpizzo]

I ended up finding a vet that had tortoise experience and he took it off. If it happens again I'll try it myself but he was due for an exam anyway. The vet said this was a tick that only bites tortoises and that tortoise ticks are generally much larger than others. He suggested there are probably gopher tortoises nearby to support a population of these ticks. Interesting stuff! Glad I don't need to worry about finding one of those on me!