Travancore tortoise help

terra731993

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Joined
May 6, 2020
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10
Location (City and/or State)
Inyokern, Ca
I purchased this little one, who I’ve named lucky, from a LLL Reptiles two days ago. I wasn’t planning on purchasing him/her (I’ll say him for the sake of keeping this simple) but he was in such bad shape.
1. His enclosure was extremely dry/ no humidity and when I asked if they ever soak them, the employee said they don’t have the time to.
2. There were mites crawling on him
3. Snake skin was in the enclosure with him which tells me they don’t clean them out in between animals.
4. He seemed to be missing scales on his head
5. There was sticky residue on his back from what looks like a square tag/sticker
6. then yesterday morning in the sunlight I noticed he has a deep cut on the side of his mouth (pictures included)
There’s luckily no wheezing or bubbles coming out of his nose so there’s one relief.
Im not one to start confrontation, so I figured it would be best to pay the $200 for him, take him home to soak him, calm down, and then contact the store when I could think a little more rationally. I’ve been giving him warm soaks and a humid enclosure where he has been digging himself a little hole. Has lots of energy so I’m not terribly worried about him, I’m pretty sure with the correct inclosure, soaks, and diet he will be back to normal but I didn’t go into this with much education on this species. I don’t even know a ballpark age for him and it seems travancore tortoises are a little more difficult to find information on unless I just haven’t been looking in the correct places. My focus has been on monitoring him and I haven’t been researching the same way I did before I got my other tortoises.
Those with this species, what should I begin doing? What is their diet like? How old does mine look?
I’ve also emailed the higher ups of the company and I’m currently waiting on a response. Thank you for reading this. The last few days have been stressful. I have pictures of how I found him in the store, dry and in the corner. I have also included pictures of his shell to show the sticker mark.

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Yossarian

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Wales
Cool find, nice to see it has a good home. The native habitat for these is primarily tropical forests in southern India. They sound a bit like redfoots dietwise.

Primarily herbivorous, these tortoises can consume varied diet. They feed on feed on mushrooms, tender bamboo shoots, fallen fruits of Artocarpus spp., Dillenia pentagyna, Ficus virens, and the leaves of herbaceous plants such as Synedrella nodiflora, Desmodium repandum, Senecio scandens, Mimosa pudica, and Veronica buabaumii, apart from animals such as frogs, insects, and millipedes, and are even known to scavenge on carcasses. Herbaceous plants constitute 45% of its diet which varies across seasons. They also feed on fallen fruits. Intact seeds in their faecal matter may indicate their role in seed dispersal.
- https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/238639

@ZEROPILOT do you know anything about these?
 

TeamZissou

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Location (City and/or State)
Albuquerque, NM
It's possible that the mites were just springtails in the substrate. Which are common and harmless.

Hard to tell from the pictures, but the right ear looks a bit swollen, which might indicate a possible abscess. I would monitor that over time.

Threads related to Travancores would be located in the southeast Asian sub forum:

 

Yvonne G

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Corner of the mouth injuries are difficult to heal.

Keep Neosporin on it so the scab doesn't harden, because a hard scab will break open every time he opens his mouth wide to bite food.

Until it's completely healed cut his food into tiny pieces so he only has to "tongue" his food into his mouth.
 

ZEROPILOT

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TammyJ

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What happened with this little one then? How is he doing? any more information? He is so beautiful.
 

Sarah2020

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He has had a tough life so thanks for taking him in. Hopefully with your quality care and attention he will bring you joy. Please ask questions he deserves the best, he is lovely.
 

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