Worms and Protozoa

[marney]

Do tortoises only get worms and protozoa when they are wild caught??? Help, pls. My Russian tortoises have worms and protozoa and I'd like to know if my where I purchased them they caught them wild illegaly. My tortoises are supposed to be 6 months old, but they are almost full grown??? I purchased them 3 weeks ago [/size]tommorow.

 

[GBtortoises]

No, parasites can be present in any tortoise at any time, regardless of whether they are recent wild caught animals, very long term wild caught or captive born. All tortoises have (and need) a certain level of intestinal protozoa in their digestive tract. These protozoa actually aid in the digestive process. But what commonly happens with recent wild caught tortoises is that due to being captured, crated, over crowded, shipped and in very unfamiliar surroundings their stress level is high, they often stop eating and are underhydrated. Also because of these conditions their immune system is often weakened. This immune system along with the tortoises normally good health is what helps to keep parasites in check. When these get weak parasites flourish.
Parasites can also flourish in long term wild caught and captive born tortoises at any time if the animal is exposed to the above less than ideal conditions. Any healthy tortoise can also be exposed to excessive levels of or foreign parasites by improper quarantine of new animals from existing.

If your tortoises are nearly fully grown they are much older than 6 months. A Russian tortoise at about 6 months old is only around 2-2.5" in length. Sounds like you were given the typical pet store information by an unknowing employee. Unfortunately, that's pretty common.

There is no way to determine if they were caught illegally without knowing their exact origin, export point and so on. Once they're here in captivity there is really no way of knowing for certain. Some extremely rare species are easier to determine the legality of. Russian tortoises and several Middle Eastern Greek subspecies have been collected and exported from their native range in the hundreds of thousands over the past few years and earlier.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome, marney!

"Wild Caught" doesn't necessarily mean "illegally." Many steppe tortoises, in fact most in the pet stores, are legally taken from the wild.

 

[marney]

Welcome, marney!

"Wild Caught" doesn't necessarily mean "illegally." Many steppe tortoises, in fact most in the pet stores, are legally taken from the wild.

ok thank I'm just very frustrated that the pet store promised it was captive bread and then having us spend money on vet bills