...a redfoot?! Oh my!

I know I keep saying that my little tortoise family is complete. Somehow, however, tortoises in need keep finding their way to me. The boys and I got to go on a little road trip the other day, and along the way, we picked up this little redfoot tortoise.

Our new tortoise resident

The guy who gave this beautiful creature to us had gotten her from a woman who kept her in a 10 gallon aquarium. He built a little tortoise table, and got the proper substrate and lighting, but unfortunately kept the tortoise in bone dry, very dusty conditions. To his defense, the new growth from the past few months actually looks pretty good. Most of the pyramiding happened while the tortoise lived in the tiny aquarium.

You can see the pyramiding in this picture

Redfoot tortoises like to live in a very humid environment, so I've been visiting her outside frequently over the course of the day, misting her thoroughly each time. I also misted the plastic lid I placed over part of the enclosure to seal in some of the moisture. Redfoot tortoises also like to eat a very varied, omnivorous diet. This tortoise gal is going to be weaned off the pellet food she is used to, and will be given good healthy greens, fresh fruit, and appropriate sources of animal protein. None of my other tortoises have ever been fed processed or pre-manufactured foods, so I am not going to start now.

A healthy plastron - yay!

Rescued tortoises often have a really messed up plastron... so I was bracing myself for shell rot and all sorts of other problems. Luckily, her plastron looks great!

As part of in-processing a new tortoise (so I can see progress later), I measured and weighed her. She is 5 3/4" long (14.5cm), and weighs 594g. This is within what is considered a healthy weight range.

...it's a girl!

Speaking of plastrons, you may have noticed that I have been referring to our new redfoot as a 'her' - she is indeed female. Her previous owner thought she was male... we still need to decide on a good name for her. Any suggestions?

Hmmmm. What should we call her... ?

With her white beak, dark eyes and red spots, I think she looks a little bit like a clown. She also has the funniest little smiling clown face in the speckles on the top her head!

See? It's a smiling face!

What do you think we should name her?

New HUGE female Russian tortoise

Getting another Russian tortoise really wasn't part of my plan... but then I met Lady, the XXL-sized female Testudo horsfieldi. Before seeing her in person I had no idea she was this big. She comes with an interesting story - more about that below (for those of you who are interested). We named her Lady, short for Lady Liberty, because she was found roaming free.

That's right. She weighs 1076g... and is actually a little skinny!

When I first brought Lady home and weighed her before soaking her, she looked dehydrated and weighed 1014g (The picture above is of her hydrated weight!). I soaked her (she drank and drank!), fed her (she ate an entire HUGE dandelion plant, some dead-nettle, and some wild geranium , and put her under the heat lamp. She spent the rest of the day dozing under the warm light.

Lady, chowing down on a pile of weeds

This morning when I weighed her again after her soak, she weighed a whopping 1076g. I did a double-take, checked my scale, and weighed again. Yep 1076g was right. Originally, I was planning just to foster her, but considering her magnificent size, I just can't let her go. She's in quarantine for 6 months, but will get a partition of the outdoor enclosure, and by winter I'll have built her a nice big indoor enclosure, too. She's too big to share with the others, but next Spring I plan to introduce our male to her for a little honeymooning.

Lady, basking - I wonder how long it's been since she was warm?

Now her story:
I saw a post on Craigslist that a tortoise had been found wandering on the street. The finder was looking for the previous owner. Mind you, we live in the cold, rainy Pacific Northwest. I sent the woman a message stating that this certainly was not one of mine, but that I could care for it for her, and if it was female keep it, otherwise find a good home (after de-worming and ensuring it was healthy). The finder said she would wait first to see if someone answered her ad or the papers she hung around the neighborhood. Then on Sunday evening I got a message from her stating that the old owner did indeed contact her, but that this person was very rude and had stated that she had purposefully set the tortoise free so it could "live more happily in the wild." *WTH?* The finder had the presence of mind to offer finding a new home for the tortoise... so she offered it to me. I asked her for some pics, and this was obviously a female (stubby wedge shaped tail), but the I couldn't tell how big she was.

When I got to the finder's house and saw the tortoise, I did a double-take, because this tortoise was SO BIG. She is 7+ inches, and almost as wide as she is long. I expected her to be longer when I measured her, because she looks so big and heavy, but a lot of her weight comes from her width - my guess is that she is of the Kazachstani subgroup.

Interestingly, for all the previous neglect, her shell is actually in good shape, and so is her beak. She has some wear on her plastron, and I did treat a few spots of shell rot. The old owner just let her wander the yard all Summer, and kept her in a box or something during the winter. But at least she got real UV and good weeds to eat during the warm season. She was dehydrated when I got her, but overall seems to be healthy. And have I mentioned that she is huge?

Lady, all clean after a soak, with a VS card for size comparison.

In case you are wondering why she is on brown paper bags, she has worms, so I'm treating her with Panacur. As soon as she is all clear, she will get wonderful, soft coconut coir to burrow in!

New Greek Foster Tortoise, Shelton!

Today I picked up a new foster tortoise: a handsome slate-grey male Greek tortoise. His old owner named him Shelton, so we will stick with this name. Just look at his bright eyes!

Meet Shelton, the male Greek tortoise
(we will trim his beak in a  few days)

Shelton will live with us for the next few months to get some one-on-one TLC, hopefully gaining some weight, and then will move in with some other tortoises at International Reptile Rescue in the Summer. A sweet woman relinquished him to IRR after purchasing him from a garage sale last year. In my mind, this was such a kind thing of her to do for this critter - she even paid to have a vet check him out, and for medication to treat him for worms and pneumonia.

Shelton posing for the camera

Overall, Shelton looks pretty good. His eyes are bright and his nares (nostrils) are dry. He is exactly 6 inches (15.25cm) long, and weighs 638g - this calculates to a Jackson ratio of 0.18, which is a little on the light side, but within normal range. For a tortoise that has battled intestinal worms and pneumonia in the last year, it is actually really good.

Top view of his shell - hoping to figure out his exact species

Shelton's carapace (top shell) has seen some wear and tear, and shows some pyramiding and asymmetrical growth, as well as several scutes peeling up, but the recent growth since he was bought at the garage sale looks good. There is no fungal damage or shell rot, which is encouraging. Look how dark the new growth is!

Shelton's plastron

Shelton's plastron (the bottom of his shell) is in great shape - especially considering that he was most likely wild-caught. For now I set up his enclosure with newspaper, just so I can keep an eye on his fecal matter for a few days. Once I have determined whether he is healthy in this regard, I will switch to a more suitable substrate, either coconut coir, or organic soil.

Shelton right after a good warm soak

The most important next step will be to get Shelton to eat more. I switched out his basking light for a larger one, so his basking spot will be warmer - 95-100 degrees in the hot spot right under the bulb. These higher temps should help him digest his food more easily, which in turn will encourage him to eat more.

I look forward to updating you on his progress!

Dirty water in 2 minutes!

Boo, our Greek tortoise is so funny. I give him fresh water every morning, and within a few minutes, he has stomped back and forth through it until it is completely soiled with coco coir.

One little piggy, stomping through his water!

I think he just likes making me look bad, when guests come over. "No really, I change his water every day!"

Boo the Greek tortoise update

My little Antakyan Greek tortoise is doing so well. He is VERY active in his new tortoise table: he RUNS all over the place, climbs all over his pumpkin and his rocks, walks through his water dish, basks for a while, then runs and clonks all over again.
It is amazing what a nice big habitat, proper UVB light, and good heat and food will do for a previously lethargic, scared tortoise.

Boo is still kind of shy

He is becoming less of a picky eater, as well. His old owner fed him mostly romaine lettuce, so for several months, Boo refused to eat anything else. My stubbornness finally won out - I gave him NO more romaine, and for a while he wouldn't touch the other, more healthy, leafy greens I offered. I just kept removing the untouched greens, and replacing them with new ones each day. Then a few weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had eaten most of his meal! He still has a smaller appetite than my Russian tortoises, but then again, those four are little piggies.

Boo loves being in the water

Boo's colors really come out when he's in the water soaking, which is why so many pictures that I take are of him soaking in the water. He has access to a water dish in his tortoise table, and I soak him in his big tub 1-2 times per week.

Boo = NOT an aquatic species. 

Greek tortoises are desert and steppe dwellers - they like heat, and they eat a high fiber diet of different greens and weeds. Counter to what many people believe, however, they DO need access to water in their enclosure, and they DO need to be soaked regularly to stay hydrated.

Mo gets a 'forever' home!

Today was a bittersweet day: Mo got picked up by his new family!

He's going to be loved by two wonderful kids, and a fantastic Mom and Dad. The best part: they are my friends, so I'll still get to see him!

If you aren't familiar with Mo's story, you can read it HERE.

Ha. Look who has pumpkin all over his face. Oops. 

We're waiting until January to have the vet run a fecal, to confirm the worms are gone.

Mo's new family was eager to bring him home for Christmas - I'll miss him, but am so happy that his rescue story has a happy ending!

I told my husband that I wouldn't take in any new rescues for a while... to which he smirkingly replied: "We'll see!" ...I guess he's right, since tortoises have a way of finding me... and I'm not about to turn down one that is in need...

Boo's new tort enclosure

I am so excited to show you all our Greek tortoise Boo's new enclosure! I built this from my own design - and I had fun painting it. I had to use my neighbor's tools, and he took over a little lot more of the work than I would have chosen... however, truth be told, the end result is probably much more sturdy than it would have been if I had built it completely by myself. Boo's new tort fort is both functional, and attractive.

As you may have already read, I rescued Boo from a family who kept him in a tiny 20-gallon aquarium in the winter, and in the Summer kept him in the garden, tethered by a ring drilled into his shell.

This is what Boo used to live in:

20 gallon aquarium

...and this is what Boo lives in now:

48"L x 18"W x 15"H wood and glass enclosure

In the grand scheme of tortoise tables, even this new one is actually not very large. In a few years I am going to build Boo a much larger enclosure, and this tort fort will turn into the Russian tortoise nursery... (you know, when Timmy lays some eggs? *wishful thinking*)

The challenge, when building a tortoise table, is that tortoises are happier when they have solid walls around them. They can't grasp the concept of glass, and continually attempt to walk through it. However, the large dresser that I wanted to set the enclosure on was high enough up that nobody would have been able to see in if all four walls were made of wood. I created a simple design that allowed for three solid wood walls, and glass in the front for easier viewing. (I got the 1/4" thick tempered glass on Craigslist for $3!)

...done painting and staining, still need the glass front and the vinyl flooring

I built this tortoise enclosure out of stain grade wooden boards treated with several coats of 'mission oak'-tinted polyurethane, with vinyl flooring, caulked cracks, and a glass front that I decoupaged and painted a sight barrier on the bottom 4.5 inches. I painted a little mural on the back that matches the design of our curtains. The hide box doubles as a plant stand (and the flower pot helps prevent Boo from climbing up and out - he's half monkey!)

...the glass is installed, and the UV light is in place.

 For substrate I used a mix of moistened coconut coir and sand. The coco coir is 4 inches deep, except in the hide box, where it is closer to 6.5 inches. Boo will be able to burrow to his heart's content.

Live spider plant, and some bird seed, barley, and kale planted in some organic soil

 I planted some seeds in a plastic container of organic soil. They have sprouted in the meantime, and Boo enjoys nibbling on the sprouts, as well as digging in the soil. The spider plant has taken somewhat of a beating, too, since Boo keeps trying to climb it.

All moved in! 

 Once I was content with the set-up, I moved the basking lamps over from the little aquarium, and moved Boo in. The flat basking rock is nice and big, and helps hold the basking temperature at a steady 95-100 degrees F. The UVB light is installed in a way that Boo will benefit from as he moves around his tort fort.

This plant got replaced with a pumpkin in the meantime, until I find a good climbing rock.
The jade plant didn't survive Boo's climbing for long.

 Have I mentioned that Boo is half monkey? Tortoises seem to find the most complicated route to get from a) to b) and then they make it more interesting by doing acrobatics along the way. They are especially happy if in the process they can drag as much substrate and food into their water dish as possible.

All tuckered out from exploring and climbing!

At the end of the day, Boo luxuriously dug into his 6+ inches of substrate in his hide house and went to sleep!

I hope that some day Boo will learn to trust me enough to eat out of my hand. He is a VERY picky eater, and he still pulls into his shell any time someone reaches into the tort table (I don't blame him, after being disrespected by his old owners). He does seem so much more happy in his new enclosure, though. He is very active, explores, basks, climbs, digs... he is able to look out through the glass if he climbs to a high point, and he definitely watches the kids as they play.

Boo is still very shy...

...but with much patience...

...he is getting used to me!

How to trim a tortoise's beak - with pictures!

Tortoises kept in captivity frequently get overgrown beaks, which then need to be trimmed. Many tortoise keepers pay a vet to do this. However, did you know that trimming a tortoise's beak is actually safe and easy enough that you can do this at home?

NOTE: If you are not sure whether you can do this, please don't risk your tortoise's health. Have an expert show you how. Paying to treat an infected cut is a lot more expensive than paying to have your tort's beak trimmed, and it would be so sad to injure your pet. 

Mo was one of my rescues. His beak was EVEN longer when we  first got him!

You will need a few supplies:

Toenail clippers (XL), stainless cuticle trimmers, a white pencil, a skewer, a nail file.

I bought the stainless steel cuticle trimmers on eBay for $2 - they are by a well-known German brand, and very well made. It took 2 weeks to ship from China. Make sure it has the clipping feature, so you can get good leverage.
I don't often use the skewer - this is only necessary if you need to trim the bottom beak, which is rarely necessary. I used the skewer to gently pry open the tort's beak (holding the skewer perpendicular to the beak, so Mo ended up having the skewer in his mouth in the way a horse has a bit), which was only necessary once when we first got Mo. Normally the bottom beak will keep itself short by rubbing against the inside of the top beak. 

Today I will trim Mo's beak:

Mo's beak is too long. 

I know this is hard to believe, but Mo's beak has gradually been trimmed 2x since we got him. It was so terribly overgrown that we couldn't see his 'chin'. We didn't want to trim it all at once, because it can make a tort pretty sore, and we didn't want it to interfere with his eating. 

1.) You will want to tightly wrap your tortoise into an old rag or piece of cloth you don't mind throwing away when you are done (paper towels will be shredded by their claws). Getting his beak trimmed is stressful for a tort, and he WILL expel every bit of feces he has in his gut. My female also pees... have a back-up cloth ready, and wear some clothes that need to go in the laundry anyway. 

2.) With the white pencil, draw a line marking up to where you want to trim your tort's beak. You'll have to trim it bit by bit, and you don't want to stop before you are done, or go too far. This will also help keeping it even on both sides. 

I drew a white line starting at the corner of his mouth, parallel to the top of Mo's head.

3.) Some people choose to hold onto their tortoise's head while they trim. I find that this only freaks the tortoise out even more (making them really struggle and squirm), and most Russian tortoises can't (or don't) pull their heads all the way into their shell. I personally choose to 'free-hand' it (just holding the legs out of my way). You'll be able to reach the beak carefully, even when the head is almost pulled completely in. Just be careful not to poke the eyes or nares (nose).

If you DO choose to hold the head, however, THIS is how:

Wait for the head to be far out. Then firmly but gently hold on with thumb and pointer
just behind the jaw bone on each side.

If you do choose to hold onto your tortoise's head, make sure his eyes don't start bulging, or his eye lids don't turn purple. This means you are closing off his wind pipe, and he can't breathe. You can use the middle and ring fingers to hold the right front leg out of the way.
Make sure you are holding your tortoise's head on either side, behind the jaw, rather than top and bottom. This way your tort can easily breathe, AND you have a good grip. Again, I choose to free-hand it and don't hold the tort's head...

4.) Gently but firmly hold your tortoise's shell against your chest, with your left hand, hold the tort's front leg(s) out of the way, and as soon as you can reach it, begin clipping on the right side, always with the tips of the cuticle trimmers facing towards the front of the beak.

Start on one side, using the cuticle trimmers.

Clipping a tortoise's beak will feel a lot like clipping a thick-ish human toenail, but a little more brittle. The sides are thinner (and easier to clip), and the front is the toughest. 

5.) Bit by bit, clip away the beak, approaching the line you drew. Mo needed so much of his beak trimmed, that I had to cut parallel to the line several times before I was done.

Almost done - but as you can see, I still need to trim a little more away, up to the line.

6.) the very front of the beak may be thick enough that you have to use the XL conventional toe-nail clippers. Be careful not to get any of the tortoise's skin flaps caught in the corners of the clippers - that's one reason why I prefer using the cuticle trimmers. 

Much better! I just need to file the edge smooth.

7.) Finally, carefully file the edges smooth with a nail file (not the metal kind). 

8.) Throw away the cloth wrap, then rinse off your tortoise in warm water, to get rid of any feces, and to clean away any little shards of beak material that might be stuck in the skin flaps. 

ALL DONE! 

Your tortoise will probably pout for a day or two - having a beak trim is stressful, but NOT trimming an overgrown beak is more harmful in the long run than any stress caused by the trim. 

Some tortoises only get an overgrown beak in the front (especially in young tortoises who aren't fed properly, too soft food, not enough calcium). This was the case with the little Greek tortoise Boo. Here's a before/after pic of his trim:

Boo's beak was VERY overgrown in the front. It still needs to be trimmed a little more.

To maintain your tortoise's short beak, make sure to feed your tortoise on a flat rock, and offer a cuttlefish bone (available in the bird section of most pet stores). Also, as long as your tortoise is healthy, there is no reason to cut up a tortoise's food. Let your tortoise work a little while he eats! 

Feel free to ask questions in the comment section if you have any!

Boo, aka the mystery tort

Boo is my most recent tortoise rescue. He is an Antakyan Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca antakyensis). I have only had him for 3 weeks, and he is VERY shy.

This is what you see when you try to visit with Boo while he is soaking...

I have been searching our local Craigslist for a female Russian tortoise for a long time (still haven't found one... so many males!) On one of my weekly "tortoise" searches, a listing in 'farm and garden' for a 'Tahitian tortoise' caught my eye. At first I was just intrigued. I did a google image search for 'Tahitian tortoise' and only came up with some fancy glasses and pens, a galapagos tortoise at the Tahitian zoo, and a sea turtle. I asked some folks on the tortoise forums, and nobody had ever heard of a Tahitian tortoise. I finally contacted the owner to find out more.

The owner was adamant that it was a 'Tahitian' tortoise, and that she purchased it from the breeder in Seattle at a reptile show 6 years ago as a yearling, hatched 2005. She just wanted to find a good home for it, because her son lost interest. I asked her for some pictures, which she sent. The owner bragged that the tort had a metal ring drilled into the back of his shell (yikes!). He was being kept in a tiny 20 gal aquarium without UV light. He didn't seem to have much pyramiding though, which is probably due to the fact that they kept him tethered by his ring outside in the yard during the Summer, so at least he was getting UVB then. The rest of the year they fed him romaine lettuce and carrots.

This is the first pic the previous owner sent me. Can you see how overgrown the beak is?!

Aside from wanting to have the tort due to the 'cute' factor, it sounded like this tort wasn't being cared for properly. I talked to my husband and to some folks on my favorite tort forum, and decided to go for it. I met the previous owner at a Shell station out in the boonies near where she lived. The tort came with his 20 gal aquarium filled with dry bark chips that REEKED of cigarette smoke, a hide log, and a lamp fixture that had a garage-type spotlight in it (which by the way was burnt out).

Once I was home, the first thing I did was to run a warm soaking bath for the little mystery tort. The owner told me that this kind of tortoise doesn't need water, and that she soaked it once every week or so... so I just assumed it was probably dehydrated.

Boo soaking. He still had his ring. Isn't he pretty though?!

Then I proceeded to throw away the icky smoke-stinking bark chips. I washed out the little tank, and filled it with a flat rock on one end and some 50:50 moistened coconut coir sand mix. The tiny tank would have to do until I built a nice big tort table, since my 'rescue' table was currently occupied by Mo.

Back view - this was still during the first bath, so the ring is still in.

I decided to name the little mystery tort "Boo" because we got him the day after Halloween, and because he was so shy. I couldn't even (and still haven't been able to) trim Boo's terribly overgrown beak, since he covers his face with his legs and pulls into his shell so far that nobody can reach him.

Top view of Boo's carapace, still with the ring.
I took this to help folks on the forum identify what kind of tortoise we had. 

Of course after his first bath I removed the metal ring from Boo's shell - no tortoise should be tethered! This was harder than I thought it would be, it must have been stainless steel or something... but in the end, I cut it in half and got it out.

After his bath, I placed Boo into his little tank, and placed a ceramic heat lamp on one end. Since the floodlight the owner sent along with him was burnt out, I wasn't sure if he'd been kept warm enough, so I wanted to make sure he had the option to bask if he wanted to. The next day I 'borrowed' the UVB light from Mo, and ordered a new UVB fixture and tube light for Boo, as well as a new basking light. Until those arrived, I just moved the UVB back and forth between Mo's table and Boo's tank.

I took this pic of the bottom of Boo's shell to help identify him.

Knowing exactly what kind of tort I had just rescued would help me properly care for him, so I set out on a quest for proper classification. My initial guess was that it could be a Hermann's tortoise, however, this guess was quickly refuted when I posted a pic of him on the Hermann's tortoise forum. Someone said that they thought he was a Greek, though for his age he is pretty small. Researching Greek tortoises led me to thinking he could be a Tunisian Greek tortoise (which kind of sounds like "Tahitian" so maybe the previous owner misunderstood?). However, an expert on the forum said that Boo's markings weren't quite right for a Tunisian - that he is an Antakyan greek tortoise (Testudo graeca antakyensis). Lucky for me, the care for this kind of Greek is very similar to the captive care of Russian torts. Of course I will not keep them together - mixing species is a bad idea, as they can transmit parasites and pathogens, and might also fight each other.

Boo bathing. No more ring!

I am finding that Boo is a VERY picky eater. His old owner used to feed him nothing but romaine and carrots (although at least she dusted with calcium). Boo will just ignore the food he doesn't like, even if he hasn't eaten that day. It was time for some tough love - I knew he wouldn't starve himself, so after a few days of me offering him good healthy greens and him ignoring them, he finally gave in and ate his fill. Now he's doing ok, although he does turn his nose up at a few of the things my other torts love.

Boo eating. I had to use the zoom on my camera to get this shot.  Yes, Boo still has an overgrown beak.

I am hoping that the new, bigger tort table with plenty of hide spots and room to roam will help little Boo get more comfortable. He was probably dragged around by his ring, so I don't fault him for being so shy. He's also still very young, so with kind treatment and the wisdom that comes with age he will hopefully become more friendly.

Mo and Joe's story

The two Russian tortoise males Mo and Joe's rescue story wasn't nearly as dramatic as little Norbert's - they weren't unloved and neglected, they just weren't being cared for properly.

Mo and Joe basking - this was the first time in years that they had heat and light

They belonged to a 12-year-old boy who had bought them from a friend the year before. The boy got bored of them, so the Mom had to do all the work. When I drove out to pick them up, they were housed next to a large window in a modified train table (quite nice actually, about 3'x4'), filled with cedar shavings (BAD for all reptiles), but without lighting. Their owner also fed exclusively romaine lettuce. This is fine to feed as PART of a Russian tortoise's diet, but should not be the only thing they eat. It has too much water, and is lacking in many of the nutrients a testudo horsfieldii needs.

I had kind of hoped that at least one of them was a female, since I hope to expand little Roz' harem... but either way I was glad to have brought Mo and Joe out of a situation in which they would have likely died of a respiratory infection. Since both are male, I knew that these, too, would be rehabilitated and then adopted out to someone who is familiar with proper tortoise care.

Upon arriving home, I threw away all the cedar shavings, and scrubbed the whole table surface. Then I got a cement paver from a friend for the basking area, and attached a 'gallows' type contraption on one side of the table to hang the heat lamps from. I pilfered a heat lamp from my other torts, and ordered a good basking lamp and a UVB strip light. For now I lined the table with newspaper, and filled a giant turkey-baking-pan with moistened coconut coir. I wanted to keep an eye on both tortoises' feces and urates, to get an idea for their health. They started burrowing in the coir right away.

Mo and Jo burrowing in their coconut coir.
They had been kept in cedar shavings for 2 years.

Next I weighed and measured and examined each of the torts, and gave each of them a nice long soak.

Joe had a beautiful, smooth shell. He was obviously not young - my guess was around 50 or so, judging by his face and shell, and the wear and tear on his plastron (the underside of his shell). He had puffy eyes, an overgrown beak, and very, very long toenails. I hoped that the puffy eyes were just an irritation from the dry cedar shavings, and that with proper humidity they would get better on their own. His shell was 6 inches long, and he weighed 500g.

Joe basking

Mo felt very heavy, and looked truly ancient - his shell was almost completely black, and shiny like glazed pottery. He had a few spots of shell rot, which I treated with diluted betadine tincture later. His nails were very long, and his beak was overgrown, too. His eyes were puffy, just like Joe's. His shell was 6 inches long, and he weighed a whopping 580g. Mo could very well be 80 years old or more. Truly a senior tort.

Mo - very heavy and dense

About a week after getting Mo and Joe, we had their beaks and toenails trimmed. They walked a bit strangely for a couple of days, because they were so used to walking on their enormously long nails... but then they became comfortable again. Eating was also a lot easier without the overgrown beaks...

As soon as their basking area was set up (with a nice hot 95-100 degrees F), they started to spend most of their time basking. Remember, the previous owners just set their table by a window, and didn't add any heat or lighting. I bathed them daily for about a week, just to make sure they were hydrated (they have a water dish in their tort table, too). I also encouraged them to dig in the moist coco coir, and misted them, to help their puffy eyes. Mo's eyes went back to normal within a couple of days, and Joe's eyes stopped looking swollen about 2 weeks later.

The 'quarantine' tort table - newspaper covers most of it, so I can monitor feces... they LOVE burrowing in the coco coir, but for now only get a small portion of it. 

A few days after bringing Mo and Joe home, I noticed that Mo had many tiny worms in his feces. Completely grossed out, I talked to our vet, as well as with my reptile rescue friend Mary Esther. We decided to treat Mo and Joe with fenbendazole - I will write more about this at a later time. The bottom line is that the treatment worked, and Mo soon began pooping out large quantities of dead worms. Joe had a few, but not nearly as many as Mo. A second treatment is recommended, which we did 14 days later.

Both Mo and Joe were very friendly - they like to come over for a visit if someone is near their table, and they LOVE to eat right out of my hands. I put a cuttlebone into their tort table, and they crunched it down to about half its original size... they obviously needed the calcium.

Top view of Mo's carapace. I've treated the shell rot (white spots). 

After several weeks, I decided that Joe was ready to go to a new home. He sometimes picked on Mo, and I had known from the beginning that I wouldn't keep them both long-term. I started putting my feelers out for a potential new tort-Momma, and found someone who already had a nice big tortoise table set-up and all the necessary lights. Her little Russian tortoise had escaped from their yard last year, and she was looking for a new one (lesson learned - she would never again leave her tort in the yard unattended!). I asked lots of nosy questions, and finally was satisfied that she would feed Joe properly, provide proper heat and light, and would love him for the rest of his life. I am still in contact with Joe's new owner, and he has adjusted well and is friendly and curious and is eating like a little piggy.

As of right now, I still have Mo. This sweet old-man-tort has grown on me, and I haven't had the heart to search for a new home for him yet. I also still want to keep an eye on him, to see if he has fully recovered from his worm infestation - the vet will examine a fecal sample in a few weeks to see if new worms hatched in spite of the repeat treatment.

Sweet old man, Mo

Mo will need another beak trim soon, too... we didn't want to trim too much off at once!