Laurel
Kitty Mama
- Joined
- Aug 27, 1999
- Posts
- 20,692
Okay, this is going to be REALLY boring for most of you, but I'm going to post it anyway...
Toward the beginning of last week, my little girl tortoise's eyes became noticeably puffy. I read around and learned that that's usually the sign of an upper respiratory infection. I kept hay in their den for them to burrow in, which I thought might be contributing to the problem. I pulled out the hay and watched her closely all week. On Friday, her eyes were still a little puffy, so I called up the same vet that Aiko goes to. Lo and behold, they actually had a doctor there that specialized in exotics - birds, reptiles, etc.
I took both the torties in on Monday morning. He weighed them (both are around an ounce), and told me I was right in saying which was male and which was female. He said the eyes didn't look like an infection (the swelling had gone down even more), and agreed with me that hay could have caused an irritation.
One of the funniest things he did was take a fecal sample. He pushed a long cotton swab (the wooden kind doctors always have) into a little indent between the tortie's back leg & his/her tail. Viola! Two seconds later, a little tortie poop appeared, which he placed on a cotton pad and performed tests for parasites on it (all were negative). But it was the most shocking thing to watch... Who exactly figured out if you stick a tortoise there it would make him poop? And what were they doing when they figured that out?
Anyhow, the coolest discovery of the visit was finding out that my doctor works with tortoises and reptiles at the San Diego Zoo! (He's at the vet office only one day a week.) He had many cool stories to tell about feeding and petting Galapagos and all the other crazy animals... I'm proud to have a first-class doctor for my first-class torties!
Also (as I already bored Latina with), we're having a tortoise enclosure built. It's basically a large modified rabbit hutch. Once it's done and landscaped, I'll take pics of my little guys in it & post them here for you all to ooh and aah over.
So anyhow, the torties are in perfect health. I fed them after the vet visit and they ate like little piggies! It's unreal to watch them shovel down a whole plate full of dandelin greens, endive, grass, hibiscus flowers & leaves, and other assorted tortoise fare. Then they retired to their den for the day (it's waaay too hot for them to be active, or for me either...). Like I said, I'll post more pics when we have their new home up & operational. Thanks for all the interest, you tortoise people!
Toward the beginning of last week, my little girl tortoise's eyes became noticeably puffy. I read around and learned that that's usually the sign of an upper respiratory infection. I kept hay in their den for them to burrow in, which I thought might be contributing to the problem. I pulled out the hay and watched her closely all week. On Friday, her eyes were still a little puffy, so I called up the same vet that Aiko goes to. Lo and behold, they actually had a doctor there that specialized in exotics - birds, reptiles, etc.
I took both the torties in on Monday morning. He weighed them (both are around an ounce), and told me I was right in saying which was male and which was female. He said the eyes didn't look like an infection (the swelling had gone down even more), and agreed with me that hay could have caused an irritation.
One of the funniest things he did was take a fecal sample. He pushed a long cotton swab (the wooden kind doctors always have) into a little indent between the tortie's back leg & his/her tail. Viola! Two seconds later, a little tortie poop appeared, which he placed on a cotton pad and performed tests for parasites on it (all were negative). But it was the most shocking thing to watch... Who exactly figured out if you stick a tortoise there it would make him poop? And what were they doing when they figured that out?
Anyhow, the coolest discovery of the visit was finding out that my doctor works with tortoises and reptiles at the San Diego Zoo! (He's at the vet office only one day a week.) He had many cool stories to tell about feeding and petting Galapagos and all the other crazy animals... I'm proud to have a first-class doctor for my first-class torties!
Also (as I already bored Latina with), we're having a tortoise enclosure built. It's basically a large modified rabbit hutch. Once it's done and landscaped, I'll take pics of my little guys in it & post them here for you all to ooh and aah over.
So anyhow, the torties are in perfect health. I fed them after the vet visit and they ate like little piggies! It's unreal to watch them shovel down a whole plate full of dandelin greens, endive, grass, hibiscus flowers & leaves, and other assorted tortoise fare. Then they retired to their den for the day (it's waaay too hot for them to be active, or for me either...). Like I said, I'll post more pics when we have their new home up & operational. Thanks for all the interest, you tortoise people!
