Some of us are old enough to remember going to the dime store and coming home with a freshly hatched turtle. Some of us might have even found an ad in the newspaper and ordered one via the US Mail. In 1975 that practice immediately ceased. A new law required commercially sold tortoises and turtles to be 4 inches in length at the carapace. This law still stands today.
Why would the government care about limiting the size of tortoises and turtles? Salmonella is one reason. This law came to being during the height of the country's "Salmonella Scare." The FDA was concerned about small children putting baby turtles and tortoises into their mouths and contracting the disease. As one of the ads above suggests, 1000s of turtles were being imported with little to no control and ending up as pets of small children (who might put them in their mouths.) You may wonder how individuals/hobbyists are able to sell hatchlings and torts/turtles under 4 inches. The regulations specifically exclude sales not in relation to a business; most private party sales of surplus hobbyist stock are unaffected by this law. There is also a provision which excludes sales for "bona fide scientific, educational or exhibitional purposes, other than use as pets." The rule has spawned some unintentional consequences, however. It has discouraged commercial breeding efforts of rare species by hampering trade of juvenile animals. It has increased pressure as food and "medicine" from Asian markets. Also, if you've been paying attention to the tortoise trade in the "big box" pet stores, Russian Tortoises are becoming more difficult to find. When you do, most barely meet the 4 inch rule. Why do you think that is? Most larger tortoises have already been plucked from their homes, shoved in crates and shipped outside of their homeland into the pet trade. With fewer breeding size tortoises in the wild, what is happening with the species as a whole? These are just a few things to ponder. Read more about the law here: 4 inch rule
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We're excited to announce four of our tortoises were rehomed to Mom's sanctuary in Orange County.
We talked about which ones needed homes and could help with her small breeding effort. The following torts were driven to our family home to roam in a large backyard. It is a tort paradise. Girl 2 - She came to us in a group of 4 rescues and remained intentionally unnamed since she was promised to Mom. She was severely dehydrated with an infection and malnutrition. Today, she's eating voraciously and ready to lay eggs! Tiny - Tiny presented the same as Girl 2 and arrived in the same group. He is an old little being, but smaller than a teacup saucer. He jumps when touched and stresses when there is lots of interaction. Tiny was a perfect candidate to go, "home" where he could roam without fear of constant petting. Turkie - As expected Turkie was instantly beloved, both by me and my mother. He came in as a surrender, in great shape and healthy. He simply needed a new home. Turkie is a happy boy with a great personality. Destiny - Is a small little girl who was given to the Tort Resort as a girlfriend for Turkie. She came from a fellow rescuer who bought her from the Petsmart in Puyallup. While we do not support the importation of wild caught tortoises, finding females is a rarity. Finding healthy females is even more rare. She will be a great addition to the breeding group. Photos will come soon of these four in their new home. Over the past year, we've stopped searching Craigslist for tortoises. After all, our breeding group was about set with a proper female to male ratio (4:1); there was no need to add more girls. Then, it happened. A member of a social media group posted a local Craigslist ad for 2 males and 2 females. The torts looked rough, actually the little face above is what forced us to reach out and nearly double our current number of tortoises. The woman who had these animals trusted what the pet store told her about care. She didn't know that these animals require UVA and UVB light. She didn't know they need a varied diet and to be soaked at least once a week. She didn't know their beaks could overgrow. She didn't realize housing a male and female together would result in repeated breeding - to the point the female might suffer damage or die. She. Just. Didn't. Know. To. Research. We picked the animals up, brought them to the Resort and soaked them for an hour. A vet appointment confirmed our suspicions of malnutrition, dehydration, parasites. All four tortoises also presented with pink striping on the plastron (bottom of the shell), a couple had this present on the carapace (top); their legs were spindly, not elephant-like, one had such rapid growth... the bone of her plastron hadn't hardened and was translucent. Beaks were trimmed, tube feedings given (to jump-start their path to wellness), parasites addressed, subcue fluids given and a course of injectable antibiotics were prescribed. UPDATE: July 2017 - The torts are all doing better, though one female is still having a hard time with weight gain and energy. A blood panel was ordered, she was tubefed again with super-nutrients to aid in stimulating appetite.
Three of the torts will be ready for new homes next month. We couldn't be more excited at the change in these little lives. Last month, Tilly began acting as if she might be preparing to lay eggs. She was uncomfortable and not tromping about her enclosure; she had started refusing food. We took her back to the vet, concerned that she was egg-bound. The vet looked at her records, gently felt her insides by pressing a finger around her back legs, then took her for radiographs. There were two views... both showed a mysterious mass... outside of her GI tract. A month later we took her back to the vet because she had not laid eggs and her appetite was decreasing. We took blood for a CBC and found her calcium slightly elevated and white cells on the higher end of average. This pointed toward egg folicles, yet lent no indication as to what was creating the mass. We began weekly tube feeding and hydration in preparation for an endoscopy, which should give a better peek at what was causing the mass. When picking her up from her procedure, the vet said he couldn't get a look at the mass because all her organs were shoved to that side. When he tried to go in through the other leg, he was surprised to see so many egg follicles of varying degree of development. (See above.)
At this point, we are more concerned about getting her to lay the eggs - freeing up enough room to stimulate appetite - then trying to readdress the mass. The vet thinks Tilly's mystery mass has been with her a long time. It hasn't grown in the past year, so likely it is something which occurred prior to obtaining her. We'll keep you posted with developing news! Update: July 2017 - Tilly still hasn't laid eggs. The radiograph shows no sign of follicles; likely they have been absorbed into her system. She is eating, active, and back to a healthy weight. |
AuthorThe Tort Resort is a Whidbey Island based project dedicated to rescue and rehab of smaller tortoise species. Archives
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