Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a couple of red foots, and last night a racoon chewed through the top of thier cage. He tore up one of the torts leg pretty bad. The vet said he could'nt see him until tommorrow. So far I have poured a bunch of betedine on him, but the foot is basically aputated about half down from the elbow. Is there anything I can do for him or should he just be put down. Can he survive long term with only 3 legs. It is a front leg. He is trying to use the leg to walk, but there is no foot present. It looks like his entire foot and ankle is gone. I basically want to know if torts can suvive like this.

I am so sorry to hear that. The poor thing. My thoughts are with you!

To answer your question, YES, a tort can survive just fine with 3 legs. They will simply have to adjust to it. As long as the tort does not get a bad infection or anything like that, she should be able to recover.

This is a relatively common problem even among wild tortoises. I've had more than 5 Egyptian tortoises come in like this and I presently have a male Flattail (one of my most active breeders) that has the exact same injury.
Keep doing what you are doing and mess with it as little as possible provided the bleeding has stopped. Get it to the vet ASAP.
There is no reason this tortoise should not live a long an healthy life if it was that way to begin with.
I would talk to Animal Control and see what your options are as to trapping and relocating the problem.
Ed