Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went into a chain pet store today and saw a golden greek tortoise for sale. He/she was about 5" long and very sad ! The plastron was concave (quite sunken in) with a couple chips taken out of it. Does a sunken in plastron indicate anything? Also, in his food dish was a red mush...any ideas on what it might have been? I was tempted to buy him 'cause I felt sorry for the poor little fella He was in a little 20ga aquarium.

The red mush was probaly that gelatin based "reptile" food. I have some I give as a treat to my Uro every now and then.
More fruity based than anything. Torts can eat it from time to time but I certainly wouldnt use it as a staple. Heck, I'd probably only give it to the grass/weed eater torts maybe one feeding every 1-2 weeks.

By buying it you would be supporting the store and chances are they will replace it with another one and treat it just as badly. If your unhappy with its care try contacting the store owner or the head office if its a chain store.

My 2 cents
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Adam
http://anraviary.cjb.net
0.0 African Sidenecked, 0.0 Northern Diamondback Terrapin, 0.1 Redfoot, 0.1 Sulcatta, 1.0 Western Hognose, 1.0 Crested Gecko, 0.1 Mali Uromastyx

I had to make myself not buy it, its so hard when you see them like that but I always make myself stop and think about just that, buy buying it I'm supporting them and that'll only make it worse, sadly.

what store exactly is this? i work in a store now and that sounds familiar. for the record,if it is my store,all of the animals are under a vets care,and the red mush is a treat,not an everyday thing.i just brought all the kids in some raddiccio,endive,romaine and escarole mix,and they gobbled it up. as you know,sometimes when they come in at first theyre not the best of eaters so we offer the fruit based gelly stuff to stimulate it. make sure it gives them a boost,ya know? it doesnt sound like my store,and i hope it isnt one your dissappointed in. as for the smaller tank sizes,obviously the animals arent there for very long,so the smaller homes are only temporary i hope.its rough to have everything int he appropriate cage sizes when theyre not there for long.

It was a debbie's petland place type thing in a mall in NH. He's been there a while too I'm still wondering though, what does the sunken in plastron indicate, do you know?

well that wasnt my store,it did sound odd as i looked over the tort today and saw nothing of the sort,and that he wasin a 40 breeder and not a 20g,so that was my fault. but it sounds like softshell maybe?is it a baby? softshell would indiccate a calcium deficiency

He wasn't a baby so much, he was about 5-6" long. It could have been softshell, however the plastron didn't feel soft at all, just that weird indentation.