Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello all,
i just got my first tortoise 3 days ago, and i've never kept any reptiles before. after the drive home, there was a something white and runny in the box. did she get carsick?
the first day she was really active, then yesterday and today she wanted to sleep all day. do greeks hibernate?
she has been making clicking noises since day 1 and kind of twitches, like she's hiccuping or something. today when i picked her up she kept making funny noises, like a sigh or a little squeal. i noticed a snot bubble, and the twitching is more frequent. (not a twitch really, but kind of ducks into the shell for a second, rythmically). i don't think she ate at all today. how long can she go w/o eating? how much is she supposed to eat? they told me 1 cup, but that seems like a lot.
sometimes she seems restless like she can't get comfortable or something. it seems like she wants to burrow, should i put more substrate in? maybe a small towel to crawl under?
i have a basking light and one of those heating packs that sticks underneath. it can get cold in monterey at night. i worry that she will get too cold. i don't know if the thermometer gets an accurate reading since she sleeps right next to that heating pack on the bottom. should i get a heating coil so the light doesn't have to be on all the time? what wattage of light should i have?
can tortoises catch a cold from a human?? i am just getting over a cold and i would feel horrible if she is sick b/c of me.
i did not receive good guidance when i got this tortoise, but i thought i would be able to figure it out as i went along. any help would be appreciated.
thanks!

It really sounds like you need to get the tortoise to a vet. In the mean time make sure the tortoise has temperatures in the range of 80 to 100 degrees F. That is a cool end of 80 and a basking spot of 100 . Also make sure the tortosie gets a daily soaking in addition to a shallow water bowl in the enclosure.

Try to provide food in the form of dark leafy greens such as romaine, escerole, dandelion greens or the like on a constant basis.

Again, you should schedule a vet visit and alos ask the vet to do a fecal. If you have a Greek it is probably an imported wild caught animal in which case it is probably really stressed both physically and mentally.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

i got it to a vet today; it had a respiratory infection. the people at petsmart said they had never had a sick tortoise before. someone i work with (who has had a greek for a couple years) says petsmart doesnt know what they're talking about especially b/c they keep different species together. any idea how long it takes to develop a respiratory infection? i really hate to think this tortoise became ill because of something i did. i just got it sunday. also, the manager said there is no question, all their tortoises are captive bred.
thanks again,
katie

How long have you had the tortoise? If it is over a week you are probably out of luck.

If you've had the tortoise less than a week the odds are you did nothing to make the tortoise sick.

If the tortoise is over 4 inches and not pyramided it is probably not CB.

Explain (calmly) to the Petsmart manager that you paid for a healthy animal and that is what you should have gotten. Look to see if that Petsmart has a guarentee posted anywhere. The one I shop at here in GA has a health guarentee posted. They also do not mix species (outside of fish). Most of the Petsmarts I've been to seem to take pride in their stores and are open to suggestion. While they might not be as experienced as the devout keeper, they do seem to try.

If you can't work it out with the manager, get the manager's name and the location of that Petsmart. Then drop a note to the corporate office mentioning the situation and the fact that this kind of thing does not do well for business.

I have an idea that somebody will listen and help if you are rational.

Good luck.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Ed as always is right on the money.
PetSmart does sell CB reptiles but also sells what they label as "Vet checked" WC. You shold try to work this out with the store manager. If you want to keep it, then you will be on your own (more then likely). However they should take it back for a full refund. You will be out your vet bill. All of the PetSmarts I have encountered were very easy to work with.
Did your vet give you some meds for the little guy? If so what was it?
Follow Ed's advice and you will do ok once he is past this. Btw get a good book. Ed wrote a great basic book on Russains and other Test. torts. They sell it at PetSmart.

petsmart is taking care of the bill. i had to "return" the tortoise and will "repurchase" it after a couple weeks, once it's better. this way, since the tortoise belongs to petsmart, they have to take care of it. at this store they have a 14 day guarantee, and i only had it for 3. it is staying with the vet for at least a week, and they are giving it antibiotics, not sure what kind. i'm looking forward to getting it back. thanks guys.

I am a manager at a retail pet store. We understand that we are dealing with animals and it is hard to predict the future and health of an animal. First thing is you dont blame the customer or blow it off. Situations do arise but we dont decieve our customer by saying something is c.b. when it isint. I try to work with my customers, as I am a reptile owner too. A lot of the time I will let the customer Keep the animal and give them a store credit to help with thier vet bils. This pleases a lot of customers. We dont beat around the bush or place blame, it is better to educate and help your customers. We do this with all the animals we sell.I also hear you sold me a sick animal, but we do go over health of the animals with our customers and tell them what to look for and what to do, and we allways say take it to a vet when in doubt and if your vet finds ANYTHING wrong with the aniaml return it, no questions asked. Pet stores have a bad rap and it is tough to try to lift yourself above the beliefs that people have about stores.

As with anything there are good, bad and all shades inbetween. I like to visit pet stores to see what the 'norm' is and I've found that the majority of shops that I've visited are good and do try.

There is also the element of experience. Petshops usually don't pay well and the work is usually hard so the turnover is high until that one person finds there way into the slot that actually likes the job. This is a big factor.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Boy I hear you on this one. I worked in the pet industry for 11 yrs. back in the 80's and 90's. We were a small store, and this made it even harder to find good help as our payroll $'s were less then most of the chain stores. We did try to work with local experts as much as they wanted to.

Let us not forget, however, that petstores have a long, dark history of Draconian care regimes. I can tell you that some still do, and some are in need of a serious retraining program! I realize that many stores are doing their best (and I have seen some staff who really know what they're talking about; these people are usually good friends of mine), but I honestly have to say that a shamefully great many peope don't know what the hell they're talking about when it comes to torts and turts. I've encountered Petco personell who can't tell the difference between a male and female russian tortoise. I've seen kids leaving stores with an adult redeared slider and a ten gallon tank on the clerk's recommendation. Whenever I'm encountered with these situations, I find myself in the awkward position of having to explain proper care without offending the store staff (lest we admit that it is more over saving our social graces than the animal's well being). I'm not bothered to offer assistance, I simply think that assistance is for the person who has never kept an animal, not a person whose job it is to keep them. Requiring employees to read InStore literature wouldn't be a bad idea. Forums such as these are also a great resource. Thankfully, situations of animal cruelty and neglect in petstores seem to be a thing of the past.

T.G.

This post brings to mind that some folks perceptions and judgement is a little more extreme than others.

This is kind of ironic because there is a similar discussion on another forum.

The point there that was made was that the treatment of the animals is not the result of meanness and stupidity but is more the result of ignorance and inexperience. I think the meanness might develope if an employee is constantly judged and criticised by a customer.
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I use this website all the time to gey care sheets and I encourage my staff to visit often. There are a lot of good tools here and at other websites. Our goal is to provide people with a happy expierence with thier new pet. I allways tell my customers "I could stand here a talk to for hours about your new pet and never touch base on every detail of its care. So you should by a book, do some research before you bring your new family member home." I feel this is the responability of each and every store and breeder selling any animal to the public. Yes we are all here to make money, but never at the expence of a living creature.