Just to add to the great discussion. For Aldabra's a really nice trick is to take a water hose to them and they will stand up and freeze there as long as you spray them and for quite a while after. Some will do this if you scratch them on the neck. Others are shy and do not appreciate the attention.

You can draw blood from the brachial vein (crook of front leg) while they stand without any restraint at all and inject meds as well. This works with my teen age pair very nicely.

Elliot Jacobson told me he will hand feed a bannana to large tortoises (aldabras/galapagos) and slip a butterfly catheter into the jugular vein while their neck is extended to get blood.

The bottom line is that if you can get away with minimal to no restraint it is way better for everyone the tortoise esp. Otherwise you are left with a rodeo and using ropes to hold the front legs out of a 600 pound galap is a major undertaking.

I concur with Sam's comments on Baytril. I have seen sloughed skin from injections in the region he describes. Personally I really try to avoid that drug in tortoises if I can. Some will have odd reactions as well (vomiting esp. red foots in my experience)

Pete Koplos DVM

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