I feel it is important to give out information concerning a problem with businesses that are not up to par. I am sorry this is so long but I wanted to give the proper information.
On June 22 I received a supposed 80lb 16 year old male sulcata that I had purchased from Jeff Gee's. He had contacted me about a month prior via email stating that - We have a extra male Sulcata. He is about 24 inches long & about 80 lbs. Very friendly & captive raised about 16 years old. He would do great in your area. You will need a good sturdy fence. We also include a vet health cert, care book & calcium supplement. We could ship him on Delta Airlines including the shipping sky kennel for a cost of...
So off to work we went on enlarging the area and securely fencing it. I did some checking on line concerning Mr. Gee's. I could not find anything current on him, however, found some great information back in the late 90's about him and he was mentioned in Russ Gurley book on Sulcatas. I felt I was dealing with a professional breeder with a good reputation.
We received our tortoise and picked him up from Delta. The vet certificate that was shipped with this tortoise was for 1 year old sulcatas and some marginata tortoises. Not the proper one for the sulcata I received. Within 24 hours I knew we had a problem with the tortoise. My excitement dwindled and I was afraid that my dream of a large Sulcata in our family was not going to be for long. The tortoise was unable to defecate, inactive and was not eating. He would raise his rear and moan/cry with no results.
Being new to a large Sulcata I decided to contact Mr. Gee. I informed him of the problems and I was thinking about soaking him to see if that would help and taking him to a vet. He informed me They often get moody when traveling. He is captive raised so I'm sure he is fine. Sometimes they don't eat much for a few weeks after travel, no worries - I'm sure he is fine. We withheld food for a few days prior to shipping as they can really make a mess in flight. Soaking is fine in a small childs pool only about 3" deep & always watch to be sure he doesn't tip over.
We soaked him still no change. Based on Mr. Gee's recommendation we monitored the situation. We kept up the soaking and finally I could not take the moaning/crying any longer and called Dr. Diaz a Herp Vet and made an appointment.
We went to the vet and found out the tortoise weighed 67lbs and was between 10-12 years old. After examining and x-rays the vet discovered what I had feared, the tortoise had totally impacted bowels. He tried to remove some of the impaction from the rear and got about 1/2 cup of gravel, the x-rays revealed his bowels were full of gravel. This is the kind of gravel that the tortoise was on in the first picture sent by Mr. Gee's. The vet felt the impaction and the defecating problems had been going on prior to his shipment to us.
The vet decided he should stay and they would see what they could do to give the tortoise some relief. He did not want to put the stressed tortoise under Anesthetics to work on the bowels at this time. The vet was also very concerned with prolapse and the fact that he is not walking upright properly due to the straining in the rear quarters. The vet was also concerned about a shell defect of a sever curvature of the carapace and the space for the opening of his tail and anal area. He stated it was very narrow compared to other male sulcatas. He stayed for a few days and they removed a lot of the gravel.
We took the tortoise home and continued the same treatment that the vet was giving he still was not able to defecate on his own. Back to the vet. He remained there for another week.
The vet contacted some of his colleagues concerning the problems with our tortoise and with consultations and our approval he decided to do a procedure on the tortoise. He noted that they had finally removed through soakings and oiling almost all of the gravel as verified by the new x-ray, but the tort was eating and now going through the staining again. He stated that the tail was also damaged due to scraping on the carapace. A decision was made to remove part of the carapace to get the room needed for defecating in hopes to resolve the problem. This procedure was done on 7/17/08. He stayed for another 5 days to insure a sterile environment for the healing.
We have taken the tortoise home and HOORAH!!! He is eating pooping on his own and now is a happy camper. He is able to walk properly. The vet stated that this tortoise has not been able to breed and may not be able to. Since he is a pet I do not care about the breeding part, others may. I am hoping this is the last major problem my tortoise will have.
All along this process and with the procedures I had been corresponding with Mr. Gee's. I tried repeatedly to obtain the proper vet certificate and have been informed that he will not address this matter. I have asked for compensation for the vet bills incurred and just received the following response concerning that: You should have asked for a exchange or refund at first if you were unhappy. I beleive the tortoise was in excelent health. Jeff
As if this was a lamp and I should have disposed of it and asked for a replacement or refund???
All of my dealings with this person/company were by internet only...
I wanted everyone to be aware of this problem. After doing further research online when our tortoise had problems, I discovered that others that have had business problems with this breeder.
I felt if I posted this maybe I could help someone prior to dealing with a breeder like this. Maybe others may have had better dealings with this breeder but the fact remains in my case the condition and treatment of my tortoise can be verified by my vet with his documentation.
Hopefully, by giving this information I will have assisted someone else.
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