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What would you do? Tortoise dead within a week

Edmund1138

Edmund1138

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I rec'd a young Burmese brown tortoise from a guy who seems like he's on the up and up. I had gotten a few turtles from him in the past and was reasonably please with them. The burmese had something going on with his right eye; I mentioned this to the guy I had gotten it from and he acknowledged that he noticed it as well and attributed it to the mesh bag he's shipped the tortoise in. That evening the tortoise ate a few land snails and some greens. The next day both eyes were swollen shut and it wouldn't eat. I took him to the vet who diagnosed conjunctivitis and prescribed antibiotic drops. I followed the regimen prescribed by the vet, the tortoise continued to decline and was dead within the week. When I called the guy who sent it to me he kept saying he couldn't figure out what could've been wrong; the tortoise was healthy as a horse when it left his place. I had asked the vet if it could've been the snail the tortoise ate and he said absolutely not: my keeled boxes and other turtles eat them like crazy and are thriving. I have to admit I am at a loss as to what to do. I find myself getting pissy when I see him posting pictures of his animals (some of them were mine he took in trade) on FB, and all I have is an empty shell. He offered me no replacement option other than to mention he'd seen some blacks and browns for sale on Fauna. What do I do? Suck it up and take it as a lesson learned or go after the guy for some sort of renumeration? What would you do!
 
Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye, and can be caused by several different things. I am more familiar with children and viral conjunctivitis 'pinkeye', having seen numerous cases, and even though contagious one would not expect death.
If the conjunctivitis was due to some sort of chemical contamination that got into its eyes and possible its whole system, it would be difficult to attribute it to either you or the seller without more info because one would have to know more about the substance and when and where the turtle came into contact.
I am so sorry about the death of your turtle.
 
Edmund1138 said:
Suck it up and take it as a lesson learned
Click to expand...
No. Not knowing exactly where the turtle came into contact with whatever it was does not absolve the seller who noticed the eye irritation.

Edmund1138 said:
What would you do
Click to expand...
If you have not asked for a partial/full refund as Robert has implied you should do so. If you have and the seller blew you off, I would initiate a formal BOI post and ask again in a more public way.
 
If you still have the body, a necropsy would show cause of death and give insight as to whether the animal was ill for a prolonged period of time. If you do have the body, keep it refrigerated (freezing damages the corpse) and take it back to your vet asap.
 
I don't have the body; it's buried and must be a decayed mess by now. I did not request a replacement; I hinted like crazy that that would be the 'gentlemanly' thing to do but that either went right over his head or was ignored. I guess it's my own fault: this transaction took place over a month ago and I've been stewing over it ever since. I didn't want to offend the guy because I like (liked) him, but, in retrospect, I should have been more proactive than simply wringing my hands and waiting for him to make good. I KNOW I did nothing to cause this animal's death (I've been keeping turtles and tortoises for over 45 years so I'm not new to this rodeo), and exercised due diligence by taking it to the vet, getting the medication and treating it as per instructions. I also know that, when dealing with live animals there's always some risk involved. What really sucks is that I had my heart set on keeping and raising that little Burmese brown and now I am not in a financial position to purchase one as the seller had originally suggested when the animal he sold me died.
 
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