I had a problem using hemp for my adults ending up in my tortoise having two operations.
However i do it use it for my hatchlings and have no problems

__________________

Dont want to scaremonger, but I have had a couple of customers vowing not to use newspaper again. On at least two occasions animals have pushed newspaper up onto the heater / bulb and nearly caused a fire. So, it can be said that virtually all substrates have a downside. Likewise, the top soil/loam and play sand mix - this is (in my humble opinion) the main reason where the "vivaria kill tortoises" myth comes from - it holds moisture and in a confined space causes too high a humidity causing respiratory and fungal problems - runny nose syndrome in particular in drier loving species. Difficult one, and as one poster quite rightly said "sh*t happens". If we were to rule out every possibility we would have to not keep tortoises in captivity!

All the same, shame to hear about the death.

__________________
Coast to Coast Exotics www.coasttocoast.co.uk
Legendary reptile breeder and shop
Zoo Logic UK Ltd - Importer/exporter/wholesaler.
http://www.zoo-logic.co.uk/

Below is Jean's post, I would also like to point out that the feeding tube was inserted by a specialist tort vet - therefore not the problem.

Jean's post:

I make no apologies for the heading I hoped to grab peoples attention
so that no other tortoise suffers like little Rolo. For those of you
who missed my previous post this is Rolo's story.

Rolo was a little Sulcata no more than two years old. He lived with
another Sulcata and both were kept on hemp. There were also dogs in
the house. I do not know how, but one of ths dogs got hold of Rolo
and thought he was a play toy. The result was a broken leg, the front
of his plastron chewed off and the rear maginal scutes also chewed
off exposing the thighs.On top of this there were many puncture
wounds.

Six weeks after the vet started treatment, the owner decided she
could not cope and asked for him to be put to sleep. At this time I
was visiting the vet with my ancient Ibera called Grandma. The vet
asked if I would take Rolo and try to get him feeding. I of course
said yes and that was the beginning of a beautiful but tragically
short relationship with this sweet little tortoise.

Rolo was tube fed three times a day, lived in a large table on flat
puppy trainer pads (more comfortable than newspaper) these gave him
something to grip on and helped him get around with his broken leg
still strapped up. Rolo was surrounded with lots of different tasty
things to eat, but he refused to even taste them. Last weekend it was
wonderful weather so Rolo and I sat on the lawn (lots of dandies in
my lawn) hoping the sun and fresh air wound tempt his appetite. He
did not want to eat but he was settling in and ambled around the lawn
happily. What a little soldier he was.

Two days later Rolo collaped I phoned the vet an rushed him back to
the vetinary hospital. They put him on a drip and gave him a shot of
antibiotics. He was unconscious when I left him and he never
reagained consciousness. Next day Rolo was dead and I was in pieces.

The vet rang to ask if he could do a postmortem, I just wanted to
bring him home and lay him to rest, but I knew that any information
about the cause of death may potentially save another tortoise. So
the postmortum was carried out on Thurday.

The results showed that there were no internal injuries or infections
from the dog attack, but what had killed him was a piece of hemp that
had been ingested and passed right through the wall of his gut. The
vet has photographs of the injury and he has agreed to give me a
copy. I will post these in a folder called Rolo when I get them and
if anyone is not convinced that hemp can kill they can just take a
look at the photographs.

Andy Highfield did some tests on hemp a few weeks back and said that
the Tortoise Trust would not recommend its use. I did notice a number
of people post on different forums about how they had used it for
years and had no problems. This is why I have posted Rolo's story -
please don't let him have died in vain. Hemp is dangerous and I would
not want anyone to suffer like Rolo and I have.

All my hemp is gone and I am puting some nice large trays of sand and
soil in the indoor part of my enclosures for the torts to bed down at
night. They seem to think it is a great idea.


Thanks for reading this, and Rolo says act now hemp is not safe.

Jean

I asked what 'tests' the TT performed... I received no answer.

As mentioned earlier... if the tortoise was being tube fed the tube feeding could have easily pushed any hard item in the gut through the wall lining. This is especially true with such a small animal.

The reason an animal would ingest such a thing is because it is hungry...

Anyway... anything can kill your tortoise and, again, sometimes things just happen...

What are these people going to do after the first report of impaction of the sand/soid substrate????

Ed

I always look at the frequency and the source of the 'incidences'. A patterin usually presents itself.

Ed

i am removing the hemp i use rolo's story is awfull god bless him,

the TT will have done extensive testing if they have recomended not to use it i will b taking their advice

It would be nice if the organization presented their method and results for general review. It would be better if it was presented in an impartial peer reviewed publication. That might give this sort of thing some merrit.

As a general caution... it's an interesting note. As a reason to abandon a commonly available and useful substrate... it seems a little careless.

Ed

Ed, please do not use this frightful situation for yet another dig at the TT - as you are fully aware Andy is a member of this forum and you can use the pm facility.

Sadly, Rolo was not the first tortoise to die as a result of hemp, let's hope he is the last though.

I know for a fact that Jean would not wish Rolo's untimely death to be used as a point scoring exercise.

Tamie




Tortoise Trust Web - Start Page

According to your records how many tortoises are you aware of that have expired as a direct result of the use of hemp substrate?

Well... the OP is using the event to point against a certain practice. To me that opens the debate and the debate.

I'm not using it for anything other than a case in point... sorry you see it as a dig.

Oh... I did use the PM facility to the OP and did not get a response. I did not PM Andy directly because I did not want this to be perceived as an attack.

Ed