Tick on Redfoot tortoise?

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Rafini

Rafini

Piranha
MFK Member
Jun 28, 2012
1,930
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Calgary, Canada
I was soaking my redfoot tortoise and after I got her out of the soak and let her roam around a bit I noticed when she stretched her neck out there was something there.

I managed to get it off it was just kinda resting there not moving, I then decapitated the parasite.

It looked like a brown spider kinda, but it was flat and had a larger body than its small head. I've never actually seen a tick but I`m pretty sure it was a parasite and not just a regular old spider.

Does anyone know anything about parasites on tortoises? I already cleaned and stripped his entire tank boiled all of his main objects to kill anything and completely removed any substrate.
 
Look up pictures online. From the basic description, it sounds like a tick. If you let your animals roam, it can easily pick up things like ticks just like a dog getting fleas. Unless it walked through a nest of ticks, they are usually solo and I would not worry too much about it. Deer ticks can carry lyme disease with attacks the joints and nerves. This causes discomfort similar to arthritis. I know its freaky to find random parasites that you havnt seen before, but personally I would not worry about a random tick. Ticks can be hardy and the best way to kill them is with fire. Never burn them while they are still attached to the host. It seems obvious, but I have watched people take a lighter and try to burn a tick off of their child
 
Definitely sounds like a tick which are common parasites of larger reptiles. How long have you had the tortoise and was it a wild caught or captive bred one?
 
I have had the tortoise for about 4 years and the first year or so of its life it was not cared for properly so it is a bit smaller than a regular 4 year old red foot, she is captive bred and I have the certificate too.

I am pretty sure that after bathing her the tick was killed as it kind just fell off lifeless. I can't find a whole lot of information when I typed in Tick on tortoise etc Mostly it talks about infestations and not a single tick. It didn't seem to be bothering her though, I am just glad I got rid of it. I actually don't let her roam that often but I did used to cohab her with a basilisk and it's possible the tick came from the basilisk which I believe was wild caught
 
Figured I might aswell show some pics
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Get it out of the glass enclosure. Put some opaque walls around it at least. It does sound like a tick, they're not as easy to get infested with as mites thankfully.
 
Don't worry the tick was dead, it just kinda fell off and I inspected it under light, it had a head and abdomen, i decapitated it. the beast is dead guys don't worry :P
 
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