Hi Guys,

About two weeks ago my lovely Stevie (horsfield) started with a bit of a runny nose. I took him to the vets who gave him antibiotic drops and advised swabs for mycoplasma and herpes virus just to make sure he wasn't a carrier. Well I 've had the results through from the swabs and the news was very upsetting. Stevie was positive for both. I never thought this would be the case (though I was on tender hooks for the 10 days waiting for the results) as Stevie hasn't been with other torts for the 17 months we've been together but I did get him as a rescue so his history is pretty much non-existant. I am however glad that I got him tested as, eventually, he would of been introduced to my two new torts. I have decided to get the two new ones tested as they to are both rescues. I'm keeping all fingers and toes crossed that they will both be clear on the swabs. Just thought I'd let you know as it just shows that you can never be to careful, especially if you are dealing with torts of little/no background history.

Winnie

Hi Winnie,

I know I've spoken to you recently, but really wanted to re-iterate what you have said. There does seem to be an increasing amount of tortoises around with herpes at the moment, particularly imported/pet-shop Horsfields.
All should be extremely careful when adding a new tortoise to an existing group. Certain strains of herpes show absolutely no symptoms at all and it can remain dormant for years, so even an extensive quarantine period would be ineffective.

Awful news Winnie...and best of luck with your two remaining torts. I expect you have had a Dettox frenzy to clean up torty stuff. RNS was rife about 15 yrs ago. I had hoped it was a thing of the past, clearly not. I keep on reading about these infected imports. Not good news. All the more reason to quarantine, and keep different species well apart. Viruses are so easy to transmit, I remember communal tortoise weigh-ins years ago...wouldn't dream of them nowadays! Best wishes from David in York