AN amorous tortoise ended up in intensive care after taking up with a new friend.
Lucy, who is 30, became ill after she hooked up with a male counterpart who had come give her some company while her owner, veterinary surgeon Erik D’Arcy-Donnelly, was on holiday.
Erik, who works at the Henley Veterinary Centre in Reading Road, had organised a house-sitter to look after his menagerie of pets that includes six dogs, three cats and three tortoises, including Lucy.
The house-sitter arrived and brought the other tortoise, much to Lucy’s delight.
It seems to have been a case of love at first sight as she promptly produced three eggs.
Unfortunately, such was Lucy’s enthusiasm to reproduce that it made her quite unwell. Not only did she have to be separated from her new beau but she needed specialist vet care after suffering a collapsed lung.
Following an operation that involved drilling through her shell and feeding her through a tube, she is now recovering despite contracting pneumonia.
Erik said: “I’ve had Lucy for 15 years since she was handed in at the vets by a member of the public.
“She hibernates from November and usually wakes up around Easter Sunday. This year we had a very warm spring and I think it kicked started her hormones.
“I almost dropped dead when I saw the eggs because she has never had them before.
“I was so surprised because Lucy has been to stay with the same tortoise before. I actually gave the family one of their tortoises.”
Erik has another female called Tort who is currently carrying eight eggs.
He said: “Luckily, Tort is not ill. Lucy will recover over the next few months.
“She’s now walking around but she’s not too interested in food. She might eat a few bits of soft tomato but she’s quite full because we’re feeding her through the tube. Also nothing too big can fit down her throat because of the size of the feeding tube.
“All the hormonal activity is what blocked her immune system and that’s how she ended up with pneumonia.
“I sought advice from a specialist and everything was revealed by an X-ray. Her right lung had no hair left in it because of the drop in immunity from the change in hormonal levels.”
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