Clinically healthy Hermann’s tortoises get new blood gas benchmarks

Clinically healthy Hermann’s tortoises get new venous blood gas benchmarks

A new Frontiers in Veterinary Science study reports exploratory venous blood gas values for 38 clinically healthy Hermann’s tortoises, giving clinicians baseline data for a species where reference information remains limited. Researchers sampled tortoises at the end of July and again at the end of September, analyzing venous blood immediately after collection with a Radiometer ABL735 analyzer. The paper covers 17 measured or calculated parameters, including pH, pCO₂, pO₂, electrolytes, glucose, lactate, bicarbonate, total CO₂, osmolality, hematocrit, and anion gap. The authors say the values were broadly similar to published data for some analytes, such as pH, potassium, sodium, chloride, and osmolality, while glucose differed from prior reports. (frontiersin.org)

Why it matters: For reptile and exotics clinicians, the study adds practical baseline data for a near-threatened species that’s common in captive care but still underrepresented in diagnostic reference literature. Blood gas analysis is used far more often in marine chelonians than in tortoises, and older Hermann’s tortoise work has focused more on hematology, plasma biochemistry, or evaluating point-of-care analyzers than on species-specific venous blood gas benchmarks. That means even exploratory values can help frame interpretation of acid-base status, hydration, perfusion, and peri-anesthetic monitoring, while also underscoring that analyzer type matters and that point-of-care results may not be interchangeable with laboratory methods. (frontiersin.org)

What to watch: The next step is validation in larger cohorts across sex, season, husbandry conditions, and analyzer platforms before these exploratory ranges can function as broadly adopted clinical reference intervals. (frontiersin.org)