Helix hatched on July 31st, 2019 at a close friends facility. My friend called me up and told me he had this pretty bad deformed hatchling that was a day old and wanted to know if I would care for it. With enthusiasm, I said YES! Helix flew from Arizona to Delaware over night. When I saw him for the first time, I didn’t realize he was going to be as deformed as he was. I thought there was zero hope and I was thinking about having to euthanize him. Being a recent hatchling, I placed him in the incubator to monitor him for a few days. As the days passed, Helix was making “strides.” He was scooting all over the incubator. So I decided to move Helix to a growing container, like I do with all other hatchlings, and he seemed to have no issues. It was eating and drinking perfectly fine. The silver lining in his deformity is that his front half is not deformed at all. His front legs are normal and he has a normal head. So I decided to give him a set of wheels to get around easier. He seems to be very happy with them, he is walking around a lot more than he was prior. Hopefully Helix can grow up to be a very healthy tortoise and have zero health issues. With his determination and grit to survive, Im going to have to start looking for larger wheels. Enjoy these two links on Helix. The first one is of me placing the wheels on him and the second link is Helix crushing life on his new wheels!!!
Just like so many of us, Helix is different. And, we believe different is good. We also know it can be a hard journey. This tiny tortoise can teach us all a lesson on how to keep rolling through life. We here at TortStork are dedicated to making sure Helix lives life to his full potential. So take a moment and join us on Instagram to share your story on how you live like Helix. #TEAMHELIX