It isn't uncommon for tortoises to climb on each other. They clamber over each other for play and mount when mating. Cleopatra's shell was worn in some areas, leaving her open to infections.
"I knew something had to be done," Nico Novelli, the owner of Canyon Critters Reptile Rescue in Golden, Colo., told The Huffington Post.
Roger Henry, a student at Colorado Technical University and U.S. Air Force veteran, designed Cleopatra's new shell, spending hundreds of hours creating a design that would fit Cleopatra's existing shell. The 3D Printing Store in Denver built the new cover.
"This is a very good feeling," Henry told The Denver Post.
Novelli said people who keep tortoises as pets don't do their homework and it was likely that the herbivorous tortoise was given a diet too high in protein. "I wish people would educate themselves more," Novelli told The Huffington Post. Cleopatra's condition was "not an exception to the rule," Novelli added. "It's almost standard."
Novelli told The Huffington Post that several tortoise species are native to Colorado and are often taken from the wild to be kept as pets. He said the tortoises are fed an improper diet and then have a difficult time readjusting to life in the wild once their captor grows tired of them. Novelli also told The Huffington Post that pet stores aren't giving buyers all the facts, like the cost of proper tortoise care - hundreds of dollars monthly. Novelli said, "When people find out real facts about the care for them, they quickly change their minds."
