IT was one shell of a party as a local vet recently hosted his 11th twice-yearly tortoise surgery.

Exotic pet specialist John Chitty, of Anton Vets, holds the tortoise parties at Burghclere Down Community Centre in the spring and autumn to carry out routine health checks when tortoises go into hibernation and again when they wake up.

The recent surgery saw 162 tortoises of different species attend for their wake-up MOT, including weight and body conditioning monitoring and reproductive system checks for females.

Tortoises and their owners travelled up to 100 miles to attend, to make sure that they are fit following hibernation.

At this surgery Mr Chitty, who has been working with exotic pets for more than 20 years, was making sure his shelled patients were well following a particularly cold spring – some had only woken up a few days before the party.

He said: “We are checking how fit they are and that they have not lost too much weight during hibernation.

“The other thing is that it has been a cold spring so some only woke up a few days before the surgery and if tortoises hibernate for too long they run out of body stores.”

The bi-annual surgeries mean that both tortoises and their owners have the opportunity to socialise while cutting the cost of individual appointments.

Mr Chitty added: “It is a really nice day and it is good to catch up with long time clients and long time patients – and they are all healthy and well-kept which makes it the more enjoyable.”

The next tortoise surgery will be held on Saturday, 26 September.