I was reading about shell fungus elsewhere, and then just had to go check my RF's because seems like coconut stuff was perhaps causing some of it, and mine have that in the main area (but not in their hide).
so I looked at Shuto and Ashi and saw something and my heart sunk, thinking "OMG I've screwed something up already!!!!"
But then I looked at pictures I took the first day they were here (thank gosh I take a lot of pictures) and they have that in the first pictures. So first of all, YAY NOT my fault!
And secondly... is it OLD rot or something???
I'm talking about the whitish stuff in these two pics, on the lines nearing the center of their plastrons (not Shuto's "bite wounds")... it still looks like this (hasn't progressed or "grown")...
"I'm talking about the whitish stuff in these two pics, on the lines nearing the center of their plastrons "
The new growth shows up on the lines between the scutes, and is usually white. However, your tortoise has those whitish smears in the middle of the scutes too. You can take a soft bristle brush and dip it in either a diluted Betadine solution, or a diluted Chlorhexadine solution. You can buy either of those products in the drug store or from your vet. Gently scrub the spots and see if they come off. It might just be some sort of debris that washes off. If it is shell rot or fungus, the above-mentioned products will kill the fungus and you'll need to keep the plastron fairly dry for a week or so while you treat the fungus. Because this is a "moist-environment" tortoise, you'll need to soak it more frequently during treatment.
Yvonne
It does look like fungal shell rot Kelly. You got some great advise from Yvonne
To add to it you can also use an over the counter athletes foot cream on it. Like Yvonne said you need to keep her dry. If you use the cream you need to have no water dish in with her. Also before you soak her you will need to wash off the cream completely and throughly.
Danny
Okay I'll give that a try. I'll try the betadine thing first...
Of course I just got them set up in their new "greenhouse", and yay humidity has been at about 80% steadily.
So can I keep the humidity up? Just take out the water dish and shall I let the moss in the hide stay dry for a bit? Should I still mist them daily?
No misting and no humidity
I would keep them on newspaper or towels while your treating them.
Danny
Nothing more to add to the treatment comments, but did want to say you did a great job getting nice shots of the problem so often the pictures make it hard to see what is going on, but yours are so clear.
thanks! and those are the pics I took on the first day I had them, actually, and was just taking pics of Ashi to get the gender, and of Shuto to get thoughts on her "wounds". i didn't pick up on the fungus stuff til i was reading something about it elsewhere.
i'm surprised they could have a fungal problem, being in the petstore in a dry cage for ten months. maybe they just didn't clean the bedding out enough? i've had them since the ninth of this month, and it doens't seem to have spread.
so hopefully it will be easily taken care of!
Good find-see doing research never ends. Who knows what happens in those pet stores. Perhaps they aready had it and the dry cage just kept it from spreading or getting any worse. Boy those look like they were some nasty wounds on Shuto.
Good luck with them Kelly I am sure you will have them cured in no time.
Yah Shuto's wounds look nasty, but they are dried up and apparently old. They aren't as "gooey" as they look in that picture! I think the general consensus was that it was likely a predator bite that caused it. (My poor baby!
)