Hi guys, I'm looking for some help/advice with some shell-based issues. First, background. Ringo is a 1-and-a-bit-year-old hermanns who we've had for almost six months. We won't be brumating him (we're guessing he's male, but obviously we can't be sure at that age) this year, since most of the advice we've had suggested we wait until he's a bit older and we've had a winter to observe him and find out how he usually behaves. He's slowed down a bit over the last couple of weeks as the days get shorter, but he's still reasonably active and eating well. Now for the questions:
1) He seems to have a couple of scutes fused together on his back (see photo). There's growth around them, but could this have any sort of long-term impact? Is there anything we can/should be doing to help?
2) His plastron dips in quite noticeably at the back, but the "spine" is still quite prominent. Is this normal? If not, any ideas as to what's causing it? It's not going soft, thankfully. It's hard to get across what I mean in a photo, but hopefully you can see what I mean.
Finally, a shot of him investigating the camera, complete with flaky bit of skin
1) He seems to have a couple of scutes fused together on his back (see photo). There's growth around them, but could this have any sort of long-term impact? Is there anything we can/should be doing to help?
2) His plastron dips in quite noticeably at the back, but the "spine" is still quite prominent. Is this normal? If not, any ideas as to what's causing it? It's not going soft, thankfully. It's hard to get across what I mean in a photo, but hopefully you can see what I mean.
Finally, a shot of him investigating the camera, complete with flaky bit of skin
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