# Tortoise shell



## waswondering (Aug 19, 2019)

Ok so some of my tortoise have shells that they have scratch off, to the bone. I was on vacation for 2 weeks and I had a friend watch my sulcatas, he didnt watch them... when I came home I found that they had dug a 12 foot deep hole under my cement pool deck. Let me clarify the roof of the hole was a spiky cement slab. When I got all the tortoise out I noticed that there shell was scratched to oblivion. I can see there bone of there shell.will the keratin of there shell ever grow back???


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## Billna the 2 (Aug 19, 2019)

It will grow back over time, do photo's?


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## Sulcatafriend (Aug 19, 2019)

WOW 
Time to find a new friend!


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## waswondering (Aug 19, 2019)

Billna the 2 said:


> It will grow back over time, do photo's?


Sorry I'm still figuring this website out.
The tortoise in the photo is the one that got the worst of it.


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## Billna the 2 (Aug 20, 2019)

It will grow back, my take years


waswondering said:


> Sorry I'm still figuring this website out.
> The tortoise in the photo is the one that got the worst of it.


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## Yvonne G (Aug 20, 2019)

If the blood supply isn't lost there will be no replacement keratin. If the blood supply IS lost, eventually the bone in those areas will die. At that point new keratin starts growing UNDER the old, dead bone and eventually (may take a couple years) the dead bone chips off and the new keratin is exposed. I have a hard time seeing that damage as 'scraped' damage. It doesn't look like that would be what happens with continued cement scraping. Yes, I see two spots that would have been scraped, but the rest of the keratin damage looks like something that happened a while ago.


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## waswondering (Aug 20, 2019)

Yvonne G said:


> If the blood supply isn't lost there will be no replacement keratin. If the blood supply IS lost, eventually the bone in those areas will die. At that point new keratin starts growing UNDER the old, dead bone and eventually (may take a couple years) the dead bone chips off and the new keratin is exposed. I have a hard time seeing that damage as 'scraped' damage. It doesn't look like that would be what happens with continued cement scraping. Yes, I see two spots that would have been scraped, but the rest of the keratin damage looks like something that happened a while ago.


Im so sad to hear that
This tortoise was a rescue, I got him about 3 years ago. It had been chewed on by a dog I'm not sure what type, and it messed up the shell really badly but no blood. So the shell was already pretty messed up looking but now it shows they bone.


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## waswondering (Aug 20, 2019)

Yvonne G said:


> If the blood supply isn't lost there will be no replacement keratin. If the blood supply IS lost, eventually the bone in those areas will die. At that point new keratin starts growing UNDER the old, dead bone and eventually (may take a couple years) the dead bone chips off and the new keratin is exposed. I have a hard time seeing that damage as 'scraped' damage. It doesn't look like that would be what happens with continued cement scraping. Yes, I see two spots that would have been scraped, but the rest of the keratin damage looks like something that happened a while ago.


Also the reason more of the shell must have made contact then just the top is because I have water drains that are also cement under the slab.He may have rubbed on that? Other then that I idk what it could be. Is it possible that it's some type of disease? And them being in the hole is a coincidence? Have you ever seen anything like this?

Thanks for the help


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## Yvonne G (Aug 20, 2019)

No, it's not a disease. He'll be fine. Tortoises are very resilient and the damage I see on that carapace is not bad at all. Just love him for being different.


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## waswondering (Aug 20, 2019)

I'm glad to hear it isnt a disease. Thanks for the help and I will obviously continue to love him!


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