# HELP PLEASE! MY TORTOISE SHELL SEPARATING??? (Pictures included)



## Alice004 (Apr 14, 2015)

*Help please!! I don't know if her shell is cracking or what?? *









there on the right! looks like her scutes are separating!! Also she's got this white spot on the front of her shell!! 
I only feed her Romaine lettuce, i tried carrots, cucumbers but she won't go near them I even tried tomatoes but she just peed on it! 
I bathe her at least once a week. She pees and poops just fine!


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## puffy137 (Apr 14, 2015)

She looks perfectly fine to me, a lovely shell. Don't worry , its normal .


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## Alice004 (Apr 14, 2015)

puffy137 said:


> She looks perfectly fine to me, a lovely shell. Don't worry , its normal .


Thanks for replying, but the thing is, it wasn't like that last week! it looks worse in person! It looks like it's cracking!


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## puffy137 (Apr 14, 2015)

ok can you pull it apart at all , only try to do it very gently , if not there is nothing to worry about , unless she has fallen from a height at some time previously.


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## Alice004 (Apr 14, 2015)

puffy137 said:


> ok can you pull it apart at all , only try to do it very gently , if not there is nothing to worry about , unless she has fallen from a height at some time previously.


I tried i don't think it's peeling or anything but it worries me that I was able to fit my nail in there, unlike the other side, which doesn't have any parting!
And no, I never dropped her!


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## Yvonne G (Apr 15, 2015)

I think your tortoise's diet leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, I see the crack you're talking about. It's not normal for the new growth space to look like that. It might be due to the diet. Tortoises need calcium and sunlight in order to grow strong, healthy shells. I think you need to improve the tortoise's diet in order to see a stronger new growth area.

One way to get a tortoise to eat what you want it to eat is to chop up the new food into very small particles and mix it in with the food the tortoise will eat. 

On another note, a tortoise can't eat something if you don't offer it. Stop giving the tortoise romaine. It's not a bad food, but it's not giving the tortoise what he needs to grow strong.


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## wellington (Apr 15, 2015)

Oh yes, the diet needs much improvement. The carrots, cucumber and tomato along with the romaine is not a good diet at all.
Please get a good diet started ASAP. Also, in the first pic specially, your tortoise looked dry. What is the humidity in the enclousre and do you do soaks and provide water 24/7?


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## WithLisa (Apr 15, 2015)

I had a rescue tortoise once that had cracks like this. I could fit my nail quite deep in and even move the scutes a little bit. I have no idea what it was (and I didn't have a reptile vet at that time), but according to the owners he had had it for years .


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## teresaf (Apr 15, 2015)

At least try different types of greens. Kale, Collard greens, mustard greens and even dandylions from the yard. If its in his approved foods list , of course. I don't have one of those but I think most eat the same greens.They are similar enough to the romaine that he wouldn't even notice the difference much. I've heard alot of foods is the way to go. 

I personally think the humidity/hydration is more of the issue with his shell. Soaking in warm water each evening would help. Really though, romaine only won't work. could you survive long on hamburger only? nope.


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## Gillian M (Apr 18, 2015)

teresaf said:


> At least try different types of greens. Kale, Collard greens, mustard greens and even dandylions from the yard. If its in his approved foods list , of course. I don't have one of those but I think most eat the same greens.They are similar enough to the romaine that he wouldn't even notice the difference much. I've heard alot of foods is the way to go.
> 
> I personally think the humidity/hydration is more of the issue with his shell. Soaking in warm water each evening would help. Really though, romaine only won't work. could you survive long on hamburger only? nope.


 What if a tortoise refuses to eat the above and insists on one type? Is the owner to make the tort strave to death?


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## Gillian M (Apr 18, 2015)

A warm welcome to the forum!

Don't worry-your tort looks fine, and do not forget: torts take *time *to adapt, so take it easy.


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## Yvonne G (Apr 18, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> What if a tortoise refuses to eat the above and insists on one type? Is the owner to make the tort strave to death?



An animal that is set up properly, with lots of space and a natural-looking setting, will have good mental health and will not starve himself to death. If you don't offer the less desired food, and only offer the foods you want him to eat, he will eventually eat them.

Healthy shell growth depends upon nutrients from the diet. It is my most fervent opinion, that this big 'crack' where the new growth should be is due to a bad diet.


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## puffy137 (Apr 18, 2015)

Just a reminder that during hibernation adult torts can go on quite happily for weeks at a time without food or water.


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## crimson_lotus (Apr 18, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> What if a tortoise refuses to eat the above and insists on one type? Is the owner to make the tort strave to death?



I think that in the long run, correcting the diet would be best for the tortoise. Yes, they may not eat for a week or two (which they can do) however correcting the diet halts any extreme shell deformity or health complications they may have in the future, and a lot of these health complications can lead to death. If they don't eat the good stuff, you can always mix it in with the stuff you've been feeding them and slowly transition. It will be nerve wracking to not see them eat for that duration, but they will be better off. I also highly doubt a tortoise would starve to death unless there were other underlying medical conditions to cause it, which is stated here: http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/fedart.html


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## Gillian M (Apr 18, 2015)

crimson_lotus said:


> I think that in the long run, correcting the diet would be best for the tortoise. Yes, they may not eat for a week or two (which they can do) however correcting the diet halts any extreme shell deformity or health complications they may have in the future, and a lot of these health complications can lead to death. If they don't eat the good stuff, you can always mix it in with the stuff you've been feeding them and slowly transition. It will be nerve wracking to not see them eat for that duration, but they will be better off. I also highly doubt a tortoise would starve to death unless there were other underlying medical conditions to cause it, which is stated here: http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/fedart.html


 When I said "starve to death" I did not mean it literally. I do know that torts can go on and on without food but I don't believe that this is a solution (no offence). As for mxing the food, well I've tried it, and it did not work, believe it or not. It seems that we cannot fool a tort as easily as we think.


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## Gillian M (Apr 18, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> An animal that is set up properly, with lots of space and a natural-looking setting, will have good mental health and will not starve himself to death. If you don't offer the less desired food, and only offer the foods you want him to eat, he will eventually eat them.
> 
> Healthy shell growth depends upon nutrients from the diet. It is my most fervent opinion, that this big 'crack' where the new growth should be is due to a bad diet.


 I do not mean "starve to death" literally, as I just said to another member. I did try the above-mentioned method hoping that when my tort gets hungry it will will eventually eat. However, it just did not work.


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## WithLisa (Apr 18, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> I did try the above-mentioned method hoping that when my tort gets hungry it will will eventually eat. However, it just did not work.


How many days did you let it starve? You know starving one or two weeks won't harm your tortoise, but it will die sooner or later because of your diet. When it is getting sick it will probably be too late, because without a healthy appetite it won't try the new food anymore.


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## Yvonne G (Apr 19, 2015)

It's still the same subject, but I think we're forgetting that this thread belongs to Alice004. If any of the rest of you want to discuss your own subjects it might be better if you start your own thread. Let's concern ourselves on this thread with Alice's tortoise and that she thinks the shell is splitting.


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## Tom (Apr 19, 2015)

Alice,
Tell us more about how this tortoise is housed. What are your four temperatures? Substrate? Humidity? Size and type of enclosure. Etc...

That looks to me like that stacked growth that comes from pyramiding. Pyramiding is caused by growth in conditions that are too dry, such as what is found in the typical indoor set up with a hot bulb and dry substrate.

How long have you had this tortoise?


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## Tom (Apr 19, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> As for mxing the food, well I've tried it, and it did not work, believe it or not. It seems that we cannot fool a tort as easily as we think.



This technique is not about "fooling" them. Its about gradually introducing new and unfamiliar tastes, smells and textures to a tortoise that was not started correctly on a wide variety of foods, or has become fat, happy and picky over its time in someone's care.

This is all about _HOW_ you apply this technique. If someone were to just mix in a new food half and half for a couple of days and then give up since the tortoise didn't seem to want to eat it, the technique will fail. If, on the other hand, you finely chop and wet the favored food, and then thoroughly mix in a tiny amount, say less than 5%, of finely chopped new stuff, and then keep offering that mix in that ratio for a month, the tortoise will eat it. Then over time, you up the ratio of new to old, and repeat the process over and over with new foods.

I can guarantee you that if you give that reluctant-to-try-new-foods tortoise to me or Yvonne, we will have it eating everything under the sun in 6 months or less.


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