# Russian Tortoise Shell Problem



## Falcon70 (Jan 19, 2012)

Hey Everyone,

I have a male and a female Russian Tortoise. They are both very active, eat a leafy green diet w/ mixed veggies, are alert, and the female even laid an egg a few days ago. However over the past year and a half the female started to grow fast/big (has stopped growing now) and her shell is discolored under the carapace. Their tank has always been next to a window with plenty of sun and I bought a UV B light about 2 months ago. I have researched and it looks like it may be the start of MBD, but am curious on why the male's shell is flawless. If you have any insight on what may be wrong, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks


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## pdrobber (Jan 19, 2012)

welcome, I'm not sure about the shell...it looks like growth is normal, when it comes in on WC (wild caughts) it sometimes is lighter like that. But apart from that, it looks like there is something not quite right...almost looks like it could be a fungal type of thing covering new growth areas or something...I have no clue really...sooo


BUMP


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## Yvonne G (Jan 19, 2012)

Hi Falcon70:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

What would you like us to call you?

May we know appx. where in the world you are?


Are you talking about the wide yellow growth bands around the individual scutes? That's because she ate too much and hasn't been allowed the beneficial rays of the real sun. The glass of the window causes the beneficial UVB rays to bounce back, not allowing them in.

Russian tortoises' growing season is very short in the wild, and for this reason, they are hard-wired to eat as much as they can find very quickly before the cold weather sets in. So because we offer a lot of food to our captive Russian tortoises, they eat, even though they don't need that much food. 

The best thing is to set them up outside in a very large pen where they have a lot of room to wander. You never see that type of growth on an outside tortoise. If you have to keep them in the house due to weather, then you must provide the very largest habitat you can afford. They require quite a bit of exercise in order to grow properly and not get fat.


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## Falcon70 (Jan 19, 2012)

Hi,

Thank you so much for your advice. It makes a lot of sense because out of the two, she eats much more than the male. I built an outdoor enclosure in December, they have been out a few times, but I will be putting them out a lot more next month (I live in the south). Do you have any suggestions on how much we should feed them (I had to separate them due to mating aggressiveness.) Normally they are fed romaine or red leaf lettuce 5 days of the week and mixed veggies 2 times.

Thank you,

Jake


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## Yvonne G (Jan 19, 2012)

Hi Jake:

Try to find some weeds outside. There are plenty this time of year. And add them to the lettuces. Your tortoises aren't getting enough of a variety with just lettuce. There's lots of stuff you can find now...smooth and prickly sow thistle, fillaree, mallow, clover, any of the pansies/violas.

Just put down a handful about as big as the tortoise, once a day.


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## lynnedit (Jan 20, 2012)

What Yvonne said, and here is a good site for general food advice: 
http://russiantortoise.org/russiantortoisediet.htm
Be sure to scroll down. You will have weeds to harvest soon, but a good base in the winter are bagged salads: Spring or Herbal mix. Then get 1-2 other greens from the list and rotate weekly.

A good powder supplement: 
http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=58&products_id=261

Seed mixes to sprout outside or in trays: 
http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41&products_id=162


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## Falcon70 (Jan 21, 2012)

Thanks again for all your help, she is on her new diet , and she doesn't appreciate it yet. I'll catch her trying to eat the substrate or the sand out of her nesting box. 

Jake


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## lynnedit (Jan 21, 2012)

They can be mighty stubborn...


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## ascott (Jan 22, 2012)

> she is on her new diet , and she doesn't appreciate it yet. I'll catch her trying to eat the substrate or the sand out of her nesting box


. 

You can also offer her some of the lettuce you normally do along with the stuff you want her to eventually eat (and the male too) and be sure to cut up the lettuce items kinda small and mix them in really good with the good stuff and then spray the entire pile with water --this allows the smaller lettuce to be stuck to the other items and makes it harder to pick through  Then you can eventually decrease the amount of the lettuce and increase the amount of the other goodies....also, red leaf lettuce and romaine are not an evil food item...but should be part of a well rounded food item offering...any one item fed too much on a daily and only fed basis is bad, no matter what that item may be...so variety is key 

Your tortoise absolutely do need exposure to UVB, if you look at their beaks and the slight slope on the tortoise in the first photo you can see signs of MBD....you can correct this by UVB exposure...so the new light you purchased will be very helpful and the outdoor time during the nicer weather will also be very beneficial and necessary to stop any further issues with MBD....

Very pretty tortoise  Do you offer calcium supplements? and /or you should rather offer food items with high calcium levels .....you can also put a cuttlebone in with each of them in the event that they will find it /use it/eat it....this cuttlebone can also be scraped off onto the food pile you offer (just not too much because it kinda has a bitter taste that some do not like) and lightly spray with water to let it adhere to the food.....just some other suggestions


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## Falcon70 (Jan 22, 2012)

Hi Angela,

Thanks for the advice on the food; I mix the weeds with lettuce in a Tupperware box. She eats everything I give her as soon as I put the bowl in her tank, but she keeps looking to see if their is more throughout the day (which is when I catch her eating other stuff). 

As for calcium, I have tried using cuttlebone, but neither of them show any interest in it at all; so I just dust a calcium powder supplement onto their food a few times a week. 

Since putting in the UV B light I have noticed that she is much more active during the day. One question I have is if she is given lots of exposure to UV B and her diet has more variety/less food, is it possible that the yellow growth bands will shrink?

Jake


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## lynnedit (Jan 22, 2012)

She is getting great care!
The yellow band probably won't change significantly (what's done is done), but the new growth will be healthy and she will do very well, thanks to you.


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## Falcon70 (Jan 23, 2012)

Thanks Lynne,

I can't wait to get her outside and hope she continues to grow well. Thanks for all your help!


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