# Has my tortoise got shell rot?



## davidmichaeltaylor (Jan 8, 2010)

Hey All 

Recenty over these past couple of weeks i have notticed litte dry piece on my russian tortoises shell there are patches of like dry flakey shell usually on the black dots of his shell. i have heard that this could be shell rot i have kept my tortoise as dry as i possibly can to try and avoid this matter by throughtly drying him once bathing and letting him dry underneath his basking lamp. also not putting him outside in the rain. the humidity is fine in my table top because the top is open. i have some images to show you what im going on about:

http://img9.imageshack.us/i/photo0161qo.jpg/

the dry patches on his shell are NOT seeping with discharge but dry like if we had dry skin on our face.

could this be the diet i feed him? i mainly feed him on a diets of any lettice we have unless its iceberg because i was told not to use that. carrots dwarf beans also califlower and brocoli when we have it in. i also try and get him weeds when i can but the weather we have just had has virtualy frozen every piece of vegatation.

also this past couple of months he has seemed very sleepy and has been staying in the cooler end inside his hide and not been eating much. when he was doing that i had to bath him every otherday that way straight after he would eat something.

other facts:
the temp of my basking lamp is exactly 24.2 celcius
the basking lamp is on 10 hr a day
the cold area is a warm rooms tempreture (room temp)
he gets bathed every week
to indimidate the sun i use
Exo Terra Sun Glo Neodymium Daylight Lamp
the substrate i use is san with cacium spec in it
his name is Victor

is there any way to resolve this and get a heathier looking shell again?

thank you 

David


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## Yvonne G (Jan 8, 2010)

Hi David:







to the forum!!

I don't see anything in the picture that looks like shell rot. In fact, all the new growth on the tortoise looks pretty darned good to me. Maybe you are looking at the old shell? The parts in the middle of the new growth? Russians can look a bit rough, but yours looks ok to me. The light, cream-colored parts, like where the seams are, is the new growth. The old patches in the center, the black spots, etc. are the old, weathered parts. It just naturally gets old-looking as it dries out. There's nothing you can do about it.

Its up to you, but if it were me, I'd get rid of the calci-sand and get a different substrate. There's a chance of him eating the sand (being stuck on his food) and the sand might cause him to be impacted.


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## davidmichaeltaylor (Jan 8, 2010)

Thank you for your welcome and reply,

The calci sand substrate is as you said stuck on his food and just goes every whereon him in the water bowl, it was only a try out i am virtually out of substrates to use what do you recomend?

also i was worried because i have got a picture of when i first got him 6 months ago and there was none of the weathering but will this old shell eventually go when the new growth comes here is a picture of my tort when i first got him.

http://img683.imageshack.us/i/photo0096u.jpg/

once again thank you


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## Yvonne G (Jan 8, 2010)

No, the old shell stays just like it is. The new growth is between the scutes in what looks like seams. The new growth is what makes the tortoise get bigger. The old shell stays the same, doesn't get bigger.

I like cypress mulch but there's coconut coir mixed with dirt or Playsand, or aspen to name a couple.


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