OK I've gotten a lot of great info from everyone but right now I'm feeling like a terrible Tortoise dad. In the last 2 months we have gotten at least 2 to 3 times the rain we normally get and it's wrecked havoc on my tortoises enclosure and burrows. Twice in the 2 months we've had standing water in half of the tortoise pen measuring around 4 inches. The last time it happened my large tortoise burrow caved in a bit and pretty much filled with water. Luckily my tortoises are smart enough in those really wet situations to get out of their burrows and just sit in their enclosure. Here's my problem with all of this, because of the on and off rain I've been super focus on trying to prevent the enclosure ( its buried 2 feet into the ground) from taking water in. I decided to put a tarp over the enclosure and I think that was my unfortunate mistake, the enclosure has an opening allowing then to enter and exit whenever they what but unfortunately didn't let humidity out enough. It appears the humidity in the enclosure has been hovering around or higher than 80% for that time and I can only imagine the burrows are higher with the damp ground. I usually check and feed my torts at least once a day but apparently I've been oblivious because today I've noticed my large tortoise has what I would guess is shell rot or a fungus. It seems bad to me but looks treatable but definitely disappointed in myself for not realizing. I take caring for animals very serious especially considering they count on us for so much, ugh. This has caused deterioration in the lines between the scutes of the carapace ( I think they're the suture lines?) sorry my tortoise anatomy isn't up to par. The scutes seem to be OK... Ish as far as I can see and the real problem lies in between. It's doesn't seem to be everywhere but it's definitely in a few places. I have 2 tortoises and it really only seems to be happening to my larger one that has the burrow that's been flooded and caved in, my smaller tort seems to be doing OK with this issue. Since discovering this today I've removed the tarp so things can dry out and I may open the roof of the enclosure this evening. Also I washed the tortoise with betadine ( I know I shouldn't use that often ) hopefully to stop anything that could be grown like fungus and I'm curious what treatment would be best to continue with.
Thank you so much for reading this long ranty message with terrible grammar and punctuation. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Jason
Thank you so much for reading this long ranty message with terrible grammar and punctuation. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Jason