I was soaking my red foot and cleaned its shell and noticed this on the bottom of his shell. I’m not sure if it’s a fungal infection but if it is what should I do I was reading about giving it betadine, anti fungal cream, and chlorhexidine and anti fungal wipes. I don’t know which are good and if they are all good to use does the brand matter or does it matter where I get it from?thanks for the help!
Is this fungal infection?
- Thread starter Jaime15
- Start date
Appears to be shell rot to me, but I'd wait for someone with better eyes to come along and confirm/deny my suspicion.
The_Four_Toed_Edward
Well-Known Member
I am thinking shell rot too. If I remember correctly, athletes foot cream should do the trick. I will tag @zovick to hear his thoughts.
Yes it is. I'll leave the treatment recommendations to people that have more experience treating it than I do, but I'll address the cause: This is caused by the tortoise's plastron being too wet too much of time. This usually happens when someone has an open topped enclosure and they try to keep the substrate damp all the time in a futile effort to keep humidity up. It doesn't keep humidity up because the open top allows the humid air to escape up and into the room, but the wet substrate does typically cause the type of shell rot you are seeing.
The solution, the way to prevent this problem, is to keep the tortoise in a large closed chamber type enclosure with all of the heating and lighting inside. Inside this chamber, you need a good 4-5 inches of orchid bark substrate. If you keep the lower layers damp, it will maintain great humidity, while the upper layers remain mostly dry. As long as there is not too much ventilation, it is easy to maintain 80+% humidity in a set up like this.
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2013
- Messages
- 5,065
That is classic shell rot. Just apply athlete's foot cream to it daily for a week to ten days or so and it should go away. You must also address the cause of the problem (excessive moisture) as Tom mentioned to keep the problem from recurring.
Agree with treatment advice above. As for prevention, I have used a 100% finely ground coconut coir bedding for my two red-foots, which holds moisture but does not support fungal growth. Never have any sign of fungus or bacterial issues since switching to the coco bedding and getting rid of the dirt.
Littleredfootbigredheart
Well-Known Member
I’m a little late to reading this thread, was this your red foot that passed? I was so sorry to read that
my thoughts are truly with you 
Unfortunately I think you were less astray by a lot of the typical outdated advice there is caring for this species, this is incredibly common and certainly not something to feel guilty about of course. I can see Tom already shared some fantastic information, but I thought I’d pass these links on to you should you wish to try this species again
This housing thread covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for red foots(only way to maintain the humidity you need indoors), appropriately maintaining the humidity(they are prone to shell rot so this is important! No misters or humidifiers), safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, a diet list and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better! But I’ll add some more ideas below for closed chambers
Young red foot/ cherryhead set up
Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information on an effective example of a starter enclosure for a red foot/cherry head😊 Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of...
tortoiseforum.org
This includes different closed chambers, some work better than others
Visual inspiration
Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...
tortoiseforum.org
Lastly, this one here is good to go over and keep on hand, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying
Common keeping errors
Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...
tortoiseforum.org
Im so sorry this happened! I sure hope it doesn’t put you off tortoise keeping
Similar threads
