Advice needed on Leopard Tortoise

[The Roo Ranch]

Pebbles came from a reptile rescue so little information except she? was purchased from a reptile expo. Her set up seems to follow the advice give by the wonderful mentors on this forum, eats well, very friendly and appears well adjusted expect this developing area on her head. She is 4" and we have had her 4 months so am assuming there is a husbandry issue on my part. While I am very well versed in the mammal exotic world, we have only had tortoises for 2 years. I'll be posting later about the Russian with a cracked beak and my nightmare of a visit to an "reptile" vet. Thank you in advance

 

[OkAdiza]

She's really beautiful! I have a leopard as well and have loved this species.
Is there something in her enclosure she might have scratched her head on? Hopefully a more experienced member can take a look soon.
Check out this link if you haven't already for basic care. Best Way to Raise a Sulcata, Leopard, or Star tortoise
All the best to you and your tortoises.

 

[The Roo Ranch]

She's really beautiful! I have a leopard as well and have loved this species.
What type of advice were you looking for?
Check out this link if you haven't already for basic care. Best Way to Raise a Sulcata, Leopard, or Star tortoise
All the best to you and your tortoises.

I do not like the look of the area on the left side of her head. It is not dirt or food and seems to be getting more involved. Picture 1 shows the dark area the best.

 

[OkAdiza]

I do not like the look of the area on the left side of her head. It is not dirt or food and seems to be getting more involved. Picture 1 shows the dark area the best.

Yes, sorry. I went back and edited my first post. I wonder if something scratched her head or perhaps it's dry and causing some issues? Do you have humidity 80+ in the enclosure and 80 degrees + for temps? Going to tag @zovick and @Markw84 who perhaps can shed some light for you.

 

[zovick]

Yes, sorry. I went back and edited my first post. I wonder if something scratched her head or perhaps it's dry and causing some issues? Do you have humidity 80+ in the enclosure and 80 degrees + for temps? Going to tag @zovick and @Markw84 who perhaps can shed some light for you.

@The Roo Ranch
It looks like a traumatic injury which has a scab (dried blood) over it. I would not do anything to it at this point other than wait for the scab to fall off on its own.

Keep in mind that it takes tortoises about three times as long for healing to take place as it would in a human or other mammal.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Markw84]

Agree with @zovick It does look like an injury - got its head stuck into something, or could also very well have been bitten by another tortoise or maybe rat? If rat, I would expect other bite marks on legs and/or shell edges. Does your Russian ever have access to this tortoise?

 

[The Roo Ranch]

Agree with @zovick It does look like an injury - got its head stuck into something, or could also very well have been bitten by another tortoise or maybe rat? If rat, I would expect other bite marks on legs and/or shell edges. Does your Russian ever have access to this tortoise?

Will look over the enclosure again and maybe take out her wood hide but its her favorite. Temp and humidity are good and just upgraded her UV to an Arcadia Pro T5 and she is already more active. Never with Ivan the Terrible Russian as he goes after the 60 lb sulcatta but loves his people.

I will add daily soaks and monitor. Guess wounds can look worse before getting better.

Thank you!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

What a beauty

I agree with the others that it looks to potentially be a previous injury

As well as the link above, hopefully you’ll find these a good read

This thread covers correct equipment(uvb, heating bulbs, lighting etc), correct levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, safe substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, 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

Leopard/sulcata starter

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information below on how I’d personally tackle an indoor starter set up for a leopard/sulcata until they’re bigger. Hopefully it helps give people some ideas!” I know it looks like a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered...

tortoiseforum.org

this one here covers closed chamber types, some do run more efficiently 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

Hope they help! Welcome to the forum friend