These white, chalky-looking patches appear on his/her carapace whenever he's been out of the water too long. No particular spot, just wherever hasn't been underwater in a while. I've got him in a tank with shallow water covering 4/5 of it (Garden State Tortoise method I saw on youtube). I am using a UV light though too. Digital gauge says tank is at 75% humidity. There are some hard water stains on the sides of the tank, so I'm thinking his/her shell issue is some kind of mineral deposits. I know our house has hard water, you can see the stains on the faucets. I've never seen shell-rot in person, so I don't really know what it looks like.
I have read that people use vinager and a toothbrush to clean the mineral deposits off the shells. Is there any harm in doing this with a baby/juvenile? Does he have to be rinsed very thoroughly after doing so to make sure it doesn't drip off into his soaking/drinking water (is it toxic if ingested in small quantities)? He was hatched roughly September 29th, so he'll be 6 months old in a week. Going to start buying bottled water at the store for this little creature, unless I'm totally wrong about this being a hard-water issue.
Getting attached to this little stinker, he/she was hit or miss in December/January with nasty chronic diarrhea, but that eventually cleared up when I stopped buying worms from 7-11 and started getting them from PetSmart. He's getting big, he was stuck at 7-8 grams for months, and now he's 19 grams!
Sorry for the crappy pictures of the issue, my phone stinks. One is with the flash, one without. Discoloration is somewhere between the two in real life.
I have read that people use vinager and a toothbrush to clean the mineral deposits off the shells. Is there any harm in doing this with a baby/juvenile? Does he have to be rinsed very thoroughly after doing so to make sure it doesn't drip off into his soaking/drinking water (is it toxic if ingested in small quantities)? He was hatched roughly September 29th, so he'll be 6 months old in a week. Going to start buying bottled water at the store for this little creature, unless I'm totally wrong about this being a hard-water issue.
Getting attached to this little stinker, he/she was hit or miss in December/January with nasty chronic diarrhea, but that eventually cleared up when I stopped buying worms from 7-11 and started getting them from PetSmart. He's getting big, he was stuck at 7-8 grams for months, and now he's 19 grams!
Sorry for the crappy pictures of the issue, my phone stinks. One is with the flash, one without. Discoloration is somewhere between the two in real life.
