Broken shell

[Patience&Wisdom]

Hey all

Please help, I have noticed he has lost his toe nails on only this foot and the shell is cracked just in the corner not sure how it has happened or what to do. He does dig alot please help with what to do?
Thanks

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Was there any bleeding when the nail came of? Do you know of any recent injury?

I am tagging @turtlesteve so he can take a look.

 

[Patience&Wisdom]

Thank you so much for answering, I have been panicking as I don't have a vet. No there was no bleeding and the nails fell of about a week or so ago and I have just noticed the shell which I'm sure wasn't like that until now. No accidents but he does dig and bury himself alot.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Thank you so much for answering, I have been panicking as I don't have a vet. No there was no bleeding and the nails fell of about a week or so ago and I have just noticed the shell which I'm sure wasn't like that until now. No accidents but he does dig and bury himself alot.

How long have you had the tortoise? Any yellow bumps on the skin? How is the beak?

 

[Patience&Wisdom]

How long have you had the tortoise? Any yellow bumps on the skin? How is the beak?

I have been looking after him for 6 months now, no yellow humps there's bit of flaking on the skin and beak looks fine to me but I'm still learning about tortoises I have attached pictures does he look OK?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I have been looking after him for 6 months now, no yellow humps there's bit of flaking on the skin and beak looks fine to me but I'm still learning about tortoises I have attached pictures does he look OK?

Don’t suppose you could try answering these? He does look at little dry with some pyramiding, we might be able to help in giving some housing pointers! Don’t worry if you can’t answer all of them

What are your temperatures like all over? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps(middle and cooler side), night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
How’s humidity?
What’s his substrate?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What’s his diet been like with you?

A photo of the full set up would be wonderful! Welcome to the forum

 

[Patience&Wisdom]

Don’t suppose you could try answering these? He does look at little dry with some pyramiding, we might be able to help in giving some housing pointers! Don’t worry if you can’t answer all of them

What are your temperatures like all over? Ie basking temp(directly under the bulb), overall day temps(middle and cooler side), night temps?
What kind of basking bulb is being used specifically? Packaging photos are good if you have any
Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?
How’s humidity?
What’s his substrate?
What kind of monitoring do you have?
What’s his diet been like with you?

A photo of the full set up would be wonderful! Welcome to the forum

Yes please I'd appriaciate the help! The temp is 77f 60% most of the time. I use a

Arcadia d3 uv basking lamp 100w. I use coco coir for most of the enclosure and a little coco coir coarse in the corner which he likes to dig and bury himself in to sleep. I feed him spring greens, curly kale, pak choi romaine lettuce and flower mix and tortoise diet pellets. I give him Bee pollen and calcium powder and a bath everyday as that's when he goes to the toilet he does like to sleep alot. I have him in an tortoise table but just ordered a vivaruim in the picture which I can keep open but is bigger. I was thinking of getting moss for humidity let me know what I can improve on please I have also put pictures of enclosure now​

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yes please I'd appriaciate the help! The temp is 77f 60% most of the time. I use a

Arcadia d3 uv basking lamp 100w. I use coco coir for most of the enclosure and a little coco coir coarse in the corner which he likes to dig and bury himself in to sleep. I feed him spring greens, curly kale, pak choi romaine lettuce and flower mix and tortoise diet pellets. I give him Bee pollen and calcium powder and a bath everyday as that's when he goes to the toilet he does like to sleep alot. I have him in a tortoise table but just ordered a vivaruim in the picture which I can keep open but is bigger. I was thinking of getting moss for humidity let me know what I can improve on please I have also put pictures of enclosure now​

Thank you for your response!

Temperature wise you want a basking area that reaches 95f, the rest ranging 80-85 in the middle, 75f cooler end, 70 is a fine night temperature.
This needs to be achieved with an incandescent reptile floodlight(not a spot, too harsh, same for halogen, mercury vapour) you also want to avoid the all in one uvb heat bulbs like that, it concentrates the uv into a much smaller area, which can cause eye problems, be drying on the shell which contributes to pyramiding, it’s also not ideal having heat and uvb combined in one bulb because if you ever need to adjust the height, you’re messing with the uvi zone underneath.

For an indoor uv light you want a tube fluorescent t5 light, the brands to go for are Arcadia prot5 kit 12%, which comes with the reflective fitting, or zoo med reptisun t5 10.0, which usually needs the hood buying separately.
With the uv timing, every other source of information will tell you 12hours of uv. This is essentially an old fashioned rule that has stuck with a lot of keepers, it stems from the presumption that once the basking light or ambient lighting is on, ie the ‘sun’, that uv must coexist the same amount of hours. Fact is, uv rays only peak for a few hours a day, anyone with a uv meter will confirm this. No tortoise is blasted with 12 hours of uv in the wild, therefore it’s not necessary in captivity.
The right uv bulbs are much more expensive to replace once their uv strength diminishes, so it’s definitely best having it on a 4 hour timer that provides them with all the uv they need, saving your bulb life.
Then some cheaper led lighting for your ambient 12 hour light cycle as well as the basking light on the same 12hrs, your ceramics will run 24/7 on a thermostat, this will all make more sense once you look over the links provided.

Substrate is great, diet sounds pretty good too, there’s a diet link in the thread I’ll add, there’s some great ideas for variety in there!

Don’t add any kind of moss, it’s an impaction risk in captivity, peat moss is too acidic.

For a baby you actually want a fully closed set up, it’s impossible to maintain humidity where needed 24/7 in an open top, babies need much higher humidity than adults, it helps aid in smoother growth, in an open top the pyramiding that’s started will continue.

Hopefully you find this thread helpful, this 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 ever 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

Housing young Russian/Herman

Hello there! In this thread, I’m going to include some information on an effective way to tackle a starter set up/a way you can build a bigger size once your baby is an adult. I know it looks a lot to go over, I like to make sure all bases are covered, I’m happy to break down any information...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes different closed chamber options, 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

Hope they help and you like them! Feel free to ask any further questions

 

[Patience&Wisdom]

Thank you so much I really appreciate the help! I have now ordered the right lighting and following the guide! I had already ordered the pawhut enclosure does it look OK? Or I'm I better of cancelling this and ordering the viv exotic one? They are about the same size thanks so much

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you so much I really appreciate the help! I have now ordered the right lighting and following the guide! I had already ordered the pawhut enclosure does it look OK? Or I'm I better of cancelling this and ordering the viv exotic one? They are about the same size thanks so much

I like the look of the viv exotic one because there’s less vents to seal off, but either could work I thinkis the viv exotic one 2ft height?

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Thank you so much I really appreciate the help! I have now ordered the right lighting and following the guide! I had already ordered the pawhut enclosure does it look OK? Or I'm I better of cancelling this and ordering the viv exotic one? They are about the same size thanks so much

With Pawhut viv it may be challenging to position all lights correctly because of the top lid.
Also, I suspect that spot cleaning will be easier with front opening doors.

 

[Patience&Wisdom]

Yh so the exotic viv measurements are L:115cm x D:37.5cm x H:42.1cm and pawhut is 100 x 50 x 60cm

 

[Patience&Wisdom]

Also sorry with the arcadia t5 12% desert what do I need 24, 39 or 54w? Thanks

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Yh so the exotic viv measurements are L:115cm x D:37.5cm x H:42.1cm and pawhut is 100 x 50 x 60cm

Height of Viv Exotic is not optimal for the recommended heating and lightning. For the Arcadia Desert 12% distance between substrate and lamp should be around 40 cm. 60cm high enclosures are better in that sense (I like 80-90 cm tall vivariums, for better more fuzzy ambient lightning, having more room to adjust lamp height and more vertical space for the heat lamp but 60cm are suitable too). Most common vivarium size is 120x60x60cm (120 gallons) - check if it's available.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Also sorry with the arcadia t5 12% desert what do I need 24, 39 or 54w? Thanks

For the most small-to-medium enclosures 24W is sufficient (it's 22 inches long lamp).

 

[Patience&Wisdom]

Thanks so much I appreciate your help! This should work its 4 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet tall from amazon but there isnt alot of description or the viv exotic is 115cm x 49cm x 56cm. I have 2 tortoises in open tables so i have to buy 2 of everything to change their enclosures.

Pawhut I will return as I have realised the legs make up some of the height so it won't work. And for the basking floodlight what do you recommend 75w? Thanks so much

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

It looks like the same VivExotics enclosure on both screenshots.

If your tortoise tables are large enough you can just cover them with a portable greenhouse top.

Another option you might consider, is to get a hydroponics grow tent, it needs a bit of DIY-work but should be cheaper than vivarium. For example: https://vivosun.com/vivosun-mylar-h...24x48-p148350832863748091-v148396918936661479 You'll have to put it on the side and add pond liner at the bottom.

75W for the basking flood light usually works fine (at 11-12" over substrate). For the hot summer you may need a 50W spare bulb.

 

[Patience&Wisdom]

Ok thanks so much for your help i will see what's best to do