Carapace Problems!! Please Help!!

[tonymeatball]

I have a Russian Tortoise named Beezy that I think is about a year old. I Thought/think I am doing most everything right. She has a big indoor Tortoise table that has a hide box and rocks to climb over . We use a bark substrate, but I'm not sure what it is exactly. We were using coconut coir, but the local pet store told us the bark was better.
We give her mixed greens, including spinach, red leaf, romaine, and butter lettuce (she loves the butter lettuce) as well as veggies like green beans, carrots, and pea's. We put calcium on her food about every other day or so and we let her soak in room temp. water every other day or so for about 10/15 minutes. She has an appetite, seems active (she is constantly moving her hide box and rocks around), and has her waste looks normal. She has a 75w infrared heat lamp and a 60w neodymium daylight lamp at opposite side of her table.
I'm worried because her carapace looks odd. I've included a picture, and hopefully you'll be able to see that there is an odd space in between the plates on her carapace on the upper right side. I noticed the other day and went to feel it gently and she freaked out. While this "crack" between her plates felt soft, the rest of her carapace and her plastron are very solid. Her weight seems normal too, and her nostrils and eyes look fine. PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[jeffbens0n]

Picture isn't showing up.

 

[tonymeatball]

Here is the picture!

 

[egyptiandan]

Nothing wrong with her carapace thats just new growth. It maybe a little soft because it doesn't look like she's getting any vitamin D3. You didn't say your calcium supplement had any and I don't think your light gives off UVB.
Her diet isn't bad, but I'd lose the spinach and the peas (spinach has to much oxalic acid and peas to high in protein), use a calcium supplement with vitamin D3 and get a Mercury Vapor Bulb (MVB) for basking as it gives off heat and UVB rays to produce vitamin D3 in the body.

Danny

 

[tonymeatball]

Nothing wrong with her carapace thats just new growth. It maybe a little soft because it doesn't look like she's getting any vitamin D3. You didn't say your calcium supplement had any and I don't think your light gives off UVB.
Her diet isn't bad, but I'd lose the spinach and the peas (spinach has to much oxalic acid and peas to high in protein), use a calcium supplement with vitamin D3 and get a Mercury Vapor Bulb (MVB) for basking as it gives off heat and UVB rays to produce vitamin D3 in the body.

Danny

Thanks!!

 

[tortoisenerd]

I'd ditch the bark...sorry, but the average pet store employee means well but they are just trying to sell their junk, most of which most of us would never recommend (to get good stuff you have to go elsewhere--like a MVB you have to go online and substrates from a garden center, like cypress mulch. Its hard for them to walk on due to the large pieces, and its expensive to fill up an enclosure as deep as you need it (1-2 times the length of the tort, if your enclosure height allows...Russians love to burrow). You can use shredded aspen (not pine or cedar or wood mixes), cypress mulch, coconut coir, organic soil, etc.

From the photo it looks between a year old and adult. What is the straight carapace length? If its from Petco/Petsmart, its over 4 inches (over one year), and 99% sure wild caught. Sorry but the pet stores lie and say they are all a year old because it sells more.

Read russiantortoise.org. I'd suggest a hide in each temperature area. A good thermometer like a PE1 temp gun. I'd try to increase the greens variety, no spinach, no veggies (except small amounts of pumpkin, squash, like < 5% of the diet). Butter lettuce in moderation as its not any better than romaine. They can get hooked on the junk. Think about what torts eat in the wild--very weedy and low nutrition. Only fruit that is ok is cactus pads. Anything you can grow yourself chemical free that is safe for torts like weeds and flowers is great.

Make sure you have a large shallow water dish in the enclosure too. The water can be baby bath warm not room temp. Hopefully you can return those junk bulbs and get a MVB (12-14 hours/day). If your night temp in your house is at least 60/65 F, no neat is needed (never any night light). Any outdoor time your tort can get is great (if your yard has chemicals, you can put the tort in a plastic tub with substrate and watch it...long term, have a chemical free area with a secure enclosure, ie. wired over it most likely due to predators)...any day which is sunny and above 70 F is great for at least a short time. Especially until you get a UVB bulb. You can get a kitchen/postal scale and weigh & measure the tort monthly to track any growth, and compare to a growth chart for Russians.

 

[Mean Guy]

Don't feel bad about the bark, I made the same mistake myself. I just mixed it with the coconut coir and some organic compost mix. So far the folks that seem to know the most have said that is okay for a sub, and I did not have to throw away a lot of expensive orchid mulch/fir bark. From what I have read, they get a condition from loose bark called splayed leg syndrome because they have to spread their legs out so wide and far to get traction. I am not sure that it is permanent but why risk it? I use the organic mix you get from Costco and separate the different veggies to feed him on alternate days (for variety), and light dusting of Flucker's phosphorus free calcium with D3. The people here are great and they will give you an answer faster than any forum that i have tried and I tried many before this one.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi tonymeatball:

Welcome to the forum!! May we know your name and where you are?