Crack in Turbo's shell?/How am I doing?

[erdavis]

Hey all I have been a sulcata owner for almost a month now and i love it! Buttt I am still trying to take everything in and learn as much as I can.
To remind you, here's some background info on Turbo:
My sister got him as just a little hatchling and had him for about 2 months. She had him in wired rabbit cage with no water and newspaper layed down instead of substrate. She did bathe him a few times a week but other than that he lived a pretty dry life with the very frowned upon coil type light and ate grass clippings from the yard.
She then passed him on to me and I am trying to get everything working for him. Switched him to the right light. Used organic topsoil as substrate. Put water in the cage, kept him moist, 2 baths a day, eats the spring mix. Let him graze in the backyard and he's basically our personal weed eater
I have been worried that his enclosure hasnt been moist enough, the hygrometer says its a about 65%. So I decided to change his substrate. From what I knew- cypress was bad and I should use pine chips. So I went out and bought 100% organic pine nuggets. They are pretty big "nuggets" and I figured he wouldnt like walking on them so I put them on the bottom of the enclosure, then put organic topsoil on top of that. I also bought a new thermometer/hygrometer. I have sphagnum moss in both hides and in two corners. Lastnight the enclosure read at about 85F and 80% humidity of the warm side and 75F and 95%humidity on cool side. Today its about 95F and 80% on hot side, 75F and 88% on cool side. How is this?
About the crack in his shell, today I flipped him over to weigh him and I saw what looks to be cracks in his bottom shell. His shell is not too soft-like someone else said It resembles a tupperware top(not soft but it gives). I didnt see the cracks there before today but at the same time I've never actually looked for them. The cracks almost look like a dogs bite mark? But this couldnt be because he is in his enclosure at all times or outside with me-never left him unsupervised. Could it be the pine? While trying to look up what this could be I learned that pine may not be good for him. He does not seem to be in any pain. Still walking around a bunch, eyes look good and eating fine. What could it be?
About the pine-if it in UNDER the soil, could it be okay? Do I need to change it immediately? What damage could it have already caused?
Thank you so much for taking your time to read this.

 

[ascott]

What cracks are you referring to? I only see normal growth lines?

Pine is not a good substrate for a tortoise. The organic soil and coco coir mix, to me, was a better choice...but again, that is my personal preference......

 

[erdavis]

What cracks are you referring to? I only see normal growth lines?

Pine is not a good substrate for a tortoise. The organic soil and coco coir mix, to me, was a better choice...but again, that is my personal preference......

I guess thats what I'm asking. I see the lines the go vertically in the picture and I know those are normal. But then the curved horizontal lines by his back feet, that look like theyre filled with dirt is what I am asking about. Are they normal? I havent seen them before is why Im asking.
And I had soil and coco coir but the coir that I got from Petsmart was very chunky and Turbo really had a hard time walking on it. Plus the humidity was not very high so I decided to try pine and soil. When I bought this I also bought a new thermometer/hygrometer though and realized that my the hygrometer I had been using was just broken-so the humidity may have originally been fine.

 

[Zamric]

I cant see the lines your talking about but the pics look blurry to me. The larger "circulare" lines might be cracks but again there is no detail because of fuzzieness.

 

[ascott]

LOL....I see the area you are speaking about...however, from what I can see in the pics all appears fine...every tortoise has its own slight variation of shell design....as long as the areas are not gooey nor fuzzy with rot and not actual cracks through the shell...then I would suggest you just keep an eye on then shell (you should do this as normal anyways, you know?)

An easy way to keep track of a shell as it is growing is by photos, perhaps you can take a pic of the top/bottom and profile view of the tortoise shell lets say every few weeks or so that you can then have a reference point when you notice something or see something change...you know?

I personally would not use pine.

http://www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html
http://www.birdsafe.com/woods.htm
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-allergies-and-toxicity/

Here are simply a few references for you ......I have selected a couple different animal subjects for a little diversity as well as the final site for general reference.....