Damage or rot?

[NinjaTurtle69]

Does this look like damage or rot? Can rot only happen on the bottom Plastron shell only? Should i be worried or need to do anything?

*Noticed this while handling.


Baby eastern hermann tortoise. ~4 months old. Very active and eats a lot.
Substrate reptibark
50-70+% humidity.
Semi enclosed tub with another semi sealed enclosure on top. PVC made, where lights hang and wrapped in plastic to keep humidity.
Incandescent 45w for basking at 85-90 degrees.
3000 Lumen 5k for ambient light. Both of those are set at 11 hours of light.
Arcadia t5 HO 12% - 2 hours a day on a timer.
Water bowl - new water every morning
Food variety of greens. Culantro, cilantro, spring mix, dandelion greens, lettuce, kale, wheat grass, arugula. Light dusting of cuttlefish bone from time to time.
30 min warm water soaks everyday.
Spot cleaning Substrate as much as I can.

 

[wellington]

It's not rot. It does happen on the plastron
Is it chipped or smooth?
Looks like just color change coming in to me, but I can't tell if chipped.

 

[NinjaTurtle69]

It's not rot. It does happen on the plastron
Is it chipped or smooth?
Looks like just color change coming in to me, but I can't tell if chipped.

Thanks for the quick response. Baby is sleeping at the moment. I had gloves on while trying to rub fingers over it. Tomorrow I'll do it with no gloves and finger nails to confirm for chip. But I didn't with gloves... the area looked dry/chipped as to why I'm a bit worried. If itis chipped should I worry? Just let heal?

 

[wellington]

Yeah let us know if its actually chipped. If not it's lijely just color changing.
In the mean time too, let us know about the care. Types of bulbs and heat?
Temps
Humidity
Diet
Post pic of enclosure, anything you can think of.

 

[NinjaTurtle69]

Yeah let us know if its actually chipped. If not it's lijely just color changing.
In the mean time too, let us know about the care. Types of bulbs and heat?
Temps
Humidity
Diet
Post pic of enclosure, anything you can think of.

All that info was in the first post. You might of missed it. Here is enclosure. Plastic on top of tub at night to keep humidity. Semi open during day for basking.

Baby eastern hermann tortoise. ~4 months old. Very active and eats a lot.
Substrate reptibark
50-70+% humidity.
Semi enclosed tub with another semi sealed enclosure on top. PVC made, where lights hang and wrapped in plastic to keep humidity.
Incandescent 45w for basking at 85-90 degrees.
Cold side Temp 75. Night Temps 71/73.
3000 Lumen 5k for ambient light. Both of those are set at 11 hours of light.
Arcadia t5 HO 12% - 2 hours a day on a timer.
Water bowl - new water every morning
Food variety of greens. Culantro, cilantro, spring mix, dandelion greens, lettuce, kale, wheat grass, arugula. Light dusting of cuttlefish bone from time to time.
30 min warm water soaks everyday.
Spot cleaning Substrate as much as I can.

 

[wellington]

Sorry I didn't even read it, I went right to the pics after reading what your concerns were. Up the uvb to 4 hours and it looks like it's too far away to be helpful. When you can what's the distance between uvb light and tortoise? Also I can't tell, is there plastic between the uvb light and the enclosure? Uvb won't go thru the plastic. Try to get humidity to 80%.
Otherwise looks good.

 

[NinjaTurtle69]

Sorry I didn't even read it, I went right to the pics after reading what your concerns were. Up the uvb to 4 hours and it looks like it's too far away to be helpful. When you can what's the distance between uvb light and tortoise? Also I can't tell, is there plastic between the uvb light and the enclosure? Uvb won't go thru the plastic. Try to get humidity to 80%.
Otherwise looks good.

Yea i need to get a solarmeter 6.5 to confirm. I had it at 15" for 4 hours and the baby just burrowed soon after it came on. felt like I was hurting it, as to why it's at 24 inches (the max distance according to their website) and only for 2 hours. yes at night time there is plastic over the tub to keep humidity. During the days it's 1/4 open in the area for basking and uvb.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yea i need to get a solarmeter 6.5 to confirm. I had it at 15" for 4 hours and the baby just burrowed soon after it came on. felt like I was hurting it, as to why it's at 24 inches (the max distance according to their website) and only for 2 hours. yes at night time there is plastic over the tub to keep humidity. During the days it's 1/4 open in the area for basking and uvb.

Ideally for a baby you want humidity in the 80’s 24/7 which can only be achieved with a closed chamber set up, which you do technically have here, but I’m thinking some tweaking might get your levels reading better. You want your basking more in the 95 range.

Hopefully this housing thread I made will be useful to look through, it covers correct equipment(which you already have), levels, importance of a closed chamber for younger tortoises(only way to maintain the humidity you need), appropriately maintaining the humidity, substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything and a really handy diet link to check out! Seeing as you already have a nice pvc cover there, I’d suggest making the base bigger so it fits more snugly and maybe even raise it slightly, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better! I’m thinking your heat&humidity might be rising to the top here more than you’d like. Also not ideal having the lamps shining through the plastic panels.

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 some more closed chamber options that will hopefully come in handy come size up time

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

Hope they help!