Desert Tortoise shell

[Smallrhino]

Tortoise Forum help me out. I have a 13 year old female DT. She came out of hibernation with a peculiar spot on one of her scutes. It's the size of a sharpie dot and dark in color (black). No other charactistic signs. Her behavior and personality have been completely her norm. Except I think she's more social than ever before (pass years). I treated it with some antifungal soap for a month or so with no character change. Her hibernation was uninterrupted and normal. I'm becoming a little nervous because I want it resolved before she goes back into hibernation in 3-4 months.

 

[wellington]

That is almost perfectly round, like someone stamped her with a pencil eraser.
Have you tried picking at it to see if that area is soft or normally hard like the rest of the area?
Has it gotten bigger?
You could try antifungal cream, I wouldn't use a soap. Cream like OTC athletes foot cream or could even try an antibiotic cream like neosporin.
I don't think it's really anything to worry about but let's see what Yvonne thinks.
@Yvonne G

 

[Sarah2020]

It looks like black pigment as the shell is on top. What do the other scutes look like are they all yellow.

 

[Smallrhino]

Good morning. Yes, it is perfectly round. I sent a sample to the lab and it came back inconclusive. I didn't want to continue to scrape (pick) at it and cause additional damage. (Not to mention she's my heart. The hospital really stresses her out.) Using any type of antifungal cream would be a weaker strength of the same ingredients of the srub. Not to mention it allotted me to medically intervene without the risk if UV damage from her sunning. The spot is round and dark with no other charactistics. I'm stumped. If this forum can't help her, I'm going to take her to a facility up North and let them look at her. Again my fear is her going back into hibernation without this resolved. She is the most social DT that I have ever owned. Her personality is way outside the norm.
Also note, all other labs were within normal limits, including fecal.

 

[Tom]

I would just leave it alone. There is no "round dark spot" disease that I've ever heard of, and if all else is normal, I'd leave it be.

 

[Smallrhino]

(Smiling) Trust me I'm trying to leave it alone. She's fine,... But what if? I should take a picture,... Is it bigger today,... She'll be okay,... I just don't want,... How about,... I should take a picture of it today,... I'm not going to worry about it,... It looks like its getting smaller,... Let me take another picture,... It still looks the same,... Is it shiny? I wonder if it hurts,... She'll be fine,...Sigh. 😖

 

[Sarah2020]

Some us have tortoises with unique shell features, I would leave it alone as mentioned. No harm to monitor but if it black pigment it will increase as your tortoise grows. Just accept you have a tortoise with a unique black spot.