Dry skin?

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muddled

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Hello! I have a redfoot hatchling, about 7 months, and recently I noticed the skin in his head is getting dry... not sure why, the humidity is always at around 85% and I'm pretty careful about his diet. (Hibiscus leaves, fruits, veggies, ocassional butterworm), and I try to take him outside daily so he gets sun rays plus he's got daylight/nighttime uva bulbs in his enclosure. As substrate he's got a bottom of coconut coir with a thick carpet of spaghnum moss to keep it moistured. Here's a picture of his head:

3971209358_d8d6fc1c9c_b.jpg


I'm trying to mist and soak him often to take away the dryness, but it's still there. :x Sometimes when I come back from work almost the complete head is dry. What's going on? :(
 

Candy

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Maria, I had read this post yesterday and thought someone would give you some advice but I see that hasn't happened yet. I have a Cherryhead and his head does get dry every now and then, but I just soak him. I'm not sure if it's normal what yours is doing so I posting so this thread gets back to the first page so someone hopefully more experienced then me can help you. Good luck. Your little one is adorable.:)
 

DoctorCosmonaut

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My understanding is that periodic dry skin on the head is normal. If you ever think it looks bad don't feel afraid to contact your vet however.
 

Meg90

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He looks fine to me. The babies shed skin on their heads and limbs as they grow. Its pretty normal

Did you ever get around to building your custom enclosure?
 

muddled

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Thanks guys :) What concerns me is that sometimes I get home and it looks like his whole head has been sprinkled with baby powder... REALLY white. In that pic it isn't that bad but it's been worse. I know he drinks up his water, I have a dish where he can fully soak in, I spray him and do additional soaking... and everything else looks normal though. I'm going to assume he's shedding... he's growing fast after all...

Did you ever get around to building your custom enclosure?

Haha, you remembered! I forgot I put a post here. I did :) It's a 5ft enclosure, by 2ft, and 1ft tall. I just decided to go with plexiglass in the whole front, with little caves he can hide at instead of a divided thing. He's still too small right now for it (seems lost) but when I get roomates for him he's moving! I'll take pics later
 

Neohippy

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Maybe the white is calcium build up from hard water? Long shot, but try filtered water maybe. Tort looks amazing though, I say nothing to worry about. Adorable.
 

Madkins007

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Dry skin will be flaking at the edges of the scales. White spotting can be water spots, etc.

You can apply a formula (called something like the Donahue formula from Mike Pingelton's book) of straight-line carapace length in centimeters to the third power, times 0.191 equals the expected minimum weight in grams. If your guy's weight is above this number, it is not significantly dehydrated.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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All tortoises no matter what species get dry skin and shed from time to time. As long as you know your humidity is correct and your husbandry is alright then some shedding is normal.
 

muddled

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Yup Maggie, that's why I'm boggled when I see his skin. It can't be from not having a humid enviroment? My water IS extremely hard though... I keep fish tanks, so when I test the water and the water hardness always gives me a headache. That's a possibility!

Madkins, I've never heard of that method but I'll definitively give it a go when I get home. That should answer some questions, thank you very much for the tip!
 
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