Flakey skin

[reptylefreek]

I know tortoises in general have some what flakey skin but if im slightly concerned about it is there any vitamins or supplements that will help. Since it's winter my leopard has a pretty constant diet of spring mix and some cactus here and there. When i received her in Sept you could tell she was suffering from MBD so she gets calcium everyday to every two days and also gets vita supplement almost as often. She probably doesnt get enough humidity because of how dry it is where i live but im working on that. Any suggestions...

 

[terracolson]

no answers huh?..... any one?

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Well, I am NOT an expert and this is NOT advice, because it may be considered wrong or unhealthy, but when Taco had what seemed to be excessively dry skin on her little head, I got out some plain Vaseline petroleum jelly and used a Qtip to gently apply a thin layer on the top of her head.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I would never put any product on my tort besides water. I don't know of anything that can help naturally flaky skin besides humidity and regular soaking (and torts will always shed even with that). A moist substrate is ideal to create humidity at the substrate level. Not much you can do besides a humidifier at the ambient level, and with a dry substrate that wouldn't do much at the tort's level anyways.

I would worry about vitamin supplements as I find it nearly impossible to know a correct dose to give. Also, some are fat soluble and the tort can OD on them. Pure calcium with UVB (or sun) is what I'd use. My opinion though. Natural stuff like Total Nutrition for Tortoises from Carolina Pet Supply would be what I'd recommend if you feel the need to use something in addition to a balanced diet (ground up natural weeds). Depending on the age, and with suspected MBD (has she seen a vet for it?), what about daily calcium? For a hatchling/juvenile daily would not hurt as long as it is pure calcium, no D3 added. Pure calcium is water soluble.

As for diet I bet you could do a little better than spring mix and cactus. What about adding to the spring mix a rotation of greens such as dandelion, turnip, collard, mustard, etc? Also, any lettuces that aren't listed on the spring mix package. Squash/pumpkin and a good commercial diet such as Mazuri or ZooMed as a small part of the diet is also great for variety (like less than 10%). You can also try growing weeds and greens even in trays indoors. The little sprouts make a great salad topping.

Best wishes.

 

[reptylefreek]

Thanks for the advice