Flared Scutes in Russian Tortoise

[Libflan]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to this forum, and new to being a tortoise owner so go easy on me .
I got bean my Russian Tortoise in November, she is 6 and a half months old and I'm having issues with her rear scutes. They're flaring up pretty badly and I'm worried it's stunted her growth at the back.
I want to start by saying she didn't have this issue when I got her, so it's definitely something I'm doing that's caused this.
For the first month, I mainly fed her dandelions, hawksbeard and the red pellets you can buy from a pet store I took her to the vets for a check up a month ago and the vet said she seemed very healthy, and we were doing everything correctly - but to cut out the pellets as they're too high in protein.

So this month I've been feeding her dandelions every other day, and plantain, hawksbeard, watercress (every two weeks), pansy, aloe vera as a treat, prickly pear and some other weeds which are safe on the tortoise table. I also use a sprinkle of the vertak calcium and multivitamin powder daily.

She's pooping and peeing fine. She doesn't seem to have any urate in her pee - is this bad?

I'm pretty sure the issue is still getting worse, so I'm lost as to what I'm doing wrong. And I'm now worried about the damage I've done to her and I'm pretty heartbroken about it. What are the main causes of flaring? Protein? Or could I be overfeeding her too?

For reference:
- Her substrate is coco coir and top soil (organic), she's in a tortoise table which is approximately 2 square metres in size.
- Her lighting is a 50w halogen heat bulb which reaches 32 degrees, and a 12% arcadia UVB bulb. It's on a 12 hour cycle. She has a warm and cool side
- Her humidity is around 80% at night, but does drop between 50-60% during the day. I have put spaghnum moss in her little cave to keep her humidity up.
- I bathe her every day, and she has fresh water in her enclosure every day.
- I feed her every morning and leave the food in for the whole day, and she's pretty greedy so eats it all up. She also has a spider plant and another safe succulent on her enclosure she loves to nibble on.
- Her routine is great, she's very active and loves to climb and is very curious.

The first photo I've attached is when I got her
The second photo is in December when the flaring started
The third photo is now
The fourth is of her whole shell
The fifth is a close up of her flaring
The sixth is how much I feed her everyday
The last one is of her enclosure (this is the most recent image I have, I'm aware there is forest bark in this one, but since I took the photo this has been changed)

Any help will be greatly appreciated
Thank you so much in advance

 

[Ink]

@jsheffield should be able to help you. Cute tortoise.

 

[Libflan]

@jsheffield should be able to help you. Cute tortoise

Thank you - she's just the sweetest

 

[Ink]

What is the multivitamin? I thought I read moss, sorry if I'm wrong

 

[Libflan]

Remove the moss. It can cause an impaction.

Okay I will, thank you

 

[Yvonne G]

Let me start off by complementing you on your enclosure and dedication. I'm not sure what is causing the flaring, but it may be that halogen bulb. For heat most of us use either a ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat or a radiant heat panel.

 

[jsheffield]

I don't think that her shell looks like a problem. I live with five Russians, from three different sub-species, and their shells all differ to some extent.

The environmental and care conditions generally sound good.

I mainly feed my Russians greens, with an occasional bit of butternut squash, and a little softened Mazuri kibble as a "dressing". It's possible the "red pellets" you mentioned were more for turtles, and had a much higher protein level, but since you've stopped feeding that, it shouldn't be a problem (or at least isn't one you can do anything further about).

I think you're doing essentially what you're supposed to... go back and re-read Tom's guide to temperate tortoises:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

If you've providing adequate heat and humidity and UV and food and water and soaking and room for them to exercise, then you can probably assume that they'll be OK... torts are really tough creatures.

Keep asking questions, and keep trying to improve your care regimen by a little bit each day and week and month.

Jamie

 

[Libflan]

I don't think that her shell looks like a problem. I live with five Russians, from three different sub-species, and their shells all differ to some extent.

The environmental and care conditions generally sound good.

I mainly feed my Russians greens, with an occasional bit of butternut squash, and a little softened Mazuri kibble as a "dressing". It's possible the "red pellets" you mentioned were more for turtles, and had a much higher protein level, but since you've stopped feeding that, it shouldn't be a problem (or at least isn't one you can do anything further about).

I think you're doing essentially what you're supposed to... go back and re-read Tom's guide to temperate tortoises:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

If you've providing adequate heat and humidity and UV and food and water and soaking and room for them to exercise, then you can probably assume that they'll be OK... torts are really tough creatures.

Keep asking questions, and keep trying to improve your care regimen by a little bit each day and week and month.

Jamie

Jamie thank you so much for taking the time to reply, and thanks for the helpful information! You've relieved my anxiety massively

 

[Libflan]

What is the multivitamin? I thought I read moss, sorry if I'm wrong

It's the vertak combination one, which has calcium and various other minerals.
I did mention moss you're right, not for her to eat, I was told it helps raise humidity, so I put some in her cave where she sleeps.

 

[Libflan]

Let me start off by complementing you on your enclosure and dedication. I'm not sure what is causing the flaring, but it may be that halogen bulb. For heat most of us use either a ceramic heat emitter on a thermostat or a radiant heat panel.

Thanks Yvonne, means a lot!
Oooh okay, I'll look into this thanks!

 

[jaizei]

For the first month, I mainly fed her dandelions, hawksbeard and the red pellets you can buy from a pet store I took her to the vets for a check up a month ago and the vet said she seemed very healthy, and we were doing everything correctly - but to cut out the pellets as they're too high in protein.

Was it the Komodo pellets? A lot of veterinarians will reflexively say that pellet foods are too high in protein without taking the differences in the various brands into account, so I'd take it with a grain of salt.

 

[zolasmum]

Hello from Devon. I see you live in Bristol, and I am very impressed that you give your little one prickly pear -I've been trying to get some to feed Zola ( Hermanns - aged 22 )Please could you tell me where you got it from -we are a long way from Bristol, but I could at least check it out.Or did you pull a bit off someone's indoor plant?
Bean looks lovely, and is obviously a lucky tortoise.
Best wishes from Angie

 

[TammyJ]

Does she get soaked? Where is her pool? That's a beautiful enclosure.

 

[thegangof5]

Hello from Devon. I see you live in Bristol, and I am very impressed that you give your little one prickly pear -I've been trying to get some to feed Zola ( Hermanns - aged 22 )Please could you tell me where you got it from -we are a long way from Bristol, but I could at least check it out.Or did you pull a bit off someone's indoor plant?
Bean looks lovely, and is obviously a lucky tortoise.
Best wishes from Angie

You can buy it off ebay /the tortoise hut. I grow my own as it grows very quickly. You can buy one plant with a few sections on it, break the sections off and then put them into some soil indoors too, amd they will grow and have babies, and uou can gave an endless supply by breaking a section off each time to grow

 

[Libflan]

Does she get soaked? Where is her pool? That's a beautiful enclosure.

You can't see it but her poor is behind the wood in the middle. I bathe her daily too
Thank you!

 

[Libflan]

Hello from Devon. I see you live in Bristol, and I am very impressed that you give your little one prickly pear -I've been trying to get some to feed Zola ( Hermanns - aged 22 )Please could you tell me where you got it from -we are a long way from Bristol, but I could at least check it out.Or did you pull a bit off someone's indoor plant?
Bean looks lovely, and is obviously a lucky tortoise.
Best wishes from Angie

Hello Angie I bought mine for 3 pound from a garden centre near me! I propagated the offcuts and repotted in organic soil. The garden centre is called 'cadbury garden centre'

Thanks for your kind words

 

[Libflan]

Was it the Komodo pellets? A lot of veterinarians will reflexively say that pellet foods are too high in protein without taking the differences in the various brands into account, so I'd take it with a grain of salt.

Yeah it was the dandelion flavoured ones. She absolutely loved them, but she was gaining a lot of weight quickly, so it was put down to protein intake.

I think I was just overfeeding her though

Thank you

 

[TammyJ]

Yeah it was the dandelion flavoured ones. She absolutely loved them, but she was gaining a lot of weight quickly, so it was put down to protein intake.

I think I was just overfeeding her though

Thank you

The only way you can overfeed any tortoise is by giving the wrong diet and/or too small an enclosure, I think .

 

[Karen(pebbles)]

Hi and welcome to the forum, which part of Bristol are you from? X