Grooves in shell

[ceasar]

Please help! I've Sprinkles for about two weeks - Sprinkles showed up after a bad rain storm. I noticed a groove that runs lengthwise down the middle of the shell, from head to tail, another smaller one, just behind the head, on the left side. I've included a photo that illustrates. What is this and how serious is this condition? Thank you all for input!

 

[wellington]

I don't see anything to worry about. Btw, have you read Toms threads at the bottom of my post for raising healthy, smooth sulcatas.

 

[ceasar]

Yes, I've gone through each one and know the importance of Heat & Humidity for tortoises!! I also recognize your posts, wellington...thank you for the quick reply! i can breathe easy now.

 

[Yvonne G]

It is sometimes hard to tell baby tortoises apart because they all look so similar to each other, but my gut tells me that you have a baby desert tortoise, not a sulcata. I may be wrong. And your baby looks quite dry. One of the reasons those new growth lines are not evenly distributed along all the scute seams is because the baby is being kept too dry.

 

[wellington]

Ah, after reading Yvonne's post, he does look more like a desert tortoise, as sulcatas seem to all have bigger leg spurs.

 

[mikeh]

The line in the middle of the shell running the entire length is spine bone under the scutes and is normal.

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The grove in the left front scute is normal as well, all kinds of indentations are seen in hatchlings scutes and will not effect proper shell growth if the animal is raised in proper conditions.
The little deformity seen on the side where carapace and plastron meet is where the shell was folded inside the egg and is again normal.

I concur, it looks like a desert tort. Front view picture would help with confirmation.

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