Hard bump on leg that fell off

[haileyandherman]

I noticed a hard bump on my tortoise’s hind leg about 2 weeks ago and noticed today that it fell off. It was hard and white and kinda thick. I included a picture of when I first noticed it, when I saw it fell off, the inside of the bump and what it looked like after. If anyone knows what this is please let me know and if I should take him to a vet.

 

[wellington]

I would give it a good warm soak and then pat it dry then rub in some antibiotic cream.
Whatever it is, likely caused an irritation under the skin, which then maybe it falls off.
@Yvonne G may know more.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

That is a little strange and does look a bit raw now it’s fell off, hopefully Yvonne will have more insight🙂

In the meantime I don’t suppose you’d mind giving us some more information on how the tortoise is kept/any photos of your full set up(s)? It may well come in handy when advising here😊

Do you have an indoor or outdoor set up? What size?

How are your temperatures? Ie basking spot?(directly under the bulb) overall day temps? Night temps?

What kind of lighting/heating is it you’re using? Packaging photos are helpful if you have any.

Do you use indoor uv? If so what kind?

What are you using for substrate? How’s your humidity levels?

What’s their diet been like?

Any additional info/photos would be great! Welcome to the forum🥰

 

[Chefdenoel10]

Please wash the area
Soak him for half a hour in a warm bath
And then put Neosporin on that opened wound.
Try to wrap it with that tape that sticks to itself. That will help his pain.
He is in pain you know that right?
Think of it like if you had your finger nail ripped out.
It’s painful 😣 until you put some Neosporin on it. It will get disinfected and take some of the pain away in a couple of days.
Good luck!
🍀👍
Keep us posted pleeeeeease!!!!
❤️🙏

 

[haileyandherman]

Update: I noticed these yellowish bumps on the same leg. He has an appointment for the 2nd but if anyone has any guesses as to what it is please let me know.

 

[dd33]

How long have you had him for? Where did you get him? Do you have any other tortortoises?

 

[haileyandherman]

How long have you had him for? Where did you get him? Do you have any other tortortoises?

I’ve had him for a couple months and got him at the Reptile Depot in Pennsylvania. He’s my first tortoise but I have cared for tortoises before as a zookeeper.

 

[dd33]

Calling @turtlesteve.

 

[Yvonne G]

Update: I noticed these yellowish bumps on the same leg. He has an appointment for the 2nd but if anyone has any guesses as to what it is please let me know.

That looks like austwickia. It's contagious to other reptiles. Look in the health section here for yellow bumps and read about it.

@mastershake

 

[haileyandherman]

That looks like austwickia. It's contagious to other reptiles. Look in the health section here for yellow bumps and read about it.

@mastershake

Is there any kind of treatment for that?

 

[haileyandherman]

Is there any kind of treatment for that?

Is there anything I can do until his vet appointment?

 

[dd33]

That looks like austwickia. It's contagious to other reptiles. Look in the health section here for yellow bumps and read about it.

@mastershake

It does look like austwickia but the bumps are quite a bit larger than we usually see in photos on this forum. Remember Mastershake passed away. @turtlesteve has a lot of direct experience with Austwickia and has medicated tortoises with it so he should be the go to guy for now.

@haileyandherman in order to confirm that it is Austwickia your vet would need to submit tissue samples to the lab at the University of Florida. This will likely cost you several hundred dollars and any treatment is still experimental at this point. https://cdpm.vetmed.ufl.edu/services/zmdxlab/available-tests/chelonian-tests-and-panels/#keys

 

[turtlesteve]

I would suspect Austwickia. We do not normally see older tortoises with this disease (usually it shows up in hatchlings) so it’s possible that larger bumps would be normal for a larger tortoise.

For diagnosis you would have to remove one of the bumps and send it to the lab in UF for biopsy. You can possibly have your local vet do it or you can reach out to them and see if they will accept a sample from you directly. Dr. Ossiboff may be able to give guidance by email:

Robert J Ossiboff » College of Veterinary Medicine » University of Florida

I am a board certified veterinary anatomic pathologist, virologist, and molecular diagnostician with a primary professional focus on increasing the breadth and depth of knowledge of diseases of wildlife with special emphasis on reptiles and amphibians. Through a combined understanding of the...

www.vetmed.ufl.edu

In this thread, I have described a very experimental treatment that was used on leopard tortoises with the disease. I still have all 6 of these leopards and there has been no sign of recurrence since treatment.

Austwickia chelonae - New Information & What to do if you see it

OK guys. During the past year I have observed/treated tortoises with Austwickia and documented the results. I have also discussed this disease with several veterinarians at this point and it's time for a data dump. General information on the disease: 1. The "yellow bump" disease is caused...

tortoiseforum.org

Keep in mind most reptile vets have not heard of this disease let alone any treatment paths. So getting diagnosis from a local vet will be difficult and they may resist prescribing oral antibiotics as this treatment approach is unorthodox for reptiles.