Hello to all, I have a question!

[PatMicklewaite]

I wish I were joining under better circumstances but my greek torto is having some issues. He's had what appears to be an injury on his plastron for a while, the vet said it doesn't look like shell rot but isn't sure what it is. Vet's advice was to soak him every day first in warm water, then warm salt water (1 tablespoon salt/1 pint water) then apply silver sulfadiazine cream (1%) and do this every day for 30 days. To keep him from getting substrate in the cream I put a bandage over it once it's been on for a minute or so.

I've been doing this for almost a week now. My tort never liked to be handled so I expected he'd get frustrated with the routine. But I think he's taking issue with the cream. Side effects are itching/burning/irritation and he's basically been going mental, trying to bury himself, moving his food plate to hide under, shoving his log hide, all around freak out behavior.

I feel terrible but I also want him to get better. He's definitely stressed and I've been doing my best to make the soaks as comfortable as possible. I don't want him to hurt himself either by getting stuck during one of his tirades.

Other than that he is eating, pooping, and peeing and he's clearly not lethargic. I just feel terrible. And I also feel like I made a big mistake not noticing the problem. I may have been too hands off with him and now it's hands on every night plus obvious discomfort from the cream. I'm keeping tabs on each days' progress, there appears to be improvement but I don't know.

I apologize if any of my language is inappropriate, I don't think I used any swears but I'm generally a potty mouth so I'll just apologize in advance if any snuck through.

 

[wellington]

Welcome. We can't help without seeing what your talking about. Please post a pic of the area and enclosure and give a run down of the care. Include as much as possible. Heat, humidity, types of lights, heat, etc.
For now, until you get us a pic stop all the vet said as far as salt water soaks and the med cream. Unfortunately the vets are wrong a lot of the time with tortoises and I'm not sure why s/he is treating something that they don't even know what it is.

 

[daniellenc]

Yeah salt water would dry the shell out and that cream is overkill. Pictures needed for sure. If it’s a fungal infection the cream wouldn’t even work and if it’s an old injury it probably doesn’t need to be treated.

 

[PatMicklewaite]

I'm not able to add pictures at the moment. The vet said it looked more like an injury but me not knowing specifics he couldn't make a clear diagnosis so that part is my own fault (he is actually a vet listed on this forum: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/california.29669/)

Substrate has primarily been coconut coir and soil, not entirely sure on humidity but temps under his basking lamp run 85-90 and the rest is room temp usually mild, I live in SoCal.

He definitely needs more time in real sunlight, which I'm also working on. Hopefully this helps, sorry I don't have the pics where I'm at right now =/

 

[PatMicklewaite]

It doesn't show signs of a fungal infection, no smell, secretion, it's dry but like a chunk of shell came off at some point I'm not sure. He's otherwise fine in terms of eating pooping and peeing, just really aggitated

 

[PatMicklewaite]

I got pictures to work!

For reference the white stuff is the cream. This was pre soak and that is not something he produced himself it is generally dry shell hard to the touch. This is the best pic I have rn

 

[Bambam1989]

Do you use a heat rock by chance my?

 

[PatMicklewaite]

Do you use a heat rock by chance my?

No just a lamp from above, it gets pretty hot in the summertime especially so I don't add extra heat other than a basking light

 

[daniellenc]

A pic sans cream will be more helpful to assess if it’s an old healing injury.

 

[PatMicklewaite]

A pic sans cream will be more helpful to assess if it’s an old healing injury.

Here is a new pic. It looks to be peeling now, which is new so I’m going to stop the silver sulfadiazine cream.

 

[katieandiggy]

Does it seem to be getting bigger or has it remained the same size?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi, and welcome!!

First off, I think that's a Russian, not a Greek.

Secondly, I'm pretty sure that USED to be shell rot, but is now healed. I would stop the silver sulfadene - not sure that works on fungus anyway - and scrub it clean with a toothbrush. Dry it well, then dab on some athlete foot cream. You don't have to plaster it on, just a light coating. I'm fairly sure it's all healed up and the cream isn't needed, but it's just an "in case" effort, in case there's still some fungus left in there. But scrub it good with soap and water (or chlorhexidine) to make sure to have it extra clean, before applying the athlete foot cream.

 

[PatMicklewaite]

Does it seem to be getting bigger or has it remained the same size?

Since the cream it has remained the same, only applied it for about a week and I’ve stopped and he’s a little grumpy but not nearly as crazed as before

 

[PatMicklewaite]

Hi, and welcome!!

First off, I think that's a Russian, not a Greek.

Secondly, I'm pretty sure that USED to be shell rot, but is now healed. I would stop the silver sulfadene - not sure that works on fungus anyway - and scrub it clean with a toothbrush. Dry it well, then dab on some athlete foot cream. You don't have to plaster it on, just a light coating. I'm fairly sure it's all healed up and the cream isn't needed, but it's just an "in case" effort, in case there's still some fungus left in there. But scrub it good with soap and water (or chlorhexidine) to make sure to have it extra clean, before applying the athlete foot cream.

Yeah I also am not sure if he’s Russian or Greek. I was told he’s Greek from the person I acquired him from. Russians seem a bit bigger but I’m no expert. I’ll try the athletes foot cream