Help. plastron concave on one side

Wendy Proulx

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I think I have taken on more than I know how to handle with this little baby. My yellow foot male tortoise should be about 6 months old now. I have him in cypress mulch and soil mixture with UVB and heat lamps and a CHE. His tank is around 85 degrees and with the help of a humidifier I keep him enclosure between 70-75% humidity. He gets daily soaks. He has places to hide in a log and moss and many weeds that grow in his enclosure to eat at will. I feed him a mixture of red lettuce, turnip greens, dandelions and clovers. I add cucumbers, squash, mushrooms, eggs, mango, papaya in a rotation. He does not like the calcium powder and will occasionally mix some marazi diet in as well. I thought I finally knew what I was doing, but this morning I noticed that his Plastron is concave on one side!!!! It was always a little from the day I got him, but it is really obvious now. It doesn’t feel soft or have any evidence of shell rot. He seems to be mostly himself thou, but I’m really concerned that I am doing something really wrong. Please help!
 

Baoh

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Soak him in water 2" deep for two hours and see if it pops back out. Refresh as needed if fouled during this process. If your room temp is 70ish or so, you do not have to be concerned with cooling for this process.
 

MysticCaribou

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That sounds very scary. Why don't you post some photos so the experts on here might be able to help.
 

wellington

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Males plastrons do get concaved as they mature. Do they always concave evenly, I have no idea. I do know my one male leopard is not as concaved on one side as the other and neither side is as concaved as my other male of same age.
 

Bambam1989

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Males plastrons do get concaved as they mature. Do they always concave evenly, I have no idea. I do know my one male leopard is not as concaved on one side as the other and neither side is as concaved as my other male of same age.
Is there anyway you could demonstrate this with a picture? I've heard it mentioned before but have yet to see a good example[emoji3]
 

Wendy Proulx

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8BD14D4E-ECC8-4428-83AB-D1FDA6609940.jpeg AE0354D5-BA36-4BDB-8B71-7C4E528E84E2.jpeg Unfortunately I didn’t take pics at the time and it is now back to normal. I’m so confused what could have caused this. This is what he looks like now
 

wellington

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Is there anyway you could demonstrate this with a picture? I've heard it mentioned before but have yet to see a good example[emoji3]
I have tried to take a pic. It doesn't show good on my torts. I only have my phone camera to use.
If you google pictures of concaved tortoises you should be able to see some.
 

zovick

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View attachment 224927 View attachment 224928 Unfortunately I didn’t take pics at the time and it is now back to normal. I’m so confused what could have caused this. This is what he looks like now

The plastron looks fine now. Just FYI, you will not see (normal) plastral concavity in a male tortoise at 6 months of age. The plastron should appear flat as it does in your photos until the tortoise reaches puberty or even more. That is probably more like at 3-4 years of age or so in Redfoots. Someone who works with Redfoots may correct me if that is wrong. I don't see plastral concavity in my Radiated males until they are 8-10 inches in length or more and 4-5 years old.
 

Yvonne G

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Did you soak the baby as Baoh suggested? If so, good call, Baoh!
 
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