Help please

[TuckTheTurtle]

Hi every one. I am new here, And also a new tortoise owner. I have a russian tortoise that I bought from a pet store about 2 weeks ago.. not sure if it's a male or female and don't know the age. The pet store couldn't give me any info on my little tort. I noticed something about his shell when I got him/her. I'll post a pic Can someone tell me if it is shell Rot or if you have any idea what it could be. Thanks alot

 

[dmmj]

Greetings! & welcome to the forum.
Are we talking about the top of the shell?

 

[TuckTheTurtle]

Greetings! & welcome to the forum.
Are we talking about the top of the shell?

Yes. Not sure if you can tell in the pic But the tort has small white spots and it's quiet bumpy

 

[Monty0-0Python]

For the gender, you might need to post some pictures of the bottom of your tortoise, and of its tail. The small white spots and bumps might be from metabolic bone disease (MBD), which is caused by the tortoise not having enough calcium. However, the spots might be shell rot, which happens when the shell isn’t allowed to dry out enough. It could be something else, so I’d suggest googling it and doing as much research as you can.

 

[Yvonne G]

This looks like a fairly young, captive born Russian tortoise, and is probably not big enough yet to know the gender. The shell looks perfectly normal to me. When you see shell rot, it will be on the bottom shell (plastron). It is mainly caused by sitting in too wet substrate, or substrate that is soaked in urine and feces. Your tortoise's shell looks perfectly fine to me.

The 'bumpiness' is merely growth spurts, and if I'm seeing the same white that you are, it may be hard water stains, but it may be nothing.

 

[TuckTheTurtle]

This looks like a fairly young, captive born Russian tortoise, and is probably not big enough yet to know the gender. The shell looks perfectly normal to me. When you see shell rot, it will be on the bottom shell (plastron). It is mainly caused by sitting in too wet substrate, or substrate that is soaked in urine and feces. Your tortoise's shell looks perfectly fine to me.

The 'bumpiness' is merely growth spurts, and if I'm seeing the same white that you are, it may be hard water stains, but it may be nothing.

Thanks so much for your reply. I don't know alot about Russians I've been doing alot of research, And I've read alot about Russians mostly being wild caught and could come with all kinds of problems.and that they are more than likely full grown , 6-10 years old.. i dont know .. I've seen alot of pics on differences between male and female and they say the male has longer tails that curl to the side. My tort has a small but pointy tail ,it does not curl to the side. When I chose the tort he was in a cage with 2 other torts that were much bigger. He eats great and is active. I was just a little worried about his shell I want him to be happy and healthy

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Shell looks fine to me.

 

[katieandiggy]

Normal Russian shell, they often have slightly bumpy shells