Help regarding concave shute on my Leopard Tortoise

[Max57!]

Hello everybody! Me and my girlfriend recently bought a leopard tortoise called Ingeborg. We bought her from a pet store in Sweden, which in hindsight after finding this forum might not been the smartest idea due to the uncertainty of how she was raised. However, now that we have her, we want to give her the best life possible. We’ve had her for a week now and she has been sleeping alot and also not eating very much. To find a reason for this we found this forum and realised alot of the research we had done was based on old information. One example was we first only had a humid hide for her. But we have now implemented higher humidity for her and also always keeping the temps above 80. Might be early to say but we feel like she has been much more active and also eats more after these changes. The thing we were wondering about is her shell. It appears that the scutes are a little concave. We tried searching the forum and online to see if someone else had a similar question that already had been answered but we could not find any. Any help and recommendations for new tortoise owners are very welcome.

We are also not entirely sure about here age since the store said she was a 24/25 hatchling. But she weighs 72 grams and has a lenght of about 4 inches.

Once again, thanks for any help in advance

 

[COmtnLady]

I know you want answers about the dented side of your tortoise, but could you please post pictures of her from all angles? And pictures of her enclosure. It helps to see how she lives and if there are other possible problems. Pictures along the damaged side, front to back and back to front, level with her head, would be helpful. Actually both sides like that would give perspective. And plastron.

Tortoises need time to adjust to new situations. Its good that you are making her a warmer and more humid environment. Give her another week to get comfortable before you get concerned about her eating.

The shell looks like traumatic damage to me, but I am not an expert. Let's see what some of the more experienced members say about it.

@Yvonne G , @Tom, @zovick

 

[wellington]

I can't really see what you are asking about with the pic you posted. But I can tell she was started poorly and you need to get her into a closed chamber enclosure asap with 80% humidity.

 

[Tom]

View attachment 392713Hello everybody! Me and my girlfriend recently bought a leopard tortoise called Ingeborg. We bought her from a pet store in Sweden, which in hindsight after finding this forum might not been the smartest idea due to the uncertainty of how she was raised. However, now that we have her, we want to give her the best life possible. We’ve had her for a week now and she has been sleeping alot and also not eating very much. To find a reason for this we found this forum and realised alot of the research we had done was based on old information. One example was we first only had a humid hide for her. But we have now implemented higher humidity for her and also always keeping the temps above 80. Might be early to say but we feel like she has been much more active and also eats more after these changes. The thing we were wondering about is her shell. It appears that the scutes are a little concave. We tried searching the forum and online to see if someone else had a similar question that already had been answered but we could not find any. Any help and recommendations for new tortoise owners are very welcome.

We are also not entirely sure about here age since the store said she was a 24/25 hatchling. But she weighs 72 grams and has a lenght of about 4 inches.

Once again, thanks for any help in advance

What you are doing is what needs to be done. Not much you can do about the previous growth. It looks like this tortoise was grown slowly and underfed. In your humid enclosure, with daily soaks and a good diet, growth should pick up and the tortoise will be fine.

 

[COmtnLady]

FYI - The next time you change the substrate (or sooner) get orchid or fir bark to replace the coconut fiber stuff you have now. Those fibers are too tough, don't digest but do get swallowed, and can build up and cause intestinal blockage problems.

 

[Max57!]

Thanks for the help everybody. We will follow Tom’s guide on how to properly raise her. It is just such a shame that there is so much misinformation out there and that the pet stores still teach them. I will not make excuses for our ignorance but I feel that it is very easy to blindly trust them if you have not dealt with pets before. But once again, thanks for all the help and great info on this forum and we will return if any other questions ever arises.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum from Finland!

 

[Ink]

Welcome to the forum, pretty leopard

 

[Yvonne G]

Nice picture. It's easy to see the indented scutes on her profile. With the changes you're making this shouldn't be a problem and will be taken care of.