help with uneven shell growth

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Breezy

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I would appreciate any advice about my little guys uneven shell growth. After doing a lot of reading on here I have been doing Emysemsy trick of massaging mineral oil into the shell to help moisturize the shell and help unstick the scoots. I started about a month ago and haven't noticed any differance. Is there anything else I could try to help even out his growth? He does have old shell damage from before he came to me. Thanks for any help.

Hope the pictures help, I had to add the last one because he made it so clear that his was done with picture time!
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robopeen

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Is it possible that it was uneven before, when he was damaged and now it's evening out? I really had no idea. Take this as a bump, hopefully someone with more knowledge can answer.
 

biochemnerd808

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Give it some time. My male came to me with some really wacky shell growth, it was asymmetrical and uneven, and it actually got worse before it started getting better. Our vet once said that in reptiles, everything happens slowly, both the good and the bad. So if your tortoise is now getting good food and light and water, it might continue the uneven growth for a bit, and then start growing normally. Our Roz's uneven growth first stopped growing asymmetrically, and the other side kind of caught up, then he started growing evenly all around each scute.

My guess is that the cause was 'before your time' and things will just take some time to even out. Roz has been with me since 2010, and he is just NOW starting to show regular growth.

I use coconut oil, rather than mineral oil - just because I prefer to put something plant based on the tortoise, instead of something derived from fossil fuel... and once growth normalizes, I prefer to put nothing on there, except water. Then again, emysemys has WAY more experience than I do, so I don't want to contradict anything. :)

One quick question: have you double checked the temperature right in the hottest spot under the heat lamp? I thought my temps were all good a few years ago, and then to my shock found that the hottest spot was getting to 120 degrees F.... that can hinder normal growth, too.
 

ascott

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I see a beautiful tort....are you referring to the short scute? That is just his fingerprint so to speak :D There are full scutes, split scutes ...all variations of each as well.....I am sure your tort enjoys the rub downs, and if you catch him in the mood he may actually give you a show....lol :p

Your tort is perfect, for you see---while there are normals for each species, no two are the exact same...so if I were you, I would not be worried...
 

Breezy

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Thank you all for the help and support. I'm guess I'm just a worried momma! It's good to know it really could take years for things to even out, I will continue to keep an eye on it but will just relax and let it happen. I will try the coconut oil though, thanks for the suggestion.
 
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