Indian Star - Shell Rot??

[Slacky]

Hi All,

New to the Tortoise Forum.

I have a question if ok, could any one please advise if the brown patches in the photos attached are shell rot or scute shedding?? Iam unsure if I need to treat it or not.

Our Star is nearly 4 years old so still a baby. Weve never seen this before or never really had any issues with her.

Just wanted to catch it early before it get worse if it is rot. What would be the best treatment?? She looks fine from what i can see underneath. Also if it is shedding is there anything that could be used to help with the process.

Any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks

Kind regards

 

[COmtnLady]

Welcome to the forum!

Someone who knows Stars will be along soon to answer your questions.

 

[Slacky]

Welcome to the forum!

Someone who knows Stars will be along soon to answer your questions.

Thanks COmtnLady

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Maybe @Tom can help you

 

[Slacky]

Ive placed some iodine on it for now, it seems a little tender for her

 

[Markw84]

It is not shell rot - Indian Stars are pretty resistant to that and I've never heard of it on the carapace.
Tortoises do not shed their scutes. They retain them for life.

I would treat with cold pressed coconut oil. You can also use Vasoline. Simply rub on with a cloth over the entire shell. Apply this every other week. It is good for their shell and helps keep the keratin healthy.

 

[Slacky]

Thank you bro thats reassuring to know, I'll give that a go , glad it could not rot, was a bit worried for her there

 

[Tom]

Hi All,

New to the Tortoise Forum.

I have a question if ok, could any one please advise if the brown patches in the photos attached are shell rot or scute shedding?? Iam unsure if I need to treat it or not.

Our Star is nearly 4 years old so still a baby. Weve never seen this before or never really had any issues with her.

Just wanted to catch it early before it get worse if it is rot. What would be the best treatment?? She looks fine from what i can see underneath. Also if it is shedding is there anything that could be used to help with the process.

Any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks

Kind regards

We need to know how you are housing this tortoise.
What size enclosure?
What type of enclosure?
What substrate?
What heating and lighting equipment?
What are your four temps? Warm side, cool side, basking area, and overnight low?
What is the ambient humidity?

 

[Slacky]

We need to know how you are housing this tortoise.
What size enclosure?
What type of enclosure?
What substrate?
What heating and lighting equipment?
What are your four temps? Warm side, cool side, basking area, and overnight low?
What is the ambient humidity?

Substrate is Exo Terra Bark on top of Tortoise Soil, Slate for Basking Area.

5ft x 2ft enclosure (solid oak all around lined out with 6mm glass with sliding glass front)
Warm side (Middle)is 26C
Basking is 33C
Cool area (far end) is 22-23C
Night time around 19-20C
Lighting is a D3+ Dragon Lamp T5 24W (12" above top of her shell) 14hrs per day
250W ceramic bulb with heat guard controlled with an Inkbird.

Daily water changes
Bathed for 15-20mins 3 times per week
Earth Pro, CalciumMg and VitD supplements

She's fed fresh Florette Lettuce and spring greens from Asda Daily, once per week a 10mm slice of Butternut squash without outer skin or half a bell pepper with greens. Once per month she will have 2 grapes with her greens. Obvs Starve days in her diet plan too

She flat refuses to eat anything dry, even if you starve her a couple of days to try and encourage her, just wont have it.

Hope this helps bro

 

[Tom]

Substrate is Exo Terra Bark on top of Tortoise Soil, Slate for Basking Area.

5ft x 2ft enclosure (solid oak all around with sliding glass front)
Warm side (Middle)is 26C
Basking is 33C
Cool area (far end) is 22-23C
Night time around 19-20C
Lighting is a D3+ Dragon Lamp T5 24W

Daily water changes
Bathed for 15-20mins 3 times per week
Earth Pro, CalciumMg and VitD supplements

She's fed fresh Florette Lettuce and spring greens from Asda Daily, once per week a 10mm slice of Butternut squash without outer skin or half a bell pepper with greens. Once per month she will have 2 grapes with her greens. Obvs Starve days in her diet plan too

She flat refuses to eat anything dry, even if you starve her a couple of days to try and encourage her, just wont have it.

Hope this helps bro

This gives us some insight. Your temperatures are much too cool for this species. No part of the enclosure should ever drop below 27C, day or night. Basking area should be around 37C directly under the bulb at tortoise shell height. It is best if ambient in the whole enclosure rises to 30-33C during the day and then drops back down to 27C over night.

What type of bulb are you using for basking? Is it a flood or a spot? It should be a flood, and you check the temperature under it by laying a digital thermometer on its back directly under the bulb at tortoise shell height and letting it bake for an hour. Adjust the height of the bulb or the wattage to get the temperature right around 37C at the same height as the tortoise's shell.

All tortoises are reluctant to eat foods they haven't eaten before. Few tortoises want to eat dried foods when they aren't used to that. New foods of any kind need to be introduced gradually over time by adding in small amounts.

Check out this thread for all sorts of helpful tips including what and how to feed, and how to do all the lighting and heating. Questions are welcome:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

This one too:

The Best Way To Raise A Sulcata, Leopard, Or Star Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. Babies hatch during the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Slacky]

Thanks Tom,

I'll try jig the set up about to suit then. Could I ask what your views are regarding the brown patches on the shell are??

Thanks

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Substrate is Exo Terra Bark on top of Tortoise Soil, Slate for Basking Area.

5ft x 2ft enclosure (solid oak all around lined out with 6mm glass with sliding glass front)
Warm side (Middle)is 26C
Basking is 33C
Cool area (far end) is 22-23C
Night time around 19-20C
Lighting is a D3+ Dragon Lamp T5 24W (12" above top of her shell) 14hrs per day
250W ceramic bulb with heat guard controlled with an Inkbird.

Daily water changes
Bathed for 15-20mins 3 times per week
Earth Pro, CalciumMg and VitD supplements

She's fed fresh Florette Lettuce and spring greens from Asda Daily, once per week a 10mm slice of Butternut squash without outer skin or half a bell pepper with greens. Once per month she will have 2 grapes with her greens. Obvs Starve days in her diet plan too

She flat refuses to eat anything dry, even if you starve her a couple of days to try and encourage her, just wont have it.

Hope this helps bro

Hello! Just a quick note: Arcadia Dragon lamps should be at 21-24" above substrate. At 12 inches UV levels are dangerously high (if you use Arcadia ProT5 kit with a reflector). Also, you can keep the UVB lamp on for just 4-6 hours a day.

 

[COmtnLady]

The spots are where new growth intersects. You said you put iodine on it, was it brown before you did that? Iodine tends to kill everything it touches, the good and bad cells. Don't put that or betadine or similar on open wounds or delicate places. And wait until you have some of the other problems fixed, it may solve itself through better temps and such.

 

[Slacky]

Hello! Just a quick note: Arcadia Dragon lamps should be at 21-24" above substrate. At 12 inches UV levels are dangerously high (if you use Arcadia ProT5 kit with a reflector). Also, you can keep the UVB lamp on for just 4-6 hours a day.

Adjusted

 

[Tom]

Thanks Tom,

I'll try jig the set up about to suit then. Could I ask what your views are regarding the brown patches on the shell are??

Thanks

Looks like new growth that got too dry. This could be due to low humidity, not soaking often enough, or using the wrong types of bulbs.

 

[Slacky]

The spots are where new growth intersects. You said you put iodine on it, was it brown before you did that? Iodine tends to kill everything it touches, the good and bad cells. Don't put that or betadine or similar on open wounds or delicate places. And wait until you have some of the other problems fixed, it may solve itself through better temps and such.

That was before the Tamodine @ COmtnLady

 

[Markw84]

Looks like new growth that got too dry. This could be due to low humidity, not soaking often enough, or using the wrong types of bulbs.

I would speculate UVB burns may be contributing. A 14% UVB at 12" is dangerous as mentioned by @Alex and the Redfoot

 

[tempest979]

This totally scared me at first, it's not often I see a post about shell rot in Indian Stars, thank god it's not.

 

[Slacky]

This totally scared me at first, it's not often I see a post about shell rot in Indian Stars, thank god it's not.

Me too

 

[Slacky]

This totally scared me at first, it's not often I see a post about shell rot in Indian Stars, thank god it's not.

Honestly she's never had any issues other than that, always lively and moving about, absolute animal when it comes to dinner , hopefully the lighting and heat cures it ive moved the light up and also the basking lamp, jigged the temp too, she's quite a hardy tortoise tbf