Is this normal on shell?

[Gdrami]

Hey everyone, my tort is almost 3 and recently I’ve noticed these translucent spots. He eats food grown from the garden, takes supplements 3 or 4 times a week, and he has a calcium bone available for whenever he needs it. He also has an enclosure outdoors for when it’s warm.

The transparent spots have little swirls on them. Booked a vet visit but would anyone on here have any pointers? Is this normal?

 

[wellington]

Yes completely normal.

 

[Gdrami]

Yes completely normal.

Do you know if it’s just new growth coming in? I was concerned because it’s not necessarily the edges of his shell only which I know is normal, thanks for the response!

 

[Krista S]

The marks you’re seeing are 100% normal and expected. Definitely no need to take your tortoise to the vet for this. One of the most experienced members on the forum here taught me (when I had the same concern) that she believes it to be calcium working its way through new keratin. We can’t say for certain if that’s true, but it seems to make sense since these marks are usually only visible in young, growing torts. The marks can appear as squiggles, circles or anything in between. If you do a search on the forum for “squiggles” or “white squiggles” you’ll see endless examples of this. My tortoise is nearly full grown now and all of his squiggly marks have gone away.