Is This Shell Damaged?

[Britannica]

Hey all!

I have had my pet-store bought male Russian tortoise for a whole month now and he adjusted so well. I had a quick question about his shell.

His shell appears sort of...flaky. It looked like this when I acquired him. There are two white spots where the shell has sort of "chipped" and his scutes look like they are slightly raised in some places. Does this look normal?

To answer your questions about temperatures and hydration: his enclosure is in low 70s and his basking light (zoo med 100 watt basking bulb) is 10 inches from substrate and is at 90 degrees. I soaked him 3 times weekly the first 2 weeks and now it's once a week.

Thoughts?

 

[LaLaP]

I'm not an expert but I have a Russian with some chips and flaky bits too and I've been told that it's normal. They are often wild caught so he probably spent some years roughing it in a harsh terrain. Your spots are whiter than mine though so maybe a second opinion would be in order. The raised parts are definitely normal.
As far as the flakiness, I occasionally rub coconut oil into the shell and it looks much better. I think it protects it from drying out and flaking further.
Hope that is helpful.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Like LaLa says, dings and lumps are common on wild caught Russians. Your Russian has some old shell damage. The white spot is bone, the keratin was chipped off.

The keratin won’t grow back, he’ll always have the white spot but it’s nothing to worry about.

I don’t worry about flakes, personally; they are normal. But you can rub the coconut oil on them like LaLa and some others do; it’s safe.