Is this shell rot?

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Hi tortoise friends. I was cleaning Hoppy today and noticed a bright white spot in the middle of his bottom right scute. his scute doesn't feel squishy or anything but I looked up a pic I posted of him a few days ago and it was there too! It almost looks like the white is shrinking in size too, so I'm super confused. His enclosure is closed with 82 deg ambient, 90% humidity. He DID go 24 hours with only 60% humidity the day I took the first photo though. He gets soaked about 1-2 times a day and I only sometimes dry his shell. Usually I just let him back in all wet since it's drippy al, over the enclosure too. So I'm wondering if maybe it's too much humidity? I get condensation on top of his lid and all over the side of the enclosure all the time but spraying down the sides is the only way I can bump up the humidity. His substrate is pretty damp too, but he usually hangs out on the dry piece of slate or on top of the dead grass which is dry to the touch, but has soggy soil if I dig my fingers into it.

Here is Jan 1
IMG_4489.JPG

Here's today, Jan 3
IMG_4506.JPG

It's hard to tell on today's pic, it's a REALLY tiny white spot, but definitely different from the rest of the scute. It's way more noticeable on the Jan 1 pic.
 

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wellington

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Leopards don't really get shell rot. They can live in very high humidity with no problems. It doesn't look like rot either.
If your worried you could put some antifungal cream on it, but I wouldn't worry at this point. Just keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse.
 

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Thanks, I was starting to wonder if I had too much humidity. It does seem like the spot is smaller compared to before. I'll keep an eye on it.

Weird that arid species like sullys and leos don't get rot that easily but red foots which are known to come from higher humidity climates do.
 

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I agree. The ATHLETES FOOT CREAM quickly kills fungus. But if it isn't fungus, it also does no harm.
Most RF like mine are kept on nearly swamp conditions during the summer. Even when it's not raining, they spend the day swimming and laying in mud.
RF are prone to rot because they REALLY like things damp
 

chemprentice

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Hi tortoise friends. I was cleaning Hoppy today and noticed a bright white spot in the middle of his bottom right scute. his scute doesn't feel squishy or anything but I looked up a pic I posted of him a few days ago and it was there too! It almost looks like the white is shrinking in size too, so I'm super confused. His enclosure is closed with 82 deg ambient, 90% humidity. He DID go 24 hours with only 60% humidity the day I took the first photo though. He gets soaked about 1-2 times a day and I only sometimes dry his shell. Usually I just let him back in all wet since it's drippy al, over the enclosure too. So I'm wondering if maybe it's too much humidity? I get condensation on top of his lid and all over the side of the enclosure all the time but spraying down the sides is the only way I can bump up the humidity. His substrate is pretty damp too, but he usually hangs out on the dry piece of slate or on top of the dead grass which is dry to the touch, but has soggy soil if I dig my fingers into it.

Here is Jan 1
View attachment 226711

Here's today, Jan 3
View attachment 226712

It's hard to tell on today's pic, it's a REALLY tiny white spot, but definitely different from the rest of the scute. It's way more noticeable on the Jan 1 pic.

Was he starting to poop when you took this photo?? :D
 

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That's fungus and when it gets a little worse, like plywood that is falling apart, its shell rot.
This is not quite rot and has since started to heal.
We (I) separate the two because actual shell rot is a lot more of a big deal than a small fungal outbreak.
 

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I see, the white spot on Hoppy hasn't gotten bigger or smaller, but when I was cleaning him the other day a layer of the shell started to peel off like skin. I'm just gonna grab some antifungal and dab it on to see if it helps, but the fact that it's not worse is reassuring to me.
 

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Ok update on the white spot. I never ended up getting antifungal cuz I still wasn't sure if it was shell rot or not. But during his soak today I decided to brush his shell a bit and it looks like the white came out in layers..,it was almost like the keratin was peeling off, going to get some antifungal now but can anyone confirm it now that it's worse?

IMG_4688.JPG
 

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It's been said before and it's true:
If it is fungal, the athletes foot cream will kill it....
If it's not fungal, the cream will do no harm.
So If in doubt, use some.
 

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Does chlorhexadine antiseptic play any part in treating shell rot if this is the case?
 

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Some of us will use an antibiotic just with the initial treatment. Once. Then not again.
Applying it again seems to slow down the healing.
Myself, I've treated both with and without an initial iodine solution.
Either way seems just as effective.
Antibiotics might be required for full on "rot".
Not so much for a superficial fungal outbreak.
Keeping both the antifungal and an antibiotic, for tortoise cuts and scrapes in a little "kit" is a great idea.
Just in case.
 

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