Appliedcello
New Member
I am a new tortoise owner and have done my research, but still have a lot of questions regarding shell health and overall husbandry.
Her enclosure is 6 ft by 2 ft and her substrate is a mixture of top soil and cypress multch. I usually feed her a mixture of mustard and collard greens with some calcium sprinkled on top. I would like to feed her more weeds and flowers but I am unsure on where to find them since I am currently living in an apartment. She has a 10.0 V Uvb light and her basking light is a 125 W bulb from the hardware store. I spray her enclosure through the day and give her a soak about once a week. I usually change her entire bedding once a month.
As I was giving her soak today I noticed a small break in her shell and a red spot near her back leg on the plasteron. I am thinking that maybe the new mutch I am using is too rough on her and I am looking into getting another type next time I change her bedding. I have the enclosure in the pictures, some of the trash bags that I use to line the enclosure have been torn down because she likes to scratch at them.
She is still eating and does not appear lethargic. I have changed her bedding about 3 weeks ago to a mixture of topsoil and cypress multch. The cypress mutch that I bought this time is new for her, so that might be the problem. I am worried that she might have some kind of disease that is causing the red spot.
I am very worried about her health and overall happiness and any help would be greatly appreciated.
Her enclosure is 6 ft by 2 ft and her substrate is a mixture of top soil and cypress multch. I usually feed her a mixture of mustard and collard greens with some calcium sprinkled on top. I would like to feed her more weeds and flowers but I am unsure on where to find them since I am currently living in an apartment. She has a 10.0 V Uvb light and her basking light is a 125 W bulb from the hardware store. I spray her enclosure through the day and give her a soak about once a week. I usually change her entire bedding once a month.
As I was giving her soak today I noticed a small break in her shell and a red spot near her back leg on the plasteron. I am thinking that maybe the new mutch I am using is too rough on her and I am looking into getting another type next time I change her bedding. I have the enclosure in the pictures, some of the trash bags that I use to line the enclosure have been torn down because she likes to scratch at them.
She is still eating and does not appear lethargic. I have changed her bedding about 3 weeks ago to a mixture of topsoil and cypress multch. The cypress mutch that I bought this time is new for her, so that might be the problem. I am worried that she might have some kind of disease that is causing the red spot.
I am very worried about her health and overall happiness and any help would be greatly appreciated.
