juvenile plastron problem!

[prettypixilated]

Hello!

My little guys are about a year old. The one I am most concerned about is Darwin, who is showing shell rot on the lower plastron. He has a habit of sometimes sleeping for days, so I have been getting him up and cleaning him, changing his sleeping bedding around. I was treating him once a week with antibacterial cream, but I have not seen much of a change. They both have faint white spots on their top shells, but a lot less than they did before. Oliver (red headed one) has what looks like old scarring from when he was born, and a little bit of the same shell rot Darwin does, but he is more active so maybe that helps.

They have mulch bedding that I change once a month, about once a week or so I add new bedding and mix up the enclosure bedding. I used to moisten the enclosure in the morning, but now it stays humid for the most part until the fresh bedding dries out. Their temperatures are consistent with how they should be, humidity is a little harder because one part of enclosure is open- but with the shell rot I don't want it to be *too humid*.

I would really like to make sure he continues to grow a healthy shell. I am really concerned about the slight bone showing in Darwin's. (Darwin is first, Oliver is the last couple of pictures.)

 

[Alan RF]

I'm going to bump your thread so that others might know more!
The question I would ask is-is the shell spongy ? Does it smell different? Hope you get some good advice.

 

[Madkins007]

There are two widely accepted forms of shell rot- bacterial and fungal (with bacterial the most common according to Dr. Mader- https://sites.google.com/site/tortoiselibrary/health-and-medical/shell-rot). They are roughly analogous to athletes foot, and while worrisome, are not a big deal when caught and treated.

I think there is also a third form, at least in captive red-footeds, that is environmental, more like 'immersion foot'.

The drive to raise humidity often results in wet substrate in direct contact with the plastron, and I suspect that the pH or something causes some of this- at least it does not show the same characteristics as the bacterial or fungal versions.

So...

1. What substrate do you use, and how deep is it?
2. What antibacterial cream did you use?

 

[Michael in MO]

Hoping you get some good advice concerning the shell issue (personally since they're so small right now I'd be placing them in something bone dry every night so they can dry out and getting them some unfiltered sunlight if it's not too hot during the day) I just wanted to mention that their nails are really long and perhaps you need something hard in their enclosure for them to walk over and wear them down a bit or you may end up having to trim them on a regular basis..

---

Hello!

My little guys are about a year old. The one I am most concerned about is Darwin, who is showing shell rot on the lower plastron. He has a habit of sometimes sleeping for days, so I have been getting him up and cleaning him, changing his sleeping bedding around. I was treating him once a week with antibacterial cream, but I have not seen much of a change. They both have faint white spots on their top shells, but a lot less than they did before. Oliver (red headed one) has what looks like old scarring from when he was born, and a little bit of the same shell rot Darwin does, but he is more active so maybe that helps.

actually reviewing your posts it seems this has been a problem since day one.. I think it's time to see a vet, 8 months is a long time for something this obviously not right with a tort to go undiagnosed.
They have mulch bedding that I change once a month, about once a week or so I add new bedding and mix up the enclosure bedding. I used to moisten the enclosure in the morning, but now it stays humid for the most part until the fresh bedding dries out. Their temperatures are consistent with how they should be, humidity is a little harder because one part of enclosure is open- but with the shell rot I don't want it to be *too humid*.

I would really like to make sure he continues to grow a healthy shell. I am really concerned about the slight bone showing in Darwin's. (Darwin is first, Oliver is the last couple of pictures.)