Neck cut and flap of skin... help

[mttrhll]

My red footed tortoise Gumball got a cut on her neck. It seems to match a bloody spot on her shell. I noticed this injury last night and it wasn't there the day/night before.

I haven't really done anything yet. I was going to take her to the Vet... hard to find great tortoise vets

But i was reading and it seems like a lot of people think that the vet visits are just another stress on the torts. She is eating well and isn't acting strangely.

I'm not sure what to do since there is such a large flap of skin... I read someone advocating for snipping off the skin and others using duct tape... this spot is too mobile for any sort of tape.

I attached a pic. Any advice? ... I'm worried about her

 

[Yvonne G]

The duct tape isn't for the skin, it's for the sharp edge of the shell - to keep the tortoise from re-injuring the spot. In this case, I would feel more comfortable taking the tortoise to the vet. They will give you antibiotics and wound treatment that you probably don't have available to yourself at home. This is a pretty serious-looking wound.

 

[mttrhll]

I must have misread that post about the duct tape...didn't make sense to me anyways.

I'll call the vet ASAP and report back what they say after her appointment. Thx Yvonne

 

[Bambam1989]

Just sharing my thoughts. But that wound looks like a bite mark..
Is it possible that the other tort bit him?

 

[mttrhll]

It is possible my other tort bit Gumball... but the shell had blood on it and it was very sharp there too. The picture even has this evidence visible. I setup a camera to track it. My other tort Digger has never shown any aggression. but when they eat the do go after the sane stuff... but I'm 90% sure it was her own shell.

I suspect that she was climbing over Digger and fell and her shell got her. I asked the vet and she seemed to think that was a good possibility... but we'll never know for sure. I'll watch the tort camera and make sure that isn't the cause.

The vet said I could file the shell down in that area. So tonight i used emory cloth and smoothed it down a bit. I didn't want to stress her too much with the vet visit so i'll probably work on it a bit more.

The vet gave me an antibiotic called Fortaz, a disinfectant (Chlorhexidine) and Silver sulfadiazine antibiotic ointment. We aren't going to cut or remove the skin due to its location and the stress of doing a procedure like that. Sigh This stuff always worries me.. we need to give her shots every 3 days and disinfect and apply ointment 2x a day.

I'm always worried about stressing her... but she seems to take everything in stride and ate well tonight. I'll update as I go throught this and hope it helps someone else...

biggest lesson for me is inspect their shells often to make sure there aren't sharp areas that could cause this kind of damage.

 

[Bambam1989]

I am only going by the photo shown. The angle of the wound in my opinion doesn't look like it was caused by the shell, the blood from the wound could easily have rubbed off on it afterwards.
Smoothing that area of the shell should prevent it from irritating the wound as much though
I hope to hear the opinions of other keepers.

 

[teresaf]

Looks like a bite to me too.. my tortoises grew up together fine for a couple of years and then I watched as they were eating one day when one opened his mouth and leaned towards the other to bite its face. I just happened to be there to stop him.

 

[ColaCarbonaria]

Looks like a bite.

 

[daniellenc]

It does look like a bite. That’s a pretty severe wound from a shell unless he fell off something from significant height with great impact. I’m guessing your two need to separate.

 

[teresaf]

Sucks having to separate them, I know. Tortoises really don't do well in pairs. Well sometimes they do...until they don't. Groups are sometimes fine where bullying is an issue but biting is worse. Could've lost an eye or hit the jugalar

 

[TammyJ]

I totally think it is a serious bite.

 

[mttrhll]

They are separated now... and I've watched all the footage and don't see any bite footage... but i guess i'm going to have to play it safe and keep them separated

but FTR her shell was sharp enough that it felt like a steak knife and it had blood on it too... at the exact spot where it was sharp. But i'll never know for sure and I'm too worried to put them back together... I guess i'll be building a new enclosure once my own injury (broken ankle) heals... sigh.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

How is your RF recovering?

 

[mttrhll]

Gumball is doing well. She doesn't care at all when we rinse her wound and apply the ointment.

She seems to be a little bit affected by the injection... but within a minute or two she eats the food i have for her. We give that every 3 days so we still have 6 more injections... i really hate giving any reptile injections of any kind.

I'm not sure how the "flap" will work its way off... it certainly won't grow back onto her neck. I'll post some pics pretty soon.

Thanks for asking