Ornate with bone exposed on his shell

[sheila_frog]

I have a concern about an ornate box turtle I care for at work. He has some scutes missing from his shell, which seems to have exposed the bone (photos attached). The white patch in the middle of his shell was there last fall, but it has gotten bigger. The other white spots are new, to the best of my memory. He has only in the past week or so emerged from hibernation; I believe they buried themselves in late October/early November.

Here’s what I can tell you about him: He has been around here longer than I have, so I do not know his age or history. (I’ve been working here for 2 ½ years, and he was not a tiny baby when I started.) He and several other box turtles live in an outdoor pen from spring to fall. They get sunlight out there, have plenty of substrate to bury themselves in when it’s hot, and get fed/watered/misted daily. In the winter, they come indoors to a large terrarium, which has a heat lamp, but no UVB because they seldom (if ever) come out of hiding. Again, this guy had a small white spot last summer/fall, but it has become bigger and more spots have formed since he went into his winter hide. The big spot has some pitted spots. He doesn’t seem to be bothered when I poke at the exposed parts and pits with my fingernail. The white spots are not soft or flaky, even around the perimeter adjacent to normal scutes. None of the turtles ate much over the winter, but he has eaten since he woke up. He is active during the day, and runs around & explores when he is out of his tank.

Can anyone tell me what this is, and what I can do about it? Thank you!

 

[sheila_frog]

It appears that I am not able to upload photos from my work computer, so I'll have to do that at home.

 

[Yvonne G]

Don't worry about it, Sheila. That exposed bone will die and new keratin and bone will re-grow underneath it. It takes a very long time, maybe even more than a year, but eventually you will see that the white bone appears to be raised a bit and it will flake off, showing new shell underneath. This is quite common, and nothing to be concerned about.

Here's a picture of a male steppe tortoise that came through my rescue. Almost his whole shell was damaged with the dead bone showing through. Notice what looks like a crack on the right side near his front leg. That was because the tortoise was growing and the old, dead bone was too tight for the new growth underneath. I eventually chipped off all that dead bone and he was looking almost perfect underneath:

 

[sheila_frog]

Thanks for the info, Yvonne I was having some trouble posting photos, but I think I have it now.

You can also see that he is missing his front left foot, from some injury before I met him. He limps a little, but it doesn't seem to slow him down! Although the "official" policy at work is that we do not give the animals names, I can't help but call him "Pegleg Pete"

 

[sheila_frog]

MODERATOR: Sorry for the multiple posts; not until replying in the Introduction did I get a pop-up reminding me that posts are moderated. Please feel free to delete the extras, and again, I apologize!

 

[Yvonne G]

Don't worry about it, Sheila. Quite a few new members don't realize they have to post five posts before their posts show up right away. We just automatically delete the extras as we're approving

The dead bone spots on your turtle are fairly fresh. When they start to look more raised, or higher than the good shell around them, then they are starting to get ready to flake off. It takes a very long time.

 

[DItzoid]

Sorry to butt in...but do you have a photo of that tortoise with (mostly dead bone exposed) now that his new growth is showing? I'm intrigued, since my tortoise has quite a bit of bone exposed on one side as well.

 

[Yvonne G]

Sorry to butt in...but do you have a photo of that tortoise with (mostly dead bone exposed) now that his new growth is showing? I'm intrigued, since my tortoise has quite a bit of bone exposed on one side as well.

No, I just adopted it out a couple days ago. The fellow who took her in is a member here. Maybe he'll post a picture.