Pink plastron.

Lorna_lawrence

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Hi,
My tortoise is a year and nine months old. I know it is normal for tortoises to have a slightly pink plastron, however how pink is too pink to the point that I should be concerned. I don’t want to make a long trip to the vet for them to tell me everything’s fine..... is this normal ?3F4569BF-B53F-434F-A1DF-8D50BD38EF20.jpeg
 

KarenSoCal

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Does he seem to feel well? Is he active, eating, peeing, and pooping well?

A pink plastron can be septicemia, but that is usually accompanied with severe illness.

Another reason the plastron can be pink is because of increased blood flow supporting new growth. The white area of your tort's plastron is so light, I really think it's the extra flow.

But wait for Yvonne and Tom...they are so much better than me at spotting and diagnosing shell anomalies.
 

Ben02

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If you gently press the pinkish parts of the plastron does it return to normal colour? Youngsters shells are still developing and sometimes you can see blood vessels etc through the shell.
How is the tortoises behaviour generally? Is he eating, pooping, is he active?
 

Lorna_lawrence

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Does he seem to feel well? Is he active, eating, peeing, and pooping well?

A pink plastron can be septicemia, but that is usually accompanied with severe illness.

Another reason the plastron can be pink is because of increased blood flow supporting new growth. The white area of your tort's plastron is so light, I really think it's the extra flow.

But wait for Yvonne and Tom...they are so much better than me at spotting and diagnosing shell anomalies.
He’s very active when it’s a nice day he’s eating peeing pooping normally I’m not too worried about his behaviours. Just wondering how pink is too pink if that make sense.
Thank you x
 

Lorna_lawrence

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If you gently press the pinkish parts of the plastron does it return to normal colour? Youngsters shells are still developing and sometimes you can see blood vessels etc through the shell.
How is the tortoises behaviour generally? Is he eating, pooping, is he active?
I haven’t tried pressing his shell. However his behaviours are normal x
 

Yossarian

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Looks a bit odd tbh, but its also very pale shell, mostly tanslucent so the pink is probably just growing bone underneath. I wouldnt worry about it unless something else changes.
 

Tom

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Pink is usually vascularization for new growth, but lets review your care routine to make sure there are no problems.

What size and type enclosure?
What substrate?
Diet?
What type of bulbs for heating, lighting and UV?
Calcium supplementation?
How often do you soak?
 

Lorna_lawrence

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Pink is usually vascularization for new growth, but lets review your care routine to make sure there are no problems.

What size and type enclosure?
What substrate?
Diet?
What type of bulbs for heating, lighting and UV?
Calcium supplementation?
How often do you soak?
He is doing well. The sims out hes very active digging and climbing. The redness has gone down a little. His pen is large about 4ft by 1 ft. His substrate is aspen bedding. He has a pebbled end too. I bath him every day for about 10-15 mins. He has calcium supplement on his food about 2 time a week. I feed him various lettuces, vegetables and weeds when I can. The bulb type is photographed below. That’s what I was recommended to buy by the place I got him. Thank you.
 

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Lyn W

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Hi and welcome,
Is he a Russian or Hermanns? I can't tell form the pic.
The substrate looks too dry and he's soon going to need a bigger enclosure.
Here is the caresheet with the most up to date advice so that you can make any changes needed to make sure he's as safe and healthy as possible


I think the lamp you have is a MVB for heat , light and uvb? They used to be very popular because they are convenient but have since been found to dry and damage shells and the uvb fades quickly, so now T5 HO tubes are usually recommended for uvb, with a flood bulb for basking.

Have a good read of the caresheet and ask as many questions as you like someone will be along to help.
 

Tom

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He is doing well. The sims out hes very active digging and climbing. The redness has gone down a little. His pen is large about 4ft by 1 ft. His substrate is aspen bedding. He has a pebbled end too. I bath him every day for about 10-15 mins. He has calcium supplement on his food about 2 time a week. I feed him various lettuces, vegetables and weeds when I can. The bulb type is photographed below. That’s what I was recommended to buy by the place I got him. Thank you.
Daily soaks are great. Keep that up.

When I read 4x1, I immediately thought that is way too small, but the picture looks much larger than 4x1 feet. Go ahead and give the measurements in metric. I suspect the conversions were off a little.

Aspen and gravel are both not good substrates. Your tortoise needs something thick and damp that it can dig into. It also needs a humid hide with a small door opening.

Much more is explained about all this in the care sheet that Lyn linked. Pay particular attention to the feeding section. Grocery store greens are okay, but they need to be amended in one or more ways to make them a good tortoise diet.

Those bulbs are not good. You need an incandescent for basking and an Arcadia tube for UV. What about night heat? How cold does that room get over night?

Know that most pet shops, breeders and vets will give you terrible wrong advice. Seems counter-intuitive, but for decades we've been doing tortoise care wrong, and most people outside of this community have not kept up.
 

Lorna_lawrence

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Pink is usually vascularization for new growth, but lets review your care routine to make sure there are no problems.

What size and type enclosure?
What substrate?
Diet?
What type of bulbs for heating, lighting and UV?
Calcium supplementation?
How often do you soak?
I don’t think he’d be this active if he was sick.
Hi and welcome,
Is he a Russian or Hermanns? I can't tell form the pic.
The substrate looks too dry and he's soon going to need a bigger enclosure.
Here is the caresheet with the most up to date advice so that you can make any changes needed to make sure he's as safe and healthy as possible


I think the lamp you have is a MVB for heat , light and uvb? They used to be very popular because they are convenient but have since been found to dry and damage shells and the uvb fades quickly, so now T5 HO tubes are usually recommended for uvb, with a flood bulb for basking.

Have a good read of the caresheet and ask as many questions as you like someone will be along to help.
yes it’s a 3 in one bulb it was the one I was recommended to buy. Thank you for your help
 
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