Please help my family tortoise

[Averwho]

Hello tortoise forum! This is my 17ish year old red foot tortoise buddy. I come to you all. today because of the odd way his shell is formed. I know he has pyramiding but I’m mainly concerned about the separation.

A little background info is that he is my family pet. My parents bought him at a sketchy reptile show and he had some sort of birth defect that caused a lot of eating issues when he was younger. He now has a wildly deformed shell like nothing I’ve seen before. Most of the information we got on raising him either came from the vet or from my grandparents who once owned a pet shop and a very happy and healthy red foot as well. I will admit his indoor enclosure is lacking in space but he spends the majority of time outside(we live in the American southeast). For the majority of his life we’ve fed him vet approved dry food and we’ve recently tried an all fresh food diet as well. I’m just wondering if anyone knows what his deformation is called and what caused it

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hello and welcome!
Can you also post a photo of your guy from a side (so profile of his shell can be seen)?

I see pyramiding here and also suspect there is bone growth deformity (bone under shell keratin scutes).

The primary reason for pyramiding is usually lack of humidity (redfoots need something around 80% constantly, especially when younger). And probably it's been magnified by dietary deficiences and some husbandry mistakes. Can you tell more what was his diet in previous 17 years (if it was only pellets - what kind) and now?

Also, details on how you keep him (lights, heating, temperatures, humidity), routines (soaking, vitamins and supplements) and enclosure sizes (indoors, outdoors) would be helpful.

 

[Yvonne G]

All of that bumpy shell growth (pyramiding) occurred when he was quite smaller and living in a too dry habitat. Pyramidng isn't because of diet, but rather livng in too dry conditions. The flat spaces between the bumps is what NORMAL shell growth looks like. So NOW he's growing normally.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello and welcome! Some more pics of a side profile would definitely be useful, along with more information on the indoor set up you have, equipment etc🙂

Perhaps you’ll find this thread useful to look through for the indoor set up side of things, double check your equipment and everything to make sure it’s appropriate👍

Housing older red foot/cherryhead

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to go over an example of an appropriate indoor red foot/cherryhead enclosure. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure(especially the size these guys get!) I understand being from the uk myself, that some climate’s make it...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[wellington]

Hope you are starting to give him a better diet, humidity, room indoor and outdoor , he kinda been thru enough.
He needs a full room size enclosure inside as well as a very big area outside. 80% humidity inside and out and yes, a much better diet then what the vet told you.