Soaking won't make the shell softer- the softness is 100% due to a diet that is too low in calcium, vitamin D, or other essential elements. (At least one of your advisers does not seem to really know their stuff.)
Look, let's cut through some of the issues building up. For whatever reason, you got started off on the wrong foot with this tort- it is not important if your original source knew what he was talking about or not, you just need to get back on a good track. The cares and diet you mentioned are all kind of 'iffy', and now your poor little guy is suffering from a few different things.
I would start with temps. Your temps sound low but not too bad, but the real temp at the top of the substrate is often different than what thermometers show when the substrates are wet. I would bet that if you laid your hand on the ground it would feel cool and clammy. Your guy wants a warm habitat and warm ground. Cold tortoises do not eat properly.
The next priority would be its diet. It needs more high-calcium foods, such as collard or turnip greens. The Library, linked below, can help with that and the other issues you are facing. I would try to help stimulate its diet by offering warm soaks and snack-sized chunks of tasty foods, like strawberry, banana, chunks of chicken, and brown mushrooms.
It can take some time and work to get things going well, and trying to overcome misinformation just makes things worse. Unfortunately, things can snowball out of control and really stress the tortoise badly, so we need to get them fixed, and fixed quickly.
Look, let's cut through some of the issues building up. For whatever reason, you got started off on the wrong foot with this tort- it is not important if your original source knew what he was talking about or not, you just need to get back on a good track. The cares and diet you mentioned are all kind of 'iffy', and now your poor little guy is suffering from a few different things.
I would start with temps. Your temps sound low but not too bad, but the real temp at the top of the substrate is often different than what thermometers show when the substrates are wet. I would bet that if you laid your hand on the ground it would feel cool and clammy. Your guy wants a warm habitat and warm ground. Cold tortoises do not eat properly.
The next priority would be its diet. It needs more high-calcium foods, such as collard or turnip greens. The Library, linked below, can help with that and the other issues you are facing. I would try to help stimulate its diet by offering warm soaks and snack-sized chunks of tasty foods, like strawberry, banana, chunks of chicken, and brown mushrooms.
It can take some time and work to get things going well, and trying to overcome misinformation just makes things worse. Unfortunately, things can snowball out of control and really stress the tortoise badly, so we need to get them fixed, and fixed quickly.
. I was really hoping he would turn around.
