Possible shell rot.

[jackieh]

Ive never seen this before. It is not wet. It is not underneath. Is this shell rot? Ive given him a bath and put betadine. Has anyone seen this before? Any advice? He has also not had interest in food for 3 days but I have also made him an enclosure in my garage so that he is not out in the elements.

 

[wellington]

Do not use betadine any more. It interferes with healing.
He needs to be in a 80F enclosure with a 95-100F basking area in order for him to want to eat and to be able to properly digest his food. He also needs water available.
@Yvonne G may know what happened. I'm guessing burn from a heat source too close but it's just a guess.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I'm not sure what type of damage that is but it's not a common fungal issue. Not shell rot. It looks like a burn spot to me. But to be honest I've never personally seen anything like that

 

[Tom]

Ive never seen this before. It is not wet. It is not underneath. Is this shell rot? Ive given him a bath and put betadine. Has anyone seen this before? Any advice? He has also not had interest in food for 3 days but I have also made him an enclosure in my garage so that he is not out in the elements.
View attachment 351836

Where in CA? night it have dropped close to freezing?

 

[jackieh]

Do not use betadine any more. It interferes with healing.
He needs to be in a 80F enclosure with a 95-100F basking area in order for him to want to eat and to be able to properly digest his food. He also needs water available.
@Yvonne G may know what happened. I'm guessing burn from a heat source too close but it's just a guess.

I have

Where in CA? night it have dropped close to freezing?

I got him in Martinez. No snow here but he was in the rain for 2 weeks. It was very cold for him though.

 

[Tom]

I have

I got him in Martinez. No snow here but he was in the rain for 2 weeks. It was very cold for him though.

I can think of three things that might do that sort of damage:
1. Heat lamps and CHEs too close on a large animal like this one. I would expect to see some damage on other scutes, but maybe not. Hot over head heat sources should not be used on larger tortoises like this one.
2. Freezing. Not cold, but freezing.
3. Animal damage. I would expect to see tooth marks elsewhere and around the damaged area if it were from an animal like a dog or raccoon, and I don't see anything.

This is not shell rot. Shell rot occurs on the plastron and is caused by constant contact with wet conditions. Sulcatas don't get shell rot of this type. Shell rot is more commonly seen in red foot tortoises.

 

[Yvonne G]

What you are seeing is brand new keratin. Because it grew to cover dead bone (from a heat or light that was too close and killed the bone) all at once and not in increments, it looks different than the original shell. It will never have the look of the original shell, but it IS keratin just like the original shell, and is just as strong and healthy. No treatment or special treatment is required. It looks like a couple more of the original scutes will be popping off in the future. The new keratin grows bigger than the dead, original keratin, causing them to pop off. Don't be worried when that happens. It's fine and doesn't require any special attention.

What you are seeing is the same thing as the new growth seams except instead of a seam it's covering a very large space that previously died from the light too close and being burned.

 

[jackieh]

Oh thank you so much. I have gotten so much different information. None of it really seemed right. I just wanted to help this guy. As long as he will be ok I don't care how he looks on the shell. That makes much more sense to me with what I see happening. Have a wonderful day.