possible skin, eyes and shell problems

[johnschmidt]

Hi
I have two russian tortoises, a larger female and a smaller male.
Im suspecting they might have some health problems that I need your opinions about. First of all, the females eyes looks abit weird in comparison to the males. They looks abit small, almost to small for their eye sockets. (see picture) I dont know, it might sound stupid, but my worries are that ive overfed her, so that she have grown to fast. She is very active, and always hungry and i havent hibernated her for many years now. Im also worried that her shell isnt growing properly. There are white gaps between the scutes which i suspect is a symptom of to fast growth (see picture).
View attachment 17443View attachment 17444

Another thing im worried about concerns both the male and the female, they both shed a lot of skin. They often have dead skin hanging from their legs.
View attachment 17445
I keep my tortoises in a 2 square meter box with 30 cm high edges filled with 50% soil and 50% sand. They have a basking lamp for heat, and for light i use this one "http://www.odlingsbutiken.se/belysning-cfl/112-cfl-lag-energi-200w-bla.html" (I couldnt find any product link in english, but perhaps you see what kind of lamp it is anyway). It is a 200w CFL lamp for growing plants. I suspect that this lamp is not very good to use, so im planning to replace it for something more suitable. I Feed them with romane lettuce during the winter month and mostly dandelions and clover during the summer. I always dust the food with calcium supplements.

Pls let hear how i can improve the conditions for my tortoises!

regards
/John

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi John:

If the tortoises are inside quite a bit, then you really do need to find a UVB light. The ones I like best are mercury vapor bulbs. In your favorite search engine, enter "tortoise mercury vapor bulb" and the results should be geographically friendly to your area of the world.

Also, romaine isn't good enough. You need to offer them quite a bit more in the way of variety. Here's a list of different plants and foods you can feed a russian tortoise:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread...ed-Greeks-Russians-Sulcatas-etc#axzz1nb1wXnDM

Your pictures didn't come through. A lot of us use either tinypic.com or photobucket.com. Both are free and easy to use.

 

[johnschmidt]

Thanks for the tips Yvonne.

Ill give it another try with the pictures here

 

[Yvonne G]

The eye isn't open as bright/wide as it should be, but I'm thinking dehydrated more than anything. See how they're sort of sunken in a bit? Some forced soaks might be in order. As to the dry skin, this is normal and the forced soaks will help with that too. The new growth between the scutes also looks pretty dry. You can paint those areas with a Q-tip dipped in olive oil after the soaks.