Question about Redfoot shell.

[jacksknight]

Hey all, my wife has two baby Redfoots and we had a question about the one guys shell. The wrinkles in the top of his shell from being in the egg have not gone away. He/she is 9 months old and seems to be very healthy. Eats fine loves to run around. It has looked that way since we got him, we just thought it would go away after some time. He has one fold across the front of his shell and the other runs along his shell with his spine. He has grow about an inch since we got him in may, and is about 3.5 inches right now.

I uploaded a few pictures of him, his name is Groot. I also uploaded pictures of her other Redfoot, his name is Rocket.

Thanks a bunch! Thanks for all the info on the forums too, it's been very helpful!

 

[AmberD]

Following this - mine still has the imprint at the front like yours. I thought it would grow out over time as well.

 

[jacksknight]

Following this - mine still has the imprint at the front like yours. I thought it would grow out over time as well.

I have been looking through a lot of posts on here trying to find some info. I did find this post...

https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/8-to-14-months.162012/

If you look at post number 9, the third picture down the redfoot looks to have the same wrinkle in the front of its shell. Then if you look at post 10, they put pictures of the same tortoises when they are older. It looks to me like the smallest one in the first picture still shows the wrinkle. I might be wrong, but it's really all the info i have found on it. The aesthetic of it isn't a problem at all, we just want to make sure we are doing everything right for them.

They do like each other though, here is another pic of Groot and Rocket. This is day number two together, The first day was Rocket running around the tank checking it out and Groot following him everywhere trying to smell him lol.

 

[Bee62]

Hello, I can see nothing on their shells that would worry me. They both look pretty.
Do you soak them every day and keep humidity high in their enclosure ? That makes a pretty smooth shell.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Some of my baby Redfoot, the ones from very small eggs had wrinkles. They all smoothed out.
Let's ask @Anyfoot because he's hatched hundreds. I've hatched 5

 

[jacksknight]

Hello, I can see nothing on their shells that would worry me. They both look pretty.
Do you soak them every day and keep humidity high in their enclosure ? That makes a pretty smooth shell.

We had been slacking off soaking them everyday, we thought at that age they didnt need it as much. We are now back to doing it everyday. Humidity stays about 80ish during the day and we let it fade some to the night. We just ordered some new stuff for the tank and are going to get the temp up some with more humidity all the time. We had been soaking his substrate to much as well. Thansk for the response!

Some of my baby Redfoot, the ones from very small eggs had wrinkles. They all smoothed out.
Let's ask @Anyfoot because he's hatched hundreds. I've hatched 5

Thanks, appreciate the response!

 

[theguy67]

This is interesting. All of my hatchlings were smooth coming out.

Based on your high humidity and soaking, they must be well hydrated. I seem to be in the minority when it comes to not soaking tortoises.

Also, you may have some advise you to separate the two. Some have experienced increased aggression between a pair, versus a group.

 

[jacksknight]

This is interesting. All of my hatchlings were smooth coming out.

Based on your high humidity and soaking, they must be well hydrated. I seem to be in the minority when it comes to not soaking tortoises.

Also, you may have some advise you to separate the two. Some have experienced increased aggression between a pair, versus a group.

Thanks for the response! We will be keeping an eye on them for sure, I'm quickly starting to think we will have more than a pair soon... With Rocket and Groot we should have Star Lord and you cant have Star Lord without Gamora. Then you might as well get Drax too so you have the whole team!

Then we will start on The Avengers!

 

[Anyfoot]

Ed , I'm not in the 100's yet

The creases in the carapace will grow out I've had a few like this. My smoothest juvenile had a crease across the front. At 3.5yrs old it's perfect. Don't panic it will smooth out.


This one goes way beyond a minor crease worry . It's all smooth now.

 

[Gillian M]

A very warm welcome to the forum.

Personally, I give Oli a daily soak each and every day so as to avoid dehydration and pyramiding.

 

[jacksknight]

Ed , I'm not in the 100's yet

The creases in the carapace will grow out I've had a few like this. My smoothest juvenile had a crease across the front. At 3.5yrs old it's perfect. Don't panic it will smooth out.


This one goes way beyond a minor crease worry . It's all smooth now.
View attachment 224175

Awesome, thanks for the reply! Glad to hear your little guy straighten all out too!

A very warm welcome to the forum.

Personally, I give Oli a daily soak each and every day so as to avoid dehydration and pyramiding.

Thanks! We will keep soaking them for sure.