Rear leg sores/scute trim?

[pugsandkids]

Tank has been outside all summer and loving it, she’s growing and getting bolder too!
I haven’t been picking her up and checking her over all that often. Now the temps are dropping and she’s coming back into the house each night. I noticed today that the dark spots on the back of her rear legs (That I’d assumed were just dirt from digging) are more like sores, not raw and weepy, but discolored and seeming to be worn down. She’s not letting me touch them, but that’s just not her style anyways. The edges of her shell are quite rough along the bottom.
What do we know? I mean if she was a wild tortoise no one would even know, but should I file those sharp edges down? Is she at risk of seriously hurting herself?

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

T I noticed today that the dark spots on the back of her rear legs (That I’d assumed were just dirt from digging) are more like sores, not raw and weepy, but discolored and seeming to be worn down.

~ Can you possibly get close up pictures.

~ We had to file down the edge of a shell once on a rescue redfoot, not the same as yours, however it solved a problem.

 

[pugsandkids]

~ Can you possibly get close up pictures.

View attachment 251006

I will try to get some tomorrow, she’s getting bolder, but I’m not sure how well picture taking is going to go ‍♀️

 

[pugsandkids]

She’s sleeping with a leg out

It’s just dark brown, but no spurs..

 

[vladimir]

I used painters tape and wrapped it around the edge of the shell when this was happening to us. After a few weeks it seemed the tape wasn't necessary anymore, and we haven't had a problem since.

 

[vladimir]

Here's a picture of what it looked like. We changed the tape with the daily soak, and the tortoise didn't seem to mind. This allowed the legs to heal without irritation [emoji846]


If it's bad though you may want to make sure the wound is cleaned up. I remember a thread where a sulcata ended up losing a foot after a leg wound got infected.

 

[pugsandkids]

Great tip,
Is this something that they grow out of?

 

[vladimir]

Mine seemed to. The tape allowed the wound to heal and I haven't really had an issue since then