Red Foot White Spots?

AlbusTheTortoise

New Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2018
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
North Carolina
I have had a baby red foot tortoise for less than a week now. I noticed these small white spots on his belly. I googled beginning stages of shell rot and it doesn't look like the pictures I saw, but I don't know what it is.
-I have him in a zoomed 3x2 tortoise table.
-We are still trying to increase humidity, but right now it is at 75%. Temperature around 80 F.
-I mixed eco earth and zoomed coconut fiber for his substrate.
-I soak him everyday for 15-20 minutes.
-I let him roam outside for 20 mins every day to get natural sunlight, but I also have a UVB and basking light in his tortoise table.

Help! This is my first tortoise and I don't want to do anything wrong!

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whisper

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
46
Location (City and/or State)
SE FL
Hi there! My brother just moved to North Carolina (south of Charlotte) about a year ago. I can’t wait to get up there. Don’t worry what he has is very common in RFs. They love to sit in mud puddles all day long. Drives me nuts. It’s easy to treat. After soaking in warm water about 20 minutes, gently scrub the spots with a brush. I use a firm toothbrush on the little ones. Then dry him off and apply a thin layer of athletes foot cream. I use the Walmart brand. It works great. The antifungal stuff from the Dollar Tree is crap in my experience. The spots should be gone in around 24 hours. In more severe cases multiple treatments may need to be done but unless you’ve missed a spot, u should be fine. I would make sure his substrate doesn’t stay very wet. When you mist his (or her) enclosure mist the sides more than where he likes to hang out. Make sure that section eventually dries up or put a paver or flat rock in his hide.

Since he is a tropical species, the 60s is cold. Don’t forget cold and wet is bad. Keep him away from drafts like a/c vents. Hope this helps. :) :)
 

AlbusTheTortoise

New Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2018
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
North Carolina
Thank you so much! We did try to rub the spots off with a paper towel the other day after he soaked but he did not like it at all. He actually peed on us while we were holding him upright lol.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
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Jan 23, 2008
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Looks like that's the start of shell rot. He's been sitting on too-wet substrate for too long a time. It's good to have the substrate wet underneath, but the top layer fairly dry. I achieve this by starting with wet substrate, then as it dries, I pour water down into a corner. This way the water flows under the top layer.

You can nip that in the bud by applying athlete foot cream for a week or two, and keeping him on drier substrate.
 
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