Red marks on carapace

[cheerios586]

Hi,
Yoshi has these marks that look like veins, I've attached a pic of the ones in the front, she also has them at the base too, any ideas what's going on? Should I worry?

 

[Bee62]

Hello, these red lines appear when a tort is growing. It is pretty normal and no cause to worry, but to be sure: Can you show us a picture of the carapax ( underside ) of your tort too ?
What species is your tort ? A pic of the whole tort would be helpful too.

 

[cheerios586]

Hi, Thank you f or your reply. Yoshi is a Russian Tortoise, not sure how old she is, vet didn't have a clue. Attached is the pics you requested

 

[cheerios586]

We got Yoshi from Pet Smart about 8 months ago or so and she was full of parasites, now she has a clean bill of health from the vet, her stools are of normal consistency and she's eating her greens. She goes to bed by 1600 every night and gets up to bask and eat by 0500. I'm always trying to change up her food so she doesn't get bored and that seems to help. She weighed 1 lb when we first got her, not sure what she weighs now, but she seems to be getting bigger and my husband swears she winks at him. ha ha We soak her every-other-day, and she seems not to mind much, but that's the only way I can get her to drink. She won't even go near her water bowl. Could she be growing too fast? Am I feeding her too much maybe? She eats her fill and leaves some if I give her too much, so I figured she was regulating herself.

Another question...Is there something I can rub on her shell, vitamin E, or something so it's not so dry? Or is dry the way she's suppose to be?

Also, in Pet Smart they had 2 more torts for sale yesterday and they were housed together. What would be the chances that my tort would get along with the other two after the routine separation period. I think Yoshi is female, not sure what the other two are.

 

[Eduardo Hernandez]

Don’t get another one. Pet stores have no clue how to properly care for torts, and Russians are especially scrappy and are great mental bullies.

I agree that it kinda just looks like he/she is growing.

 

[Bee62]

We got Yoshi from Pet Smart about 8 months ago or so and she was full of parasites, now she has a clean bill of health from the vet, her stools are of normal consistency and she's eating her greens. She goes to bed by 1600 every night and gets up to bask and eat by 0500. I'm always trying to change up her food so she doesn't get bored and that seems to help. She weighed 1 lb when we first got her, not sure what she weighs now, but she seems to be getting bigger and my husband swears she winks at him. ha ha We soak her every-other-day, and she seems not to mind much, but that's the only way I can get her to drink. She won't even go near her water bowl. Could she be growing too fast? Am I feeding her too much maybe? She eats her fill and leaves some if I give her too much, so I figured she was regulating herself.

Another question...Is there something I can rub on her shell, vitamin E, or something so it's not so dry? Or is dry the way she's suppose to be?

Also, in Pet Smart they had 2 more torts for sale yesterday and they were housed together. What would be the chances that my tort would get along with the other two after the routine separation period. I think Yoshi is female, not sure what the other two are.

Your Yoshi looks good and healthy. You can`t overfeed a growing tort when you feed the right things. What are you feeding ?
A shell of a tort needs no additives, only water to clean it, but you can try to rub a little bit of coconut oil on her shell. It is better to let the shell like nature had planned it : without any things, only water, warmth and sun.
To buy a second or third tortoise and house them togehter with Yoshi is no good idea. Russian tortoises are very territorial. They need and they want no other tortoise in their enclosure. They will fight with another and both suffer. Please don`t do that. When you want a second tortoise you will need a second enclosure as well and keep each of your torts in his or her own enclosure.

 

[cheerios586]

Your Yoshi looks good and healthy. You can`t overfeed a growing tort when you feed the right things. What are you feeding ?
A shell of a tort needs no additives, only water to clean it, but you can try to rub a little bit of coconut oil on her shell. It is better to let the shell like nature had planned it : without any things, only water, warmth and sun.
To buy a second or third tortoise and house them togehter with Yoshi is no good idea. Russian tortoises are very territorial. They need and they want no other tortoise in their enclosure. They will fight with another and both suffer. Please don`t do that. When you want a second tortoise you will need a second enclosure as well and keep each of your torts in his or her own enclosure.

Hello, Thank you for your insight. I try and mix-up Yoshi's food so she doesn't get the same thing all the time, her snacks are Romaine, and butter lettuce. I feed her a variety, turnip leaves, red lettuce, a turtle green mixture of dandilion, rose, and a bunch of other stuff. She also gets steamed butternut squash, bell peppers (for treat), an occasional strawberry, piece of apple or watermelon. Mostly in the summer.