Prairie Mom
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2014
- Messages
- 4,339
Hey friends
We've only had our young sulcata a few months. We found this young sulcata and no one claimed her, so we've made this sweetheart a permanent member of our family. I have been working VERY HARD to gain knowledge on health and proper husbandry.
Our sulcata arrived thin and with noticeable SOFT SPOTS on either side of her carapace. Thanks to great care sheets and the help I've received on this forum, her shell has hardened nicely and we are maintaining a good diet and temps. She still appears thin to me, but she is improving and eats, drinks, urinates, and poops like a champ! She receives daily soaks (sometimes 2xdaily).
I was reading a "pinned" thread in this section about fungus, which helped me to realize that she may have arrived with a fungus infection on the rear of her carapace as well.
I'm attaching LOTS of photos. I would be grateful for:
-General observations regarding her appearance/health. All friendly advice & helpful criticism is welcome.
-Confirmation and advice regarding treating the fungus. If this is fungus, do I need to chg all orchid bark substrate & disinfect everything? -Best way to do this etc?
-Curious about some abnormal growth & interested in guesses whether she may have had slight shell injury as well?
-Gender guesses
Photo 1
I just posted this as mainly an FYI- just in case more knowledgeable eyes see something I don't.
Photo 2
Fungus, right? Please advise best treatment strategies & how to prevent re-infection in her enclosure.
(At first, I was naïve and thought it was dry or even scratched, but it has spread)
Photo 3
Front view- just for observation
Photo 4
Face forward. (Man! I love this beastie!) I don't have the proper scale YET. Although I am very certain she has put on weight since she arrived, she still LOOKS thin when my untrained eyes compare her to other healthy tortoise photos. Thoughts?
Photo 5
Left side- for observation
Photos 5,6, &7 -"the weird side"...
Wondering if this is a combination of abnormal shell growth and injury?
6
Closer view of deformed shell -curious about what might cause the shell to become this way? (It appears both broken off and deformed to me.)
7
Curious about what might cause the top marked areas in addition to thoughts regarding the rest of the abnormal shell.
Photo 8
Forgive me...I'm still trying to understand shell growth... My tortoise has some pyramiding. I think she looks pretty good, but I want to do the best I can for her. The "rings" I have marked are noticeably raised to the touch where they meet up with other shell growth. Does this mean that pyramiding is continuing; I really don't know what normal new growth is like?
AND FINALLY...WHAT DO YA THINK? BOY OR GIRL?
Thanks for taking the time to look at these photos!
We've only had our young sulcata a few months. We found this young sulcata and no one claimed her, so we've made this sweetheart a permanent member of our family. I have been working VERY HARD to gain knowledge on health and proper husbandry.
Our sulcata arrived thin and with noticeable SOFT SPOTS on either side of her carapace. Thanks to great care sheets and the help I've received on this forum, her shell has hardened nicely and we are maintaining a good diet and temps. She still appears thin to me, but she is improving and eats, drinks, urinates, and poops like a champ! She receives daily soaks (sometimes 2xdaily).
I was reading a "pinned" thread in this section about fungus, which helped me to realize that she may have arrived with a fungus infection on the rear of her carapace as well.
I'm attaching LOTS of photos. I would be grateful for:
-General observations regarding her appearance/health. All friendly advice & helpful criticism is welcome.
-Confirmation and advice regarding treating the fungus. If this is fungus, do I need to chg all orchid bark substrate & disinfect everything? -Best way to do this etc?
-Curious about some abnormal growth & interested in guesses whether she may have had slight shell injury as well?
-Gender guesses
Photo 1
I just posted this as mainly an FYI- just in case more knowledgeable eyes see something I don't.
Photo 2
Fungus, right? Please advise best treatment strategies & how to prevent re-infection in her enclosure.
(At first, I was naïve and thought it was dry or even scratched, but it has spread)
Photo 3
Front view- just for observation
Photo 4
Face forward. (Man! I love this beastie!) I don't have the proper scale YET. Although I am very certain she has put on weight since she arrived, she still LOOKS thin when my untrained eyes compare her to other healthy tortoise photos. Thoughts?
Photo 5
Left side- for observation
Photos 5,6, &7 -"the weird side"...
Wondering if this is a combination of abnormal shell growth and injury?
6
Closer view of deformed shell -curious about what might cause the shell to become this way? (It appears both broken off and deformed to me.)
7
Curious about what might cause the top marked areas in addition to thoughts regarding the rest of the abnormal shell.
Photo 8
Forgive me...I'm still trying to understand shell growth... My tortoise has some pyramiding. I think she looks pretty good, but I want to do the best I can for her. The "rings" I have marked are noticeably raised to the touch where they meet up with other shell growth. Does this mean that pyramiding is continuing; I really don't know what normal new growth is like?
AND FINALLY...WHAT DO YA THINK? BOY OR GIRL?
Thanks for taking the time to look at these photos!