This is Lucy i "rescued" her from Petco. I think she might have shell rot...
Shell Rot?
- Thread starter redfoottorts
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Looks like it to me. Can't really tell if it's old or still rotting. Scrub it good with a brush one time with Betadine, then after that every day clean it with Nolvesan (Chlorhexidrine). It would be good to keep her dry for a few days until you're sure you have arrested its progress. By that I mean on a dry substrate. You can still soak her.
emysemys said:
she was like this when i got her I have a cool dry side in her habitat so will she know to go there on her own?
Doesn't really look like shell rot to me. I've had several come to me with the plastron looking just like the one you have. None of them ever had a problem. It's probably just from the substrate being too dry, scraping on the plastron.
Since the topic was brought up by someone else, I am going to go ahead and admit that Stagger had a touch of shell rot a few weeks ago.
I cannot tell by your pictures, if it's shell rot.
In fact, imo, shell rot is not always EASY to see. Not in the beginning stages, anyway.
I noticed this spot on Stagger, and I thought he had scraped that spot getting in and out of his groovy jacuzzi he had at the time. So, I watched it for about a week, and after a week of it not going away or getting better, I knew in my gut something wasn't right. I called Terry K. and sent him pictures.
He confirmed it was the beginning stages of shell rot. I panicked because I felt HORRIBLE. I didn't know how COMMON shell rot is.
This was Stagger's spot the afternoon I found out what it was (it was found on a Friday afternoon, we started treating it that night):
I removed ALLLL substrate from Stagger's enclosure. I washed it out with soap and water. I dried it. I sprayed it with a diluted solution of Chlorhexidine.
After doing that, I put his enclosure back. I had a hide in there for him, but his enclosure floor was BARE.
We took him into our bathroom, dried off his plastron, used a q-tip with a betadine and put it on the spot.
Then we took some Clotrimazole 1% cream and put that on the spot.
Then we put him back in his enclosure.
I would remove him from his enclosure to mist his carapace a few-4 times a day.
We treated it twice a day for the first two days, then we went to once a day.
It was very ritualistic, but very simple.
Two days later, on Sunday evening, Stagger's spot was GONE.
No more shell rot spot:
I continued to "dry dock" him for two more day afterwards, though, to give the spot a chance to, I don't know, regain strength or something.
It wasn't hard to treat, and I'm glad I caught it when I did before it got bad, but I HATE that my little guy got it.
Also, I made sure that I wiped his enclosure floor once a day with chlorhexidine while I was treating him.
He was not a very happy tortoise, but his shell rot went away FAST.
I cannot tell by your pictures, if it's shell rot.
In fact, imo, shell rot is not always EASY to see. Not in the beginning stages, anyway.
I noticed this spot on Stagger, and I thought he had scraped that spot getting in and out of his groovy jacuzzi he had at the time. So, I watched it for about a week, and after a week of it not going away or getting better, I knew in my gut something wasn't right. I called Terry K. and sent him pictures.
He confirmed it was the beginning stages of shell rot. I panicked because I felt HORRIBLE. I didn't know how COMMON shell rot is.
This was Stagger's spot the afternoon I found out what it was (it was found on a Friday afternoon, we started treating it that night):
I removed ALLLL substrate from Stagger's enclosure. I washed it out with soap and water. I dried it. I sprayed it with a diluted solution of Chlorhexidine.
After doing that, I put his enclosure back. I had a hide in there for him, but his enclosure floor was BARE.
We took him into our bathroom, dried off his plastron, used a q-tip with a betadine and put it on the spot.
Then we took some Clotrimazole 1% cream and put that on the spot.
Then we put him back in his enclosure.
I would remove him from his enclosure to mist his carapace a few-4 times a day.
We treated it twice a day for the first two days, then we went to once a day.
It was very ritualistic, but very simple.
Two days later, on Sunday evening, Stagger's spot was GONE.
No more shell rot spot:
I continued to "dry dock" him for two more day afterwards, though, to give the spot a chance to, I don't know, regain strength or something.
It wasn't hard to treat, and I'm glad I caught it when I did before it got bad, but I HATE that my little guy got it.
Also, I made sure that I wiped his enclosure floor once a day with chlorhexidine while I was treating him.
He was not a very happy tortoise, but his shell rot went away FAST.
I don't like the term 'shell rot' because it covers a lot of issues. This looks (to me) like what happens when the plastron is too wet for too long and is the tortoise version of 'trench foot'. The softish scutes get waterlogged and soften, then rub off.
Since it is not really caused by microorganisms, we don't need to be too aggressive with antibiotics, etc. A good cleaning and keeping it dry is the main thing. It stops developing quickly but the resulting scute loss takes a long time to go away.
The big trick is trying to keep up the humidity without having a wet substrate- ESPECIALLY in the hide.
As you know I am not a big fan of soaks, but soaks are not a problem with this- it is the long-term wetness that causes the problems.
By the way- a bunch of my guys had it at one time or another as I struggled to find ways to balance wetness and humidity. Thankfully, as long as it is just the top layers of the scutes involved, it is mostly just a cosmetic nuisance.
Since it is not really caused by microorganisms, we don't need to be too aggressive with antibiotics, etc. A good cleaning and keeping it dry is the main thing. It stops developing quickly but the resulting scute loss takes a long time to go away.
The big trick is trying to keep up the humidity without having a wet substrate- ESPECIALLY in the hide.
As you know I am not a big fan of soaks, but soaks are not a problem with this- it is the long-term wetness that causes the problems.
By the way- a bunch of my guys had it at one time or another as I struggled to find ways to balance wetness and humidity. Thankfully, as long as it is just the top layers of the scutes involved, it is mostly just a cosmetic nuisance.
Glad to hear that your a great owner and caught it...
My son caught infatigo from Daycare, I noticed it day one, but wasnt aware of what it could be... after a week, it was worse.. i took him in and got treatment...
And if you dont know infatigo is like human shell rot!
I felt horrible... but i learned from it..
Now i shared my embarrassing story, so your not alone
infact i am proud you spoke up.. shows great character
My son caught infatigo from Daycare, I noticed it day one, but wasnt aware of what it could be... after a week, it was worse.. i took him in and got treatment...
And if you dont know infatigo is like human shell rot!
I felt horrible... but i learned from it..
Now i shared my embarrassing story, so your not alone
infact i am proud you spoke up.. shows great character
Don't feel bad Terra. Two of my boys had impetigo. They used to go in the big pond in my neighborhood to catch tad poles. What a mess.
Pio had the start of shell fungus too. I used the same treatment that Terry K. suggested and it was gone in about a week.
Pio had the start of shell fungus too. I used the same treatment that Terry K. suggested and it was gone in about a week.
thats how you spell it! lol dang it i even looked it up on google and it didnt correct me!
but my story was to make some one else feel better
but my story was to make some one else feel better
Well, I have a couple-few theories on HOW Stagger could have gotten the spot.
I generally wash out his water dish daily to every other day.
So, I don't think it was a bacteria in his water bowl (but who knows?).
BUT, as Mark has said, I struggle with keeping humidity up in this harsh winter dryness.
I use sphagnum moss as a substrate for Stagger.
I think I wasn't tossing his sphag moss around enough to mix the dry top with the wet bottom part to even out the moisture. I would flip the moss first thing in the morning, then the rest of the day, I'd simply just spray the heck out of the top layer, which I believe might have just been making the substrate sopping wet instead of creating a humid environment for him, and it wasn't allowing the substrate to evenly dry out before I was misting it again.
Hope that makes sense.
Another theory of mine is...fruit days.
On his fruit days, I would cut strawberry up for him and lay it out on his food dish.
Well, Stagger would finish eating what he wanted, then instead of walking AROUND his dish, he'd drag his happy tort butt THROUGH his remaining strawberries.
UGH.
Which would cause him to drag strawberries throughout his enclosure, into an through his moss. I'm thinking that if the strength of that area of his plastron was compromised in any way, or there was/is a crevice there, that perhaps some strawberries and/or their sugar sat on that spot for a bit, it could have caused some issues. PLUS, if you couple that with too much moisture in his substrate.
So, after this whole ordeal with his plastron rot spot, I now only have sphag moss in half of his enclosure near his hide, and the other half is bare on the floor.
I feed him on the bare portion of his enclosure, and I remove ALLLL fruit as soon as he's done eating it.
I generally wash out his water dish daily to every other day.
So, I don't think it was a bacteria in his water bowl (but who knows?).
BUT, as Mark has said, I struggle with keeping humidity up in this harsh winter dryness.
I use sphagnum moss as a substrate for Stagger.
I think I wasn't tossing his sphag moss around enough to mix the dry top with the wet bottom part to even out the moisture. I would flip the moss first thing in the morning, then the rest of the day, I'd simply just spray the heck out of the top layer, which I believe might have just been making the substrate sopping wet instead of creating a humid environment for him, and it wasn't allowing the substrate to evenly dry out before I was misting it again.
Hope that makes sense.
Another theory of mine is...fruit days.
On his fruit days, I would cut strawberry up for him and lay it out on his food dish.
Well, Stagger would finish eating what he wanted, then instead of walking AROUND his dish, he'd drag his happy tort butt THROUGH his remaining strawberries.
UGH.
Which would cause him to drag strawberries throughout his enclosure, into an through his moss. I'm thinking that if the strength of that area of his plastron was compromised in any way, or there was/is a crevice there, that perhaps some strawberries and/or their sugar sat on that spot for a bit, it could have caused some issues. PLUS, if you couple that with too much moisture in his substrate.
So, after this whole ordeal with his plastron rot spot, I now only have sphag moss in half of his enclosure near his hide, and the other half is bare on the floor.
I feed him on the bare portion of his enclosure, and I remove ALLLL fruit as soon as he's done eating it.
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