Shell rot?

[SHORTKAKE]

3-4 months old. Got him end of October. His shell has always looked like this and I thought nothing of it, but it doesn't seem right. What is it? What can I do besides see a vet at this time. 1st time tortoise owners. His cage has top soil mixed with moss. Temp 90-100 under uvb n heat light, 80 in hide. Soak 5min a day, eats springmix, grass/weeds, just added cuddle bone. Just started misting the hide for humidity which runs 60%. Please advise.

 

[JoesMum]

Shell rot is a product of a wet environment. If anything your humidity sounds too low rather than wet.

I'm not an expert in this area, hopefully those that are like @Yvonne G will be around in the next few hours as it becomes daytime in their part of the world.

In the meantime, could you post photos of your enclosure and lights so we can take a look for any issues.

 

[wellington]

Raise the humidity to 80%. Sulcatas don't really get shell rot, at least not from damp high humidity conditions. Not sure what the two hole like things are from, but it's not shell rot. I wouldn't really worry at this point. Just keep an eye on them. If they get funky looking, put some antibiotic or anti fungal cream on them. For now there doesn't look to be a problem that I can see.
Actually after blowing up the pic, I still wouldn't worry, but I would put some anti fungal cream on them unless the dark spot could be substrate

 

[SHORTKAKE]

Raise the humidity to 80%. Sulcatas don't really get shell rot, at least not from damp high humidity conditions. Not sure what the two hole like things are from, but it's not shell rot. I wouldn't really worry at this point. Just keep an eye on them. If they get funky looking, put some antibiotic or anti fungal cream on them. For now there doesn't look to be a problem that I can see.
Actually after blowing up the pic, I still wouldn't worry, but I would put some anti fungal cream on them unless the dark spot could be substrate

Where the rock is I have the heat light n uvb light facing down. I just changed the water dish to something smaller.

 

[Speedy-1]

Sulcata's are not prone to "shell rot" . Five minutes per day is really not soaking , I would venture a guess that if your tort was soaked longer in warmer water those black spots would come off with a cue tip or a soft toothbrush !

Where the rock is I have the heat light n uvb light facing down. I just changed the water dish to something smaller.

Unless you took the cover off to take this picture , I would say you should cover it to help increase heat and humidity !

 

[JoesMum]

Sulcata's are not prone to "shell rot" . Five minutes per day is really not soaking , I would venture a guess that if your tort was soaked longer in warmer water those black spots would come off with a cue tip or a soft toothbrush !

Unless you took the cover off to take this picture , I would say you should cover it to help increase heat and humidity !

Very true. A proper soak is for at least 20 minutes in warm water.

Use a flat bottomed bowl that your tort can't see through or over. I find soaks are most successful when done first thing in the morning before the tort has warmed up properly for the day

 

[Gillian M]

Sorry cannot help you - am no tort expert. But I can say:

a very warm welcome to the forum AND you have a gorgeous little tort. GOD bless.

 

[wellington]

What size enclosure is that? It looks too small. If it's less then a 20 long it needs to be bigger. The soak dish needs to be easy for them to get in and out of and large enough they can get their whole self into it and the water come up just past or to where their top and bottom shell meet. I also agree, 5 minutes is not a proper soak, but specially if they don't have the higher humidity.

 

[SHORTKAKE]

Sulcata's are not prone to "shell rot" . Five minutes per day is really not soaking , I would venture a guess that if your tort was soaked longer in warmer water those black spots would come off with a cue tip or a soft toothbrush !

Yes I took the top off for the picture. The patchy white spots is what I'm worried about as well. Thank you

Unless you took the cover off to take this picture , I would say you should cover it to help increase heat and humidity !

 

[cmacusa3]

There is nothing I see you should be worried about.

 

[Yvonne G]

Are you talking about the one little spot in the center and the other spot on the left side of the picture on the edge of the shell? I doubt that's shell rot. Wash both spots real well to get whatever dirt out that may be in there, and just keep an eye on it