Shell

[iheartchessie]

Hi, I need expert maybe you can educate me a little, I've noticed there's is something on my tortoise's shell.
He is 3 years old.
Is this part of growing up? Looking forward and Thanks in advance for your answers,


P.S I live in a tropical country and always follow care tips

 

[Ink]

@ZEROPILOT should be able to help you. Do you soak your tortoise in warm shallow water? Does he get any calcium (if so what, how much and how often)? Welcome to the forum

 

[TammyJ]

Hi and welcome! I don't actually see anything wrong, it's a beautiful Redfoot. But I am not an expert regarding shell growth or anomalies. @ZEROPILOT is very experienced with this species.

 

[iheartchessie]

@ZEROPILOT should be able to help you. Do you soak your tortoise in warm shallow water? Does he get any calcium (if so what, how much and how often)? Welcome to the forum

Yes I do, every morning until he pooped, he have multivitamins with calcium sprinkled on pellets every 3 days

 

[iheartchessie]

Hi and welcome! I don't actually see anything wrong, it's a beautiful Redfoot. But I am not an expert regarding shell growth or anomalies. @ZEROPILOT is very experienced with this species.

Thank you, I do hope he will notice this thread soon

 

[Yvonne G]

The tortoise just looks awfully dry to.me. Does it live in a humid environment? We see those sunken areas quite a bit on non-wild caught tortoises. I don't think it's anything to worry about.

 

[iheartchessie]

The tortoise just looks awfully dry to.me. Does it live in a humid environment? We see those sunken areas quite a bit on non-wild caught tortoises. I don't think it's anything to worry about.

Yes it's humid here, always have typhoons, and He has automatic humidifier at his vivarium just in case humity got low

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hello. Does he/she live outdoors part time? If not. How are you providing UVB?
There is moderate pyramiding due to the ambient humidity being too low.
Can you provide any other information? Photos of the enclosure. Lighting. Etc.
And I'd like to see a photo of the tortoise walking so that we can develop a theory about the overall health.
I see nothing alarming in those photos. Nothing out of the ordinary. But the more information you give us, the better we can help.

 

[iheartchessie]

Hello. Does he/she live outdoors part time? If not. How are you providing UVB?
There is moderate pyramiding due to the ambient humidity being too low.
Can you provide any other information? Photos of the enclosure. Lighting. Etc.
And I'd like to see a photo of the tortoise walking so that we can develop a theory about the overall health.
I see nothing alarming in those photos. Nothing out of the ordinary. But the more information you give us, the better we can help.

 

[iheartchessie]

 

[COmtnLady]

The mossy stuff you have scattered around, while it looks cute, is bad to have in a tortoise enclosure. Its difficult to digest, can cause impacted bowels, and the tortoise will try eating it.

Also, is there a top over the entire enclosure? If not contained the heat and humidity float off into the rest of the room. A Red Foot needs 80-85% humidity ALL the time, and 84F/29C all the time. What is the "automatic humidifier" you mention? It doesn't spray or mist the air does it? If so that is bad for your tortoise. They need humid, not wet. Bigger drops of water in the air make it hard for them to breathe, and can cause respiratory infections.

I'm not seeing a water dish your tort can sit in. There should be fresh water available all the time. Terra Cotta plant saucers, big enough for the tortoise to sit in, are the best option. They're heavy enough to not flip, porous enough to help keep the nails short, and easy to wash out.

 

[iheartchessie]

The mossy stuff you have scattered around, while it looks cute, is bad to have in a tortoise enclosure. Its difficult to digest, can cause impacted bowels, and the tortoise will try eating it.

Also, is there a top over the entire enclosure? If not contained the heat and humidity float off into the rest of the room. A Red Foot needs 80-85% humidity ALL the time, and 84F/29C all the time. What is the "automatic humidifier" you mention? It doesn't spray or mist the air does it? If so that is bad for your tortoise. They need humid, not wet. Bigger drops of water in the air make it hard for them to breathe, and can cause respiratory infections.

I'm not seeing a water dish your tort can sit in. There should be fresh water available all the time. Terra Cotta plant saucers, big enough for the tortoise to sit in, are the best option. They're heavy enough to not flip, porous enough to help keep the nails short, and easy to wash out.

the humidified is connected to humidity sensor, if the humidity is low, it will on automatically. I just turn it off while recording the tortoise

 

[COmtnLady]

Misters, humidifiers like that, and sprayers are bad for your tortoise. They put larger droplets of water into the air that the tortoise is forced to breathe. It would be good to remove that before your tortoise gets a respiratory infections. It's not water boarding, but sort of similar... Stand in a shower yourself with it raining directly into your face and breathe like you would walking down the street,

What do you have for substrate? 'Best is coco coir with fir bark on top. With coir and bark you can pour water into the corners as needed, it flows down through the coco coir, evaporates up through both, and provides good humidity with a dryish top layer for your tortoise to walk around on.



You didn't explain a few of the other things.

The mossy stuff you have scattered around, while it looks cute, is bad to have in a tortoise enclosure. Its difficult to digest, can cause impacted bowels, and the tortoise will try eating it. ** t would be good to remove this as soon as possible.**

Also, is there a top over the entire enclosure? If not contained the heat and humidity float off into the rest of the room. A Red Foot needs 80-85% humidity ALL the time, and 84F/29C all the time. What is the "automatic humidifier" you mention? It doesn't spray or mist the air does it? If so that is bad for your tortoise. They need humid, not wet. Bigger drops of water in the air make it hard for them to breathe, and can cause respiratory infections.

I'm not seeing a water dish your tort can sit in. There should be fresh water available all the time. Terra Cotta plant saucers, big enough for the tortoise to sit in, are the best option. They're heavy enough to not flip, porous enough to help keep the nails short, and easy to wash out.

And Zeropilot asked:
Hello. Does he/she live outdoors part time? If not. How are you providing UVB?
There is moderate pyramiding due to the ambient humidity being too low.
Can you provide any other information? Photos of the enclosure. Lighting. Etc.
And I'd like to see a photo of the tortoise walking so that we can develop a theory about the overall health.
I see nothing alarming in those photos. Nothing out of the ordinary. But the more information you give us, the better we can help.

I'm not trying to be pushy, it would just be easier for us to help you with responses to what has been asked. Thank you for being concerned about your tortoise. Its important for the health of your tortoise to figure all this stuff out.
.

 

[iheartchessie]

Thank you

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

You’ve been given some great pointers already!

Thought you might hopefully find this indoor housing thread I made useful, it covers correct equipment(lighting, heating, uv), levels, importance of a closed chamber, appropriately maintaining humidity, substrates, there’s lots of visual examples for everything, a food list and a really handy diet link to check out! If going with a greenhouse, the lower the ceiling height, whilst still allowing for recommended bulb height, the better!

Housing older red foot/cherryhead

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to go over an example of an appropriate indoor red foot/cherryhead enclosure. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure(especially the size these guys get!) I understand being from the uk myself, that some climate’s make it...

tortoiseforum.org

This includes some other closed chamber options, but bare in mind the size scale for how big your tortoise is now

Visual inspiration

Hi guys! I’ve had some lovely messages complimenting me on my care sheets I made for all the visuals they include! That makes me so happy because as a visual learner myself, that was my goal🥰 I’ve recently had some requests for some more visual inspiration for set ups that can house babies/...

tortoiseforum.org

Lastly, this one is also really good to familiarise yourself with, it’ll help you avoid the wrong bulbs, substrates, housing etc, I always encourage double checking purchases on the forum too before buying

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Hope they help!!

 

[cooky_luvs]

The main thing that sticks out to me in your photos and video is that the heat sources look very close. The area immediately under the heat sources will have little to no humidity. With being so close they will be very desiccating and dry out the carapace almost defeating the purpose of providing that humidity. It looks like he may be due for an enclosure upgrade in both height and width.

 

[Anyfoot]

Your tort looks good to me. I think there maybe some slight deformity, Either that’s just the way it’s growing or MAYBE it’s been a little dry at some point in the past from too closer heat source. The only thing I’m seeing that I would change is that basking light. Everytime your tort eats it’s forced to be under that light at the same time.

Put a shield under the CHE and change out the light for a UVB strip light so there is no direct heat onto your torts carapace.
Good luck