Skin problems

[JenniferAnn]

Hi all,
I am happy to say that the suggested adjustments to food has helped Woody. He has gained weight and has new visible growth spots. I am concerned he may have skin problems or growing too fast within a short amount of time. The problem is that the skin behind his joints is cracked. I have never seen him shed this area before and I'm worried he may have a fungus or get one due to the dry skin. Any suggestions?

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[ascott]

How often and for how long do you soak him? What type of substrate are you using in his enclosure? What temps and humidity are you running in his enclosure?

 

[JenniferAnn]

How often and for how long do you soak him? What type of substrate are you using in his enclosure? What temps and humidity are you running in his enclosure?

He soaks for 30 min every morning. The substrate is half Timothy hay (he likes to sleep burrowed in it) and half coconut coir. His temps have been 75 cool side and 88 warm side. He has a rock he can climb on under the lamp to warm but never does. I'm not sure about humidity. I don't have anything to measure that yet.

 

[dcwolfe]

it does look like its cracked a little bit. When your soaking him Its importatant to keep the water warm, if you let it sit there for 30 mins it will most likely be cold, so make sure to heat it or add warm water often and I bet that will help. If your humidity is a little low I could also see this happening from dry skin been under the heat lamp.

 

[JenniferAnn]

The dome on the right is heat and the left is a ceramic heater for at night. His UVA/UVB light is hanging above the coir substrate.

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it does look like its cracked a little bit. When your soaking him Its importatant to keep the water warm, if you let it sit there for 30 mins it will most likely be cold, so make sure to heat it or add warm water often and I bet that will help. If your humidity is a little low I could also see this happening from dry skin been under the heat lamp.

Ill be sure to pay attention to his water temp but I don't think it usually gets too cold (maybe bc I'm not a reptile lol). Ill add warm water now. I just now thought about how I recently added the other heater for night. Maybe with the additional heat and not adding humidity he is dehydrating. I was actually going to by a humidifier today (for me because I have a cold) do you it would help if I put that near his house, or do I need to buy another especially for him?

 

[ascott]

In my personal opinion----it looks way dry in there....the hay is not a good substrate to offer any moisture to because it gets icky/moldy....so if you are wanting to add some humidity without soaking your enclosure you could remove the hay and simply add some warm water to the side directly under the light heat so that becomes a warm humid area...or you could offer a retreat that is set up as a warm humid hide (always warm and humid never cold and wet)

I don't know if it is just the angle of the pic....but the water and food area seems really a task for your tort to readily get to....is there a reason that the dishes are set inside of the other really big dish? Just curious I suppose...

 

[JenniferAnn]

The water and food dish are low enough so he can easily get in and out. I put the dishes in a dish because he walks through the water and walks around in the coir and then it gets suck on his feet (because they are wet). I don't want the coir to get in his food and him eat it. Before I put the "under dish" he would drag it in his dish.

As for the hay, this may sound silly but I wanted to slowly change his habitat when I added the coir, so I left half hay. He doesn't like the coir and always sleeps in the hay. I would feel bad to take away his sleeping spot. Also, he seems to move a little harder in the coir because he cant push off it like the hay.

 

[dcwolfe]

The water and food dish are low enough so he can easily get in and out. I put the dishes in a dish because he walks through the water and walks around in the coir and then it gets suck on his feet (because they are wet). I don't want the coir to get in his food and him eat it. Before I put the "under dish" he would drag it in his dish.

As for the hay, this may sound silly but I wanted to slowly change his habitat when I added the coir, so I left half hay. He doesn't like the coir and always sleeps in the hay. I would feel bad to take away his sleeping spot. Also, he seems to move a little harder in the coir because he cant push off it like the hay.

I ended up mixing the coir and spag moss and mine moves around fairly well in it and I tried just adding water in the coir and I allways ended up with swamp like conditions so I bit the bullet and bought a humidifier and it works really well and I have never seen such smooth growth develop on a tort as mine has been getting now.

 

[Tortus]

I think the consensus is that leopards need a basking spot of around 95 degrees, so 88 may be low for the hot side.

I also put some timothy hay down under the basking area but I change it every couple days. I bought a 5 pound bale and need to get rid of it before it rots. The tort likes to eat and rummage around in it. Mine doesn't like to sleep in the hay though. It makes a little nest in the coir on the cooler/humid end at night above the heat pad. Every morning it's shell reads around 80 degrees.

 

[JenniferAnn]

I think the consensus is that leopards need a basking spot of around 95 degrees, so 88 may be low for the hot side.

I also put some timothy hay down under the basking area but I change it every couple days. I bought a 5 pound bale and need to get rid of it before it rots. The tort likes to eat and rummage around in it. Mine doesn't like to sleep in the hay though. It makes a little nest in the coir on the cooler/humid end at night above the heat pad. Every morning it's shell reads around 80 degrees.

So while you have the hay, how do you keep your humidity levels?

 

[Tortus]

I think the consensus is that leopards need a basking spot of around 95 degrees, so 88 may be low for the hot side.

I also put some timothy hay down under the basking area but I change it every couple days. I bought a 5 pound bale and need to get rid of it before it rots. The tort likes to eat and rummage around in it. Mine doesn't like to sleep in the hay though. It makes a little nest in the coir on the cooler/humid end at night above the heat pad. Every morning it's shell reads around 80 degrees.

So while you have the hay, how do you keep your humidity levels?

I keep the coconut coir moist and my humidity has always been above 50% during the day, and 80% at night. I just bought a humidifier that I run during the day so it never drops below 70%. I also have a heat pad with a thermostat on the cool covered end that helps some of the moisture to evaporate from the coir, creating humidity.

But again I change the hay every couple days or so in order to keep it fresh. Not that I've had any mold problems so far but better safe than sorry.

Just to clarify, coir is my main substrate. I just put some hay down on top of it on the hot end.