Skin situation on hind legs

[Hannanz]

I noticed this morning, these bumps(?) on Edisto’s hind legs. She’s very active, eating well (yard weeds, spring mix and endive) and pooping every morning in her daily soak. She hatched around May 5 and is about 86g.

 

[Tom]

Do you have red ants or fire ants there? Might be Austwikia, but that seems less likely if she has grown to 86 grams.

How and where is she housed? What substrate? How damp? What temperatures?

 

[Hannanz]

She’s housed in a 2x4 closed chamber coco coir under orchid bark (it’s bigger chunks though) humidity is 86 (average) and temp is 88 on the hot end 81 on the cool end and her hide (which I put her in every night is 85) the marks sort of line up (she doesn’t stay still for long) where her shell would touch them. I keep her enclosure pretty wet and she doesn’t really go outside much and is never roaming around the house. I have seen a gnat in her enclosure but only this morning

 

[Hannanz]

Do you have red ants or fire ants there? Might be Austwikia, but that seems less likely if she has grown to 86 grams.

How and where is she housed? What substrate? How damp? What temperatures?

 

[zovick]

It looks to me as though the leg skin is being abraded by being rubbed on the sharp edges of the marginal scutes when the tortoise is walking. Those scutes can be very sharp in young tortoises and turtles. It is a protective measure to prevent them from being readily swallowed by predators. Gradually the scutes will become less sharp over time as the tortoise grows.

In some of my tortoises, this same issue was addressed by my filing the edges of the scutes with a nail file to render them more smooth.

 

[Tom]

She’s housed in a 2x4 closed chamber coco coir under orchid bark (it’s bigger chunks though) humidity is 86 (average) and temp is 88 on the hot end 81 on the cool end and her hide (which I put her in every night is 85) the marks sort of line up (she doesn’t stay still for long) where her shell would touch them. I keep her enclosure pretty wet and she doesn’t really go outside much and is never roaming around the house. I have seen a gnat in her enclosure but only this morning

Your substrate looks much too wet. The substrate should be lightly damp, never sopping wet. Ideally, with a 3-4 inch thick layer of substrate, the upper layers can be almost dry, while the lower layers remain more damp.

 

[Hannanz]

Your substrate looks much too wet. The substrate should be lightly damp, never sopping wet. Ideally, with a 3-4 inch thick layer of substrate, the upper layers can be almost dry, while the lower layers remain more damp.

I built her a new enclosure almost immediately after your comment about it being too wet, started anew with not so sopping wet substrate and the “bumps” on her legs are gone this morning! It looks like some of her skin is shedding under her shell but her legs look fine and her behavior is still normal. Thank you so much for the advice, Tom. Edisto is weighing 91 grams today and doing great thanks to y’all’s help!