Small cut on tortoise's neck

[Jonathan DeBlasi]

Hello, I've had my tortoise, Atlas, for around 2 years now and he's my first tortoise and currently the only one I own. He's never had any sort of injuries or anything in the past so I'm completely new to this. Today while I was giving Atlas a bath, I picked him up to scrub his bottom shell, and he always sticks his neck out when I do this, and I noticed a small red patch on the left side of his neck. I looked closer and it was obvious that it was a small bit of dry blood, I have no idea where he could have gotten this from and it doesn't look very severe. But is there something I should do to it to maybe clean it out? Should I maybe use peroxide or would it be better off healing on it's own?

 

[Jonathan DeBlasi]

Update: When I am not home and he wants out of his enclosure he tries to climb the walls, so I have to find a way to stop him from being able to try and climb in the corners of his cage. He was doing this when i got home today, and when I checked his neck the cut had doubled in size.I still don't know how to treat it or if I should just let it be. This is the first time he has had any sort of injury

 

[Jonathan DeBlasi]

Sorry for yet another post, but I managed to take a picture of his neck while he was eating. That's as far back as the cut goes.

 

[Blakem]

Don't be sorry for your posts. I would soak once a day and keep it clean. You could use a Q-tip to put triple antibiotic ointment on it before bedtime.

As for the cause, I'd remove anything that could cut your tortoise. I like to use sight barriers to keep my tortoise from seeing out of the area. They want to get out when they can see out. That, or you have too small of an area.

 

[Jonathan DeBlasi]

Don't be sorry for your posts. I would soak once a day and keep it clean. You could use a Q-tip to put triple antibiotic ointment on it before bedtime.

As for the cause, I'd remove anything that could cut your tortoise. I like to use sight barriers to keep my tortoise from seeing out of the area. They want to get out when they can see out. That, or you have too small of an area.

Thank you so much for helping me out! I'm gonna go soak him right now, and I never really thought about the fact that he can stretch and see outside the enclosure as the reason of climbing.

 

[Blakem]

Don't over soak, multiple times a day wouldn't be necessary.

 

[teresaf]

Are you sure that he's not getting cut by his own shell? I've seen where people have taken a nail file to sharp edges of shells to smooth them out a little. I've also seen people cut a piece of duct tape to size and lay it over the sharp edge.

 

[Jonathan DeBlasi]

Are you sure that he's not getting cut by his own shell? I've seen where people have taken a nail file to sharp edges of shells to smooth them out a little. I've also seen people cut a piece of duct tape to size and lay it over the sharp edge.

Yes I'm sure that it's his left leg, his scales catch on it when he tries to climb things. But I never thought of looking out for sharp edges on his shell.

 

[teresaf]

I wonder if there was a way to stop him from doing whatever he's doing when he raises his leg up like that? At least temporarily until it heals. Either make it so he doesn't want to climb or CAN'T climb. It would take some finagling but a small strip of duct tape from plastron, over front shoulder to back for a few days may help give it time to heal. Thay may make it so he can't raise his arm too close to head? They use cones on dogs....can't on torts but duct tape stays a while. If you do something like this make sure sticky part isn't exposed to catch his neck skin. And not too tight

 

[teresaf]

Envision a woman with a purse on her shoulder that has a REALLY thick strap. And its duck taped to her waist. It would make her not be able to extend her arm all the way up. Hey, we do all kinds of crazy things to help our babies. Sometimes we got to think outside the box!

 

[teresaf]

I have entirely too much time on my hands!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Are you sure that he's not getting cut by his own shell? I've seen where people have taken a nail file to sharp edges of shells to smooth them out a little. I've also seen people cut a piece of duct tape to size and lay it over the sharp edge.

The mark really does kind of line up with the section of scute. Maybe it's only an issue when he is fully extending his limbs.
How large is his enclosure? Could it be too small to suite him?
I'd go ahead and buy some antibiotic cream and have it handy for this type of injury.

 

[Jonathan DeBlasi]

The mark really does kind of line up with the section of scute. Maybe it's only an issue when he is fully extending his limbs.
How large is his enclosure? Could it be too small to suite him?
I'd go ahead and buy some antibiotic cream and have it handy for this type of injury.

Based off of the picture it looks like the shell lines up with the mark but that specific section is not very close to that part of his neck. Possibly when he is trying to climb but when he does that his left leg scrapes completely over that area. We have been putting some antibiotic cream on his neck and it has definitely been getting better over the past few days. I don't know the exact size of the cage so I will have to get back to you later today on that.

 

[Jonathan DeBlasi]

Envision a woman with a purse on her shoulder that has a REALLY thick strap. And its duck taped to her waist. It would make her not be able to extend her arm all the way up. Hey, we do all kinds of crazy things to help our babies. Sometimes we got to think outside the box!

I've never really thought of actually doing something to him in order to discourage him from climbing. What we decided to do was line the inside of his cage with smooth glass so that he can't really get a grip to climb. It's definitely helped with stopping him, he can't hold on and actually climb anymore the best that he can do is scrape at the area where he used to be able to haha. But I think he is starting to give up on it entirely now that he knows that he can't get anywhere. Only time will tell