Sulcata crack between scuts

Sarah B

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Joined
Jan 10, 2019
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3
Location (City and/or State)
Marble Falls texas
Help please, my 6 year old sulcata has a crack between his scuts. He eats mainly mazuri tortoise food and veggies (and grass). He lives outside and has a heat lamp in his house. He’s active and eats well, his eyes are clear and seems healthy. Do you think heat from above might be hurting/ drying out his shell?

0F97C9FF-3D89-4FE6-9165-F079CC398766.jpeg F535EA6B-095E-4BFB-953D-EC5508553A72.jpeg
 

Maro2Bear

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Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
Greetings...

Hot heat from above is never good - it severly dries out the closest thing (in this case your tort’s shell).
  • Are you using an overhead bulb or a Ceramic Heating Element (CHE). It sounds like a hot bulb. If so, I would look to get rid of the heat lamp, and replace that quickly with a CHE hooked to a thermostat. Longer term, put a Radiant Heat Panel in the ceiling and then a Kane heat mat on the floor.
Also, are you soaking your Sully every so often and keeping the humidity up? Looks like it’s in need of some good, long, warm water soakings.

Good luck, happy torting.
 

Yvonne G

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To me that looks like just what Maro2Bear has said - something too hot and too close to the new growth on the shell. He may lose all those scutes adjacent to that burned crack. Is there something hot he can lean up against on that side? . . . something hot mounted on the wall of the hiding place? I'd like to see a picture of the inside of his shelter.
 

Sarah B

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Jan 10, 2019
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Marble Falls texas
Thank you. I haven’t been soaking him since it got cold. I can drape a warm wet towel over him. I am using an overhead build which I can replace. The crack is not in the top is his shell though, but rather in his side. That what made me think that it might be nutritional as well.
Greetings...

Hot heat from above is never good - it severly dries out the closest thing (in this case your tort’s shell).
  • Are you using an overhead bulb or a Ceramic Heating Element (CHE). It sounds like a hot bulb. If so, I would look to get rid of the heat lamp, and replace that quickly with a CHE hooked to a thermostat. Longer term, put a Radiant Heat Panel in the ceiling and then a Kane heat mat on the floor.
Also, are you soaking your Sully every so often and keeping the humidity up? Looks like it’s in need of some good, long, warm water soakings.

Good luck, happy torting.
iu!
Greetings...

Hot heat from above is never good - it severly dries out the closest thing (in this case your tort’s shell).
  • Are you using an overhead bulb or a Ceramic Heating Element (CHE). It sounds like a hot bulb. If so, I would look to get rid of the heat lamp, and replace that quickly with a CHE hooked to a thermostat. Longer term, put a Radiant Heat Panel in the ceiling and then a Kane heat mat on the floor.
Also, are you soaking your Sully every so often and keeping the humidity up? Looks like it’s in need of some good, long, warm water soakings.

Good luck, happy torting.
To me that looks like just what Maro2Bear has said - something too hot and too close to the new growth on the shell. He may lose all those scutes adjacent to that burned crack. Is there something hot he can lean up against on that side? . . . something hot mounted on the wall of the hiding place? I'd like to see a picture of the inside of his shelter.
Thank you. I haven’t soaked
Greetings...

Hot heat from above is never good - it severly dries out the closest thing (in this case your tort’s shell).
  • Are you using an overhead bulb or a Ceramic Heating Element (CHE). It sounds like a hot bulb. If so, I would look to get rid of the heat lamp, and replace that quickly with a CHE hooked to a thermostat. Longer term, put a Radiant Heat Panel in the ceiling and then a Kane heat mat on the floor.
Also, are you soaking your Sully every so often and keeping the humidity up? Looks like it’s in need of some good, long, warm water soakings.

Good luck, happy torting.
 

Sarah B

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Joined
Jan 10, 2019
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3
Location (City and/or State)
Marble Falls texas
I was asked for a picture of the inside of his house and I am so glad I was asked. Now it seems obvious why the crack is in his side. I have a radiant heat pad and I’ll get it installed ASAP. Thank you all for your help. (Btw the back on the ground in his house are rubber mats which keep him insulated from the cement. ).F8C5A3A7-B67C-45BD-9514-2DA0B200C314.jpeg
 

Tom

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Yvonne G

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Yes! Thank you for the picture. It puts everything right in perspective!! That's a 250 watt bulb, and it's way too close to him. I also use a 250 watt bulb, but it's hanging from the ceiling, the ceiling is 5' high and the bulb is about 4' from the tortoise 's back. That bulb heats up his whole shed quite nicely. My tortoise also has a stansfield heat mat that he lays on.
 
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