Tortoise shell

[mashton10]

How bad is this tortoise shell? What can I do to help?

 

[Tom]

Why is this in the diet section?

How was this tortoise raised? Food? UV? Supplements? Temperatures? Humidity? Substrate? Etc...

 

[mashton10]

Food was generally bought from the shop, lives in a wide open table with temperatures in hot spots usually 80.

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Use dry pellet food and white powder calcium

 

[Tom]

80 is not warm enough for basking.

Broadleaf weeds, not pet shop foods, should be the majority of the diet.

Wide open tables are generally too dry and lacking humidity, which is necessary for normal growth.

Tortoises must have access to a good UV source (direct sunshine is best) in order to use and assimilate dietary calcium.

Does this tortoise have a water bowl or ever get soaked?


Please read the threads in my signature, and the threads on the portal page of this forum.

 

[Yvonne G]

The bunched-up scutes on the back of this tortoise is something that happened quite a while ago, when the tortoise was a baby. There's nothing you can do to improve the looks of the shell, but you CAN offer the best care available from her on.

There are two key theories as to why this happened to your tortoise:

The abnormal growth is caused by incorrect diet, specifically by high protein, high energy and calcium deficient diets without the proper UVB;

The abnormal growth is caused by lack of humidity or by general dehydration or both.