Uneven scute separation

[Evan Dowgin]

My Leopard tortoise came into my possession about 5 months ago after being given up by someone who couldn't properly care for him. The previous owner said that he was a year old at the time but he was extremely small and sickly. I managed to get him in much better health and he's grown quite a bit but I've noticed some uneven scute separation in his shell. Has anyone had experience with this? Pictures are from today. I'll also post some pictures of him when I first got him.

 

[Evan Dowgin]

When I first got him on the left and a month ago on the right

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Evan, and welcome to the Forum!

I think a see a couple places where the scutes seem to be stuck to each other. I don't know if that's what you're seeing? I was going to try an experiment the next time I had a baby with stuck scutes, but so far I haven't had that problem. Take a Q-tip dipped in extra virgin, cold pressed coconut oil and gently massage the stuck area. You'll have to keep it up over several days (weeks? Months?).

Of course, it may not be stuck scutes. It might just be that the growth is complying with keeping the overall silhouette of the tortoise as it should be.

You're doing a nice job of growing him up smoothly, so I'm assuming he's being kept in a humid environment? So moisture probably isn't the problem.

Maybe other members have a different insight for you.

 

[Jodie]

I have no useful info, but wanted to at nice job. He is beautiful. Hopefully if they are stuck, you can get them growing normal.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

A reptile osteologist (paleontologist) told me that happens when the junction of bone plates dies. It may be just one side or both. Other sides of the bone plates will make up the difference. I know what you see is the keratin scute material, but the cause is differential growth of the underlying bone.

All bones grow, some from a center point and elongate, some from the edges or ends. In Romer's book "Osteology of the Reptiles" it explains all this much better than I can.

Here's the link to the book on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/089464985X/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

What causes that kind of specific bone death? I was motivated to seek an answer as at the time I had several Russian tortoises, they were all imports, nobody bred them back then, several grew but unevenly like this. The suspected cause was trauma that occurred when they were all packed loose in shipping boxes. Back then IATA didn't have enforced shipping criteria for live reptiles.

So with your leo's it might be they got bumped and the points of contact between the bone plates was damaged. Bone plates in neonates look like many starfish shapes plates with gaps. As they grow and get calcium those gaps fill in. So when they are very young it is easier for those points of contact to get damaged, they are much more fragile.

It does not mean they were treated poorly, the tortoises could have toppled themselves over and bumped hard enough to cause this. I have seen this begin at different ages of several species, all based on the early experience with the Russians.

My answer is based on how real physiology might have come into play. My answer is not definitive for your particular tortoise.

 

[Evan Dowgin]

Thank you guys, I'm gunna try the coconut oil and hope that will fix it. I'll keep updating periodically and of course if anyone has any other thoughts I'd love to hear them.

 

[Yvonne G]

Well, after reading Will's explanation, I realize there's nothing you can do to get those scutes 'unstuck.' If the underlying bone is not growing, stands to reason the scutes won't add new growth either.