White clear rings on shell and plastron

[hhilgen2]

I'm hoping someone has seen this before. I've treated turtles for shell rot, but this looks different to me.

My leopard tort has these clear/white rings all over her plastron and carapace. They are not raised at all, cannot be felt or removed/scratched off, are not soft, and have no odour. They look like water marks. She's still acting fine and packing on weight. What are they?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Did you post a picture?

 

[hhilgen2]

Yes it should be embedded. I'll attach it again just in case.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

In that case, it's my security that wont let me view it. Sorry.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

They're very similar to these rings on these yellow foot carapaces: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/olivia-yellow-foot-rehab-help.52900/page-3 & http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sure-white-squiggly-lines.123125/ and this redfoot plastron: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/those-weird-white-circles-on-the-shell.27234/ and on this sulcata too http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/faint-white-circles-on-scutes-sulcata.111854/ and on this Hermann's http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/shell-issues-white-squiggly-lines.93315/

There are a few suggestions as to cause in those threads. I don't think there is a definitive explanation though, but they don't seem that uncommon or in anyway harmful.

 

[hhilgen2]

That's very interesting! They look identical to the sulcata thread you linked. They seemed to be very benign to me as all the shell rot I've seen has been white or dark and exfoliates.

 

[Tom]

Totally normal and nothing to worry about. My best guess is that these are channels to bring nutrients and/or moisture to the shell. We've talked about these "squiggly lines" here many times, and never reached any definitive conclusion about exactly what they are or what they do.

Do a search for "squiggly lines" to read more.