White lines on my red foot

mrl05140

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Hello,

I noticed my 10 year old red foot that I obtained this summer to have some peeling of her shell. I am attaching a photo. I got her from a family that did not take proper care of her. She is very small for her age, and she is now growing. She has growth lines under her shell. I noticed this the other day where it looked like it was moss that was attached to her shell. I cleaned the lines with a soft tooth brush, and it comes off to expose white...What can it be?
2upsh7b.jpg
 

Alena

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Hello,

I noticed my 10 year old red foot that I obtained this summer to have some peeling of her shell. I am attaching a photo. I got her from a family that did not take proper care of her. She is very small for her age, and she is now growing. She has growth lines under her shell. I noticed this the other day where it looked like it was moss that was attached to her shell. I cleaned the lines with a soft tooth brush, and it comes off to expose white...What can it be?
2upsh7b.jpg
Is it a cherryhead redfoot tortoise? Just curious. I will leave your question to someone with more experience as far as the shell goes.
 

Alena

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She is beautiful. I'm no expert ,however; I believe you hit the nail on the head. She appears to be a redfoot tortoise. She looks healthy to me. I'm sure the shell issue can be resolved. Someone will reply to your question soon.
 

Yvonne G

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That's the new growth area of the shell. New growth occurs between the scutes like that. The tortoise would benefit from an every day soak, with light scrubbing over the shell with a soft bristle brush. When finished you can dry thoroughly then dab on a bit of cold pressed coconut oil on the growth seams. Allow it to soak in for 15 minutes or so, then polish it off with a clean, dry absorbent cloth.
 

mrl05140

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I noticed peeling and white on the back of my tortoise shell - Is this normal? I got her this summer and she was not taken care of properly for 10 years. She is growing now that I have her in the right environment and there is growth lines under her shell.
2upsh7b.jpg
 

Toddrickfl1

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That's new growth and some Redfoots get marbling where the new growth comes in that's white. My Redfoot just started doing it recently tooIMG_20181031_172339017.jpg
 

mrl05140

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That's the new growth area of the shell. New growth occurs between the scutes like that. The tortoise would benefit from an every day soak, with light scrubbing over the shell with a soft bristle brush. When finished you can dry thoroughly then dab on a bit of cold pressed coconut oil on the growth seams. Allow it to soak in for 15 minutes or so, then polish it off with a clean, dry absorbent cloth.

So I shouldn't be concerned?? I am all worked up!
 

Yvonne G

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No, it's nothing to be concerned about. It's just new growth that's too dry. A little lubrication will help.
 

Yvonne G

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@mrl05140 - I'm not talkin' about just rubbing oil on that one growth seam you're concerned about. ALL the growth seems are dry. It's just that the other seams haven't shed off the dry stuff yet. Oil will help them all.
 

mrl05140

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@mrl05140 - I'm not talkin' about just rubbing oil on that one growth seam you're concerned about. ALL the growth seems are dry. It's just that the other seams haven't shed off the dry stuff yet. Oil will help them all.

Perfect - Thank you very much, I was all worried we'd need a vet visit.
 

mrl05140

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@mrl05140 - I'm not talkin' about just rubbing oil on that one growth seam you're concerned about. ALL the growth seems are dry. It's just that the other seams haven't shed off the dry stuff yet. Oil will help them all.

Here Lucy is today! What do you think?

7C8E0D37-45D4-4D5E-BCC3-336C214690BE.jpeg AF1BD520-F7F4-400C-8A0E-7CC5DA932DD5.jpeg
 

Yvonne G

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The application of oil is helping the new growth to be soft and supple and that old, cracked stuff is coming off. Looking good.
 
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