White Stuff on Sulcata

[OliveW]

The first photo I took as soon as our sulcata came out of his den to me, this afternoon. I immediately noticed white stuff on his leg.

He had already been soaked earlier today, but I took him over to his pool to clean him off and get a better look. I had my husband hold him to take some additional photos. It looks like he has gotten into paint, but that's 100% impossible. He was in his enclosure, down inside his burrow.

I was glad to see the scraping pattern, because initially I assumed some kind of fungus and was devastated as we have a hurricane coming and no vets will be in for the rest of the week.

Any ideas what this could be? Could he have hit some kind of mineral layer in his burrow? It's extremely deep, further than the 16' our lighted endoscope goes. I'm really worried about letting him go back down there now.

 

[wellington]

Rubbed against a stucco building?
Some kind of rock or mineral sand/rock he is rubbing against in the burrow?

 

[OliveW]

Rubbed against a stucco building?
Some kind of rock or mineral sand/rock he is rubbing against in the burrow?

Most definitely not a building. We have nothing like that around here. Whatever it is, it's down inside his burrow, too deep for us to see.

I just don't know what to do. He loves his burrow, but I'm not sure what's down there and if it will hurt him or not.

This is just giving me all the more reason to bring him inside during the hurricane. He's spent the night in a heated bathroom before. I put him in the giant soaker tub with a narrow cardboard box to crawl into. Not sure if that's the safest thing either....

 

[zovick]

The first photo I took as soon as our sulcata came out of his den to me, this afternoon. I immediately noticed white stuff on his leg.

He had already been soaked earlier today, but I took him over to his pool to clean him off and get a better look. I had my husband hold him to take some additional photos. It looks like he has gotten into paint, but that's 100% impossible. He was in his enclosure, down inside his burrow.

I was glad to see the scraping pattern, because initially I assumed some kind of fungus and was devastated as we have a hurricane coming and no vets will be in for the rest of the week.

Any ideas what this could be? Could he have hit some kind of mineral layer in his burrow? It's extremely deep, further than the 16' our lighted endoscope goes. I'm really worried about letting him go back down there now.

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Possibly it is limestone. Maybe the tortoise dug into a limestone deposit underground.

Or is there any type of clay underground down there where you are? If so, it might be clay deposits which have dried on the tortoise.

 

[wellington]

I don't think it's anything to worry about. Whether a stone or sand of some sort, it's likely nothing that would hurt him.
@Tom

 

[OliveW]

Possibly it is limestone. Maybe the tortoise dug into a limestone deposit underground.

Or is there any type of clay underground down there where you are? If so, it might be clay deposits which have dried on the tortoise.

I really don't know. I'm going to do some research on it right now.

All I know about our property currently is above ground. I did have a very deep well put in when we bought this property. Although we were the only ones living here at the time, I wanted a well that would support five families, so it's pretty deep and "thought" they told me it's in a great spot, embedded in limestone. ??? I could totally have gotten that wrong.

We do have three trail marker trees on our property, which was previously all wooded, so there is something cool here, I just don't know what it is.

 

[OliveW]

I don't think it's anything to worry about. Whether a stone or sand of some sort, it's likely nothing that would hurt him.
@Tom

Thank you!! I'm so new at this

 

[OliveW]

Okay, so there is limestone here between ground level and 50' - anywhere in between. A very kind and sweet geology professor at UF told me that our property lays directly on something called the Ocala Uplift. We don't live anywhere near Ocala, that's just what it's called. It's an area that has limestone close to the surface.

The professor was so amazing and caring, she FaceTimed me and I sent her a pin to the exact location. Yes, I'm a necrotic tort mom.

She said it's unlikely to impossible for Tortimer to dig through limestone and he likely just grazed a deposit. That makes complete sense since most of the white stuff is on one side.

As far as limestone doing him any harm, she was leaving that up the experienced folks here but did point out that our native gopher tortoises are prolific diggers, so it's unlikely that it's too much of a problem.

 

[Thundersnow]

Sometimes when they pee/poop it can be white. Maybe he crawled through some of it

 

[zolasmum]

Sometimes when they pee/poop it can be white. Maybe he crawled through some of it

Yes, urate traces - that's what I first thought too. I assume that has been considered already.
Angie.

 

[OliveW]

Sometimes when they pee/poop it can be white. Maybe he crawled through some of it

He always poops big darker color turds that we clean out of his enclosure. I sure hope he doesn't do any down in his burrow. Ewww. It's never been white, though.

His pee sometimes has a white color, but it's very liquid. I've never seen chunks, or even thick white urine like I've seen others post about.

This wouldn't even brush off his shell with an old toothbrush. I was able to scrape some off with effort. Not as easy I would expect for something soft like that.

 

[Carapace Caretaker]

Yes, urate traces - that's what I first thought too. I assume that has been considered already.
Angie.

I agree. My Sulcata produce rates in and out of their burrows. And as you know dried urates are tough to clean off.

 

[OliveW]

I agree. My Sulcata produce rates in and out of their burrows. And as you know dried urates are tough to clean off.

My Sulcata is semi-defective. 😂 I don't know why he doesn't produce urates like other tortoises do. He is very pyramided from lack of proper care before I got him. He pees all the time, a lot. Sometimes it will be partially white, other times it's really just clear. It's never once, that I know of, been anything thicker than water. Perhaps he reserves chucky pee for the burrow?

 

[Sarah2020]

I think it is lime stone or chalk buried underground and he is rubbing against it in his burrow. The deep well sound concerning, could he tunnel to that and drop ? If it washes off I think your OK.

 

[Sarah2020]

Just read about Hurrican Ian in Florida, hope your all safe and OK.

 

[OliveW]

I think it is lime stone or chalk buried underground and he is rubbing against it in his burrow. The deep well sound concerning, could he tunnel to that and drop ? If it washes off I think your OK.

Oh, no he is nowhere near the well. That's on the other side of our home. We have a pretty large property. I only mentioned that because of what kind of layers I thought were under our soil/sand.

 

[zovick]

Oh, no he is nowhere near the well. That's on the other side of our home. We have a pretty large property. I only mentioned that because of what kind of layers I thought were under our soil/sand.

Your tortoise very likely contacted a limestone deposit in his burrow and will be fine. Limestone is a form of calcium (calcium carbonate or Ca CO3) and will not be harmful to the animal.