white tail

[Nadine Chidzey]

my tortoise has a white scaly skinned tail, the rest of its body is the normal colour, i have checked underneath his tail and he seems fine. does anyone know why his tail has turned a white colour and if so how to treat it?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi "Nadine Chidzey":

Is your name "Nadine?"

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

May we know where you are?

We won't be able to help you with your problem unless we can see a picture of what you are talking about.

 

[Nadine Chidzey]

Yeah my names Nadine and I currently live in England.. I included a picture of my tortoise and the tail if you wouldn't mind having a look, thanks

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Nadine:

Well, the picture is kind of blurry, but I'm thinking it may look like the skin has split. Does it look like that to you? I would put some antibiotic ointment on it and try to keep it clean. I have no idea what might have made the tail swell and split, but if he's pooping ok and eating and acting normal, just keep it clean. If you're worried about it, you might think about getting a vet's opinion to be sure if there's a problem or not.

 

[ascott]

yeah...kinda looks like it peeled a bit...but does not look all funky and ooky right? hmmm? no gross smell right?

 

[Nadine Chidzey]

yeah thats what it looks like, its just dry like the rest of his skin but its white, it doesnt smell

many thanks,
nadine

 

[HLogic]

If there are scales on the white part as there are on the rest of the tail, it is probably just a color 'abherration' if indeed your tort's tail is supposed to be white. If there are no scales and it is not an open wound, it could be an old wound that has healed with the white being scar tissue.

 

[Nadine Chidzey]

thankyou, i do not think it has been caused by a wound..
why does colour abherration happen, is it dangerous and is there any way to treat it?

 

[Laura]

its not just dried pee?
pee bleaching?

 

[Nadine Chidzey]

i do not think so because i bathed him throughly after i seen it..
thankyou for the suggestion

 

[Laura]

i was just able to see pic.. so no.. it doesnt look like that.. definately looks lke cracked skin.. its its white underneath and not pink.. it might die and fall off.. hard to say....
Injury? Fungal?

 

[Yvonne G]

To me it looks like the tail swelled up causing the outer skin to split.

 

[HLogic]

Is there a chance of getting a picture in better focus? It is really hard to tell without being able to see more detail.

 

[ascott]

I have two little RFs that I adopted not to long ago...they use to be housed together and there is a larger one and a smaller one...the bigger one absolutely was bullying the smaller one....when I first brought them home I watched them a bit and noticed the smaller one was dehydrated more than the larger one...the smaller one had and eye issue and could not see very well...alot of affects from the bullying were there...so after about 2 days I decided to give them their own enclosures...and the smaller one has done a great turn around and able to feed herself and move around without being jumped and bitten at...

The reason I share that with you is, after they were apart for about 10 days or so I was soaking the little one and noticed something hanging off of the left front foot...I went to flick it off and realized it was the entire skin cap of her little foot with part of the toe nails still attached...so I put my old lady glasses on and grabbed the magnifying glass (she is not that big...LOL and my eyesight is designed for larger tortoise feet...lol) and flipped that little piece of skin back onto the end of her foot and really looked at it...then went and, in the air, matched the bigger tortoise mouth next to the little ones foot and yup perfect match...that bugger likely had bitten her foot and broke the skin but not enough to take a chunk off...enough though to cause the dark part of her skin to peel as it healed...so now under that little foot she has clean, healed little white foot (it is now starting to turn darker)...so the skin cracked and finished falling off and now doing better---so just keep and eye on the tail and if it starts to look like a wound or if it should swell as Yvonne suggested then you can take action....IMHO that is...