Wild caught tortoise shell rot

[beth.greene86]

We recently acquired a Russian tortoise. From what I’ve read and researched on here, he is wild caught, and at least ten years old. I’m concerned about possible shell rot. Is this shell rot or wear and tear on an older wild tortoise?

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm not seeing any shell rot.

 

[Tom]

We recently acquired a Russian tortoise. From what I’ve read and researched on here, he is wild caught, and at least ten years old. I’m concerned about possible shell rot. Is this shell rot or wear and tear on an older wild tortoise.

Russians don't typically get shell rot. That is just normal wear and tear.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Russian tortoises seldom have no battle scars of some kind.

 

[beth.greene86]

I'm not seeing any shell rot.

Awesome thank you! There’s so many posts on this topic when I did a Google search and when I searched here, and none of them seemed to definitively outline with clear photos exactly WHAT shell rot looks like, so I was concerned some of the pitting/flaking between scutes could be due to bacteria or fungus. I see all responders are really experienced and knowledgeable (Tom I printed off your care sheet as a resource to have in hand!) Any great photos or threads you could share that show a great example? Thank you for helping a newbie out!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

What Shell Fungus (Shell Rot) Looks like

This is one of my RF females. They live in an outdoors pen and are rarely handled. However, yesterday, it was necessary for me to bring them indoors because of cooler than normal temperatures. I inspected each tortoise, and found that tortoise "C" had some shell fungus. Actually quite a lot...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[beth.greene86]

What Shell Fungus (Shell Rot) Looks like

This is one of my RF females. They live in an outdoors pen and are rarely handled. However, yesterday, it was necessary for me to bring them indoors because of cooler than normal temperatures. I inspected each tortoise, and found that tortoise "C" had some shell fungus. Actually quite a lot...

tortoiseforum.org

This is perfect thank you! So it truly does look like a fungus. This is really helpful.

 

[wellington]

This is perfect thank you! So it truly does look like a fungus. This is really helpful.

No, it doesn't look like a fungus on your tortoise, Zeropilots RF yes. It looks like a perfect older WC male Russian. I would not treat him with anything. You can if you want, put the cream on but likely a total waste of time as you likely will not see a change.

 

[wellington]

Russian tortoises seldom have no battle scars of some kind.

Not sure what you meant to say here, but I don't think it's reading the way you wanted.

 

[TammyJ]

Not sure what you meant to say here, but I don't think it's reading the way you wanted.

It meant that Russian tortoises seldom have NO battle scars. Just what was said. They often have battle scars.

 

[wellington]

It meant that Russian tortoises seldom have NO battle scars. Just what was said. They often have battle scars.

Okay, I totally read it wrong. I thought he was saying they seldom have battle scars, which I know, he knows, is so not true. Russians, specially WC always have a ruff shell and battle scars.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Not sure what you meant to say here, but I don't think it's reading the way you wanted.

Russian tortoises are usually at least a little "banged up" in some way

 

[wellington]

Russian tortoises are usually at least a little "banged up" in some way

Yeah, my mind either read a word wrong or I read it wrong lol.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Yeah, my mind either read a word wrong or I read it wrong lol.

Spell check wrote most of it

 

[wellington]

Spell check wrote most of it

I need spell check for my brain sometimes lol.