Sulcata Scutes/Suture Concerns

[TortoiseTourist]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here and joined the forum to help my aunt find some answers about concerns she has for her 4 year old sulcata. Her tortoise has recently developed some new spacing and texturing along the sutures of her shell. She has sent along some photos that I'll post below.

The area isn't oozing or bleeding, the scutes are not soft or lifting up at all, no soft tissue is visible. Despite this, could this be shell rot? Or is it possibly just new growth?
Any info will help and I thank you for your time.

 

[Yvonne G]

My guess is your Aunt has a light or heat source over the tortoise and it's too close and burning the new growth.

 

[TortoiseTourist]

My guess is your Aunt has a light or heat source over the tortoise and it's too close and burning the new growth.

Ah, I hadn't considered the heat source being the culprit. I will relay this back to her immediately. Thank you so much.

 

[wellington]

I agree with Yvonne. Also he is very dry looking. He needs some humidity and soaking. You can get some humidity in his night box which he should have for sleeping at night that he gets into and locked in for night. It should also be available for him to go into during the day should be want
Running misters or sprinklers during the hottest part of the day will also get humidity up.