Miranda Rose
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2015
- Messages
- 7
Hello,
I have had this tortoise (my first) for 9 months. I believe it is a female russian tortoise, but not 100% sure on that. She is a full-sized adult, about 8 inches long.
I have been trying to care for her on a limited budget (lots of DIY work). So far, she really has seemed healthy and happy.
I posted pictures of both her enclosures (indoor and out). Due to the weather where I live (NW united states), she has not been outside much this winter, so that picture is her outside pen when I haven't cleaned it up yet for the spring.
Inside, she is in three large, connected, rubbermaid bins. I made tunnels between them and zip-tied the containers together. She loves having "rooms". The right size bin on the picture has a hiding shelter, the middle her large water bowl, and the left her basking spot and uv lamp. I also put her food in there normally. The substrate is coconut coir, with about 20% playsand mixed in on the right bin where she digs in.
Outside, she has a side patio, about 10 foot square. I used cinderblocks and chicken wire to block anywhere she could escape, including a few inches down in the dirt. About 70% is the cement/rocks, and 30% is the shady area under the bushes. I also plant some trays with weeds she can eat and rotate those in (not pictured) and of course give her a water dish. She has several hiding spots.
For food, she gets about 75% weeds from the yard (we haven't used lawn chemicals ever) 25% supplement with "spring mix" lettuces from the store (the kind without spinach in it). I use a spray-on calcium supplement 2-3 days a week. She gets as much as she will eat in 20-30 minutes daily (although in her outside pen she grazes extra on the weed trays I plant).
My question is about her shell. I just noticed today she has developed an area on her plastron that is white and looks like a layer flaked off. It is not moist, it does not smell bad. It happened sometime in the last two weeks or so (she hates being inverted, so I don't do it daily).
Any thoughts on the cause? Is this shell rot? Could it be abrasion from her being on the cement patio in the summer (even though she hasn't been out there in a couple months?). I know cement is not ideal, but I thought is was okay because she really spent 90% of her time in the dirt area and I didn't see any signs of damage this summer/fall.
TIA
Miranda
I have had this tortoise (my first) for 9 months. I believe it is a female russian tortoise, but not 100% sure on that. She is a full-sized adult, about 8 inches long.
I have been trying to care for her on a limited budget (lots of DIY work). So far, she really has seemed healthy and happy.
I posted pictures of both her enclosures (indoor and out). Due to the weather where I live (NW united states), she has not been outside much this winter, so that picture is her outside pen when I haven't cleaned it up yet for the spring.
Inside, she is in three large, connected, rubbermaid bins. I made tunnels between them and zip-tied the containers together. She loves having "rooms". The right size bin on the picture has a hiding shelter, the middle her large water bowl, and the left her basking spot and uv lamp. I also put her food in there normally. The substrate is coconut coir, with about 20% playsand mixed in on the right bin where she digs in.
Outside, she has a side patio, about 10 foot square. I used cinderblocks and chicken wire to block anywhere she could escape, including a few inches down in the dirt. About 70% is the cement/rocks, and 30% is the shady area under the bushes. I also plant some trays with weeds she can eat and rotate those in (not pictured) and of course give her a water dish. She has several hiding spots.
For food, she gets about 75% weeds from the yard (we haven't used lawn chemicals ever) 25% supplement with "spring mix" lettuces from the store (the kind without spinach in it). I use a spray-on calcium supplement 2-3 days a week. She gets as much as she will eat in 20-30 minutes daily (although in her outside pen she grazes extra on the weed trays I plant).
My question is about her shell. I just noticed today she has developed an area on her plastron that is white and looks like a layer flaked off. It is not moist, it does not smell bad. It happened sometime in the last two weeks or so (she hates being inverted, so I don't do it daily).
Any thoughts on the cause? Is this shell rot? Could it be abrasion from her being on the cement patio in the summer (even though she hasn't been out there in a couple months?). I know cement is not ideal, but I thought is was okay because she really spent 90% of her time in the dirt area and I didn't see any signs of damage this summer/fall.
TIA
Miranda
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