Does my tortoise have shell rot?

Chris Bohling

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Mar 26, 2017
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Hi, here's a typical first post "please help me" kind of post.

I have a male Russian tortoise that I have some concerns about. I've had him for almost two years and he's about 10 years old. I keep him in an open-top table with a ~95 degree basking spot and about 75 degree ambient temperature, down to about 60 at night, which is ok, right? I mostly feed him a diet of collard and mustard greens, dandelions, violets, and occasional spring salad mix from the store if it's winter and I can't get stuff from my garden. I'm using a coco noir substrate and he gets baths several times a week.

So anyway he's generally been very healthy and active since I got him, but on Friday I noticed that he wasn't opening his eyes and hadn't eaten much. I'd noticed his eyes getting irritated before when his substrate got too dry so I went ahead and changed that, but he hasn't opened his eyes. Also, I noticed these flaky spots developing on his shell. Is this shell rot?

IMG_20170326_193506373.jpg
I did finally see him eat some collard greens just now, so at least he is not starving, and he is still relatively active and seems to have all his strength. However, his eyes are still closed. I'm probably going to take him to the vet regardless, but I wanted to know if y'all could confirm or deny what I'm seeing and suggest any changes to my care routine.

Thank you!
 

Yvonne G

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It might be the start of a respiratory infection (the eyes).

No, that's not shell rot. It's old keratin injury from scraping against something.
 

Chris Bohling

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Mar 26, 2017
Messages
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It might be the start of a respiratory infection (the eyes).

No, that's not shell rot. It's old keratin injury from scraping against something.

Actually he survived a fire at the pet store so he may have sustained injuries there. I will go ahead and take him to the vet this week just to check in to make sure he gets treated if he had an infection.
 

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