Hard red dot on russian tortoise shell?

[flosgelida]

Hello! I've had this tortoise for a long time but I still just know an embarassingly small amount about it.

This red dot appeared yesterday and it's hard to the touch.

Tortoise seems to be behaving normal and there's no other dots that I've seen or any soft spots on the shell.

Should I be taking it to a vet today or would it be better to watch it?

 

[wellington]

I would give him a,warm soak and see if it changes, gets soft or disappears
Is there something he could have gotten poked with?
How big is his enclosure? Should be minimum of a 4x8 foot bigger if possible.
What's his temps? Basking? All over? Night?
What type of bulbs are you using?
Humidity? Should be 30-50% the substrate looks very dry.
Is he outside or inside?
Does he roam the floors of your house?

 

[flosgelida]

I would give him a,warm soak and see if it changes, gets soft or disappears
Is there something he could have gotten poked with?
How big is his enclosure? Should be minimum of a 4x8 foot bigger if possible.
What's his temps? Basking? All over? Night?
What type of bulbs are you using?
Humidity? Should be 30-50% the substrate looks very dry.
Is he outside or inside?
Does he roam the floors of your house?

Thank you, I'll give the soak a shot!

It's possible that something could've poked him outside. The enclosure is small because of a lack of space inside, so I have a large area set up outside for it to roam inside of.

I currently use lamps at night since we're located in Arizona and it gets excessively hot inside during the day. I forget off the top of my head the exact type of bulb, but it's one of those purple heat lights (60 watts, I think?)

The humidity is unfortunately very low. I've ordered a humidifier to try and help, but not sure what to do besides that for the substrate within the tank itself.

It's inside during the day if we aren't at home or it's eating, but I take it outside in the afternoons and at night so it can roam for a few hours. I don't ever let it loose inside due to other pets in the home!

 

[flosgelida]

Some additional photos. Any strange blue/green lines on the top of the shell are from my sister drawing on it with a sharpie while I was out of town once and I haven't been successful in cleaning it off entirely. 🥲

 

[Tom]

I had to look for a minute to find it. That looks like a scratch from something hard like a rock. I'd put some triple antibiotic ointment on it for a few days and not worry about it.

Here is the correct care info for your species:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

 

[flosgelida]

I had to look for a minute to find it. That looks like a scratch from something hard like a rock. I'd put some triple antibiotic ointment on it for a few days and not worry about it.

Here is the correct care info for your species:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

Thank you! I will be reading over these!

 

[flosgelida]

I ended up taking her to the vet anyways just to be safe, and she was totally fine! It was something that got into her shell from burrowing outside. They gave her a check up and she seemed just fine otherwise, she just had some puffy eyes. I have eyedrops for her now and will be doing better in making sure she doesn't get super scraped by anything again and that her eyes get better.

Thank you for the ideas and the resources! 😊