Have young tortoises an elastic plastron ?

[Bee62]

I have noticed that the plastron of my 8 month old sulcata babies is a little bit elastic when I gently tap with my finger in the middle of the shell.
Is this normal ?
The carapax is very hard and the new grown shell too.
I can see the red blooded growth lines on the plastron that shows me that they grow. And they grow fast !

The torts have UVB light the hole day trough ( the bulb is half a year old ) and they eat a lot of cuttlebone pieces.
They are very active and eat like little elephants.

Should I be worried or is a bit elastic plastron normal when little torts grow ?

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Should I be worried or is a bit elastic plastron normal when little torts grow ?

Hello Bee62,
I'm sorry that I can't directly answer your question here. Typically when a member post questions in regard to a soft shell they are directing it towards the carapace from noticing a soft shell. I, personally would not encourage the pressing or tapping of the plastron for the basic reasoning that even a very healthy tortoise would be startled if not disrupted by the action. The innards of a tortoise/turtle are directly above and this potentially could cause a problem, injury/health wise for it. It sounds as if they are receiving enough calcium from the consumption of the cuttlefish bone, which only leaves the light not producing enough uv as the culprit.
In an area of your post, you indicate that you have multiple tortoises. If this is correct, I trust you are not keeping them together, right? This can cause many social problems as well as health issues for them. If you don't know of this let me know and I'll be happy to provide you answers.
Well good luck and keep us updated. Hopefully someone will see this post and be able to provide better insight into this issue now that it has been bumped to the top of the posts.

 

[Bee62]

Hello Cowboy_Ken,

thank you for your answer.
I really pressed very soft and careful with my finger on the plastron of my torts. I don`t want to hurt them.
Yes. I keep three sulcata tortoise babies together in one enclosure. I have read that torts should not be kept together but that was before I bought my three little ones.
But I don`t notice any social problems. No bullying, no biting, -nothing.
I have always an eye of the behavior of my little torts. They are very healthy, always hungry, grow steady and gain in weight.
But I will change the UVB bulb. Although the carapace of my torts is really hard and not smooth.
Mayby the plastron must be a little bit elastic because they grow so fast.