Need Urgent Help for my little Red Foot please!

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MarissaAndRFTortoiseMilo

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New Owner needs some help please!

Hey Tortoise Forum members,
My name is Marissa and I recently bought a red foot tortoise hatchling, he/she measures 3 inches (shell) long. I decided to name him Milo. I have been concerned because I have been reading posts about shell rot, and the MBD. I have been reading posts about it because when I recieved Milo, last Wednesday (2/13) he was somewhat dirty, of course because he burrows, but I gave him a good soaking, and used a toothbrush to gently wash away the dirt. I have noticed that the marginals (bottom scutes) have what appears to be dirt stuck on them, and here we are almost a week later and this "dirt" still has not gone away. Also, if you google image "red foot tortoise hatchling" you'll notice that most of the tortoises have very nice smooth shells on the bottom, where the top shell meets the plastron. As days have gone by i have googled shell rot, i have looked at pictures of shell rot, and i have looked at everything the internet has to offer, and i cannot find a picture of anything that looks like what milo has going on. Yesterday I went to petsmart, (without Milo because we live in a cold state) and I showed her some pictures I have taken of Him, and the lady assures me that nothing is wrong, and that it's just his "coloring". She also reminded me that employees don't know much about tortoises, which is understandable. My dad tells me it is nothing, he's just growing, but I fear that there IS something wrong, so I'm turning to you experts for help :shy: And as for his habitat, I don't think thats the problem since he arrived in this condition, but I have him in a big plastic bin, very comfortable for his size, for substrate he has Coconut fiber, and in his hide away he has some moss. He also has a humid hide, and of course a food and water dish. I have fed him a spring mix of greens, which does not contain kale or spinach. he has a few rocks to climb on, and I have a heat lamp on one end of the enclosure for basking, and the gradient goes from about 73 degrees by his hide, up to around 90 where the heatlamp is on the other side. I turn his lamp off at night. During the day I also mist the habitat 2-3 times to keep the humidity up. I have been giving him short soaks, and he is not over fed, I give him about 2-3 leaves a day. I have put calcium powder on his food as well. Now today, (2/18) I was checking on my little man, i noticed the middle of his plastron is getting a bit soft, yes its firm but if i push mildly hard it starts to give way. Also some of the scutes about the marginals appear to be the same way. Common signs of shell rot inform me that there is usually white spots, or black, and in his case its like a brown crust almost. I just want my little guy to be okay, and live a long life, and my main question, is should I treat him for shell rot to see if this helps or whats my best option in getting him healthy again. He IS active, he is eating just fine, and i take him out to excersise for about half an hour a day. He's been drinking, and all of that good stuff. Thanks for the replies in advance, I hope someone has a good answer, I am trying to add pictures to this now of close ups of the marginals.
IMG_1977.JPGIMG_1980.JPGIMG_1981.jpg

- Marissa & Milo:tort:
 
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Madkins007

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(Duplicate post from Marissa deleted.)

He does have a little shell rot. (Just FYI- the bottom is called the 'plastron', and the marginals are the lowest row of scutes on the back shell (carapace). ) The springiness to the plastron is also normal. If it is like pressing on a springy plastic box, you are OK. If it is like pressing on a soft leather ball, it is not.

It is tough to keep red-footeds nice and humid without getting shell rot, and i gave up using coconut coir as a substrate partly because of that. Rather than go through a whole thing here, I made the Tortoise Library (linked in my signature) to discuss these issues. There are pages there about shell rot, humidity, substrates, and so on. You may also appreciate the section on diet and nutrition.

However- don't worry! He does not look bad, and you can correct everything.
 

MarissaAndRFTortoiseMilo

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okay thanks guys. I have him started on treatment for it and I think it will clear up just fine. Sorry about the second post being deleted, I'm just getting used to the page and I did not know they sent the posts to get reviewed before posting, and when i checked my profile page it said there were no posts by me, so i figured it didn't work and i tried again. I appreciate it Mark thank you kindly. and thank you as well Kathy!
 

RedfootsRule

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Your tortoise has shell fungus. Its no great cause for worry, and if you got it from a pet store, I'm not surprised he already had it.
It can be easily corrected with a few simple steps. You need an idioine solution (Povidine or Beta-dine, same thing). Dilute it 1 parts iodine to 7 parts water, and scrub his entire shell with that and a toothbrush. Also, choose some sort of athletes foot cream. The active ingredient must be clotrimazole.
Do the iodine scrub the first night, dry off his shell completely, apply the foot cream to the affected area(s), and place him in a plain plastic container for the night. I always do it at night, because they can't go back in their habitat at risk of going into the water bowl, contaminating it with the cream, drinking it, or just dragging it all around their habitat. I do it after they go to sleep, and place them in a small plastic container in their habitat. The next morning, use water and a toothbrush to scrub it all of. Leave him for the day, then do the same exact steps the second night.
After that, just scrub the shell with water every night and use the clotrimazole until it clears up, then about one day after. This takes anywhere from 3-10 days, sometimes up to 2 weeks.
Bottom line, its easy to get rid of.
 
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