new and need help!!!!

[SweetT]

hello all!
My family and I now are the proud parents of two adorable cherry headed red footed torts. These are our first torts.
There names are Nemo and Ponyo!
I am married and Have 2 beautiful girls,3 and 1.
We bought our torts from a petstore, not saying which one (but it's where the pets go!) and after some research I found that both have shell rot on their plastrons. I am guessing the substrate was to moist? In the cage.
I have called the petshop and have been told that I will have to sell one back (one we bought within the last 15 days) and that they will take it to a vet...my family and I don't like this idea because we have to wait for the treatment to be over before we can even think about buying it back, plus they didn't even realize it had a problem when they sold it to us (doesn't help us to put faith in them).
I have called some vets and they want 55.00 a piece to see them plus the cost of meds.
I think I have found a vet who might be a little more on my price range.
The shell rot is not deep, but it is all over the bottom of the shells. What can I do at home (if anything) to help break it up and treat it?

 

[Kristina]

First off, try and post some pictures, so that we can see for sure that what you are dealing with is shell rot.

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-How-to-post-pictures-in-your-forum-posts--5245

Second, what kind of tortoises are they?

There are simple and cheap ways to fix this yourself. Hold off on selling them back.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi SweetT:

May we know your name and where you are?

Kyryah will help you with your shell rot once she's sure what she's dealing with, so shoot us some pictures of it.

In the mean time, you can clean the area well, dry it then put some athlete's foot cream on the spots. This won't hurt the tortoise, even if its not shell rot.

 

[coreyc]

Hello SweetT welcome to the forum

 

[LindaF]

the web sites of redfoots.com and turtletary.com have great info how to treat. It is really very easy and inexpensive to treat yourself as long as it is simple shell rot and isn't deep to the point of being raw etc. I freaked out when my RF had shell rot, but it really turned out to be easy to treat.

 

[Tom]

Just want to say hello and welcome. Others have much more experience treating shell rot.

 

[Torty Mom]

Welcome to TFO

 

[Madkins007]

'Simple' shell rot is easy enough to treat. There is an article about it at http://www.tortoiselibrary.com/shellproblems.html based on my research and experience.

The three main causes of rot are immersion/water contact (like trench foot), bacterial infection, or fugal growth (like athlete's foot). Bacterial rot often causes dark fluids or pitting under the scute. Fungal rot often shows some sorts of 'cheesy' or thready growths. Often one sort of rot invites others in as well.

Besides correcting and cleaning the habitat well to dry it and kill bacteria and fungi in it, the treatment would include...

1. Give the tortoise a good cleaning. You can use a clean cloth, dampen it, and dip it in some salt to scrub any loose scute material and dirt away. The cleaner you get it without hurting the tort the better.

2. Scrub the affected area and the area around it with a multi-purpose skin cleaner like Betadine. This will kill most of the bacteria and fungi, but it also hurts new cells, so only use it the first few days. You can dilute it up to 1:20 and it will work fine. (This and fixing the environment can correct minor immersion rot.)

3. Bacteria is the most dangerous the most quickly, so unless you are sure it is another cause, start with this. Apply a good smear of antibacterial ointment and keep the tortoise on something like paper towel or newspaper for a couple hours to let the stuff work. Reapply at least daily.

4. If there is no improvement in about a week, or if you come to suspect it is primarily fungal, apply a foot fungus cream the same way as we did the antibiotic. You could use both at the same time, but it is generally best to use one med or ointment at a time for maximum effectiveness.

5. If you still do not see improvement, see the vet.

Stopping the infection is important but the damage may take months to years to clear up, depending on type and depth.

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum

 

[spikethebest]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!