Russian tortoise shell ?

[Robyn Walton]

Hey! I've had my russian tortoise for about 5 months now, he is only 13-14 months old. I am a first timer at tortoise caring so I'm learning as I go along but trying my best ha ha. I know when I first got him was over feeding, leaving the food in most of the day, but now I let him eat as much as he can in 30 mins to an hour everyday? He also gets UV lighting for 12 hours with a reptile light. However I am concerned about his shell, he has tiny little bumps or bubbles on the top- I have included a picture. I thought maybe not enough calcium ? So I have started scraping some cattle fish bone into his food. Is his shell in poor condition or am I worrying too much? Thanks

 

[lismar79]

He is starting to pyramid from the looks of it. This can be fixed with upping your humidity. Young tortoises need high humidity & you can do this by covering your enclosure to hold in the moisture & spraying your enclosure a couple times a day.
You will deff want to get rid of those pellets for your bedding. They do not work well for tortoises: can cause leg problems & do not hold the humidity. Try something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010OSIHW/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20
It comes compressed in that brick so you will soak it in water for it to expand. Then hand pat it down into your enclosure. Most Russians like to dig into their substrate so he will love this nice and deep. 4" to 6" deep.
I do not time my torts eating. In the wild they eat at their own pace so I lay down a pile every day & I pay attention to how much was left over or if it was all gone by the time I get home. I adjust as needed.

How far away & what kind of light are you using?????

 

[Yvonne G]

The little bumps and bubbles are what his shell looked like when he first hatched out of the egg. That portion is his original shell when he was a baby. It never goes away, just gets added to.