Shell question

[FGCinHB]

I just adopted this 4 year old leopard male and he is quite pyramided but what has me concerned is the back of his shell curvers around and almost touches his anal scutes. It does not seem like his tail can come out. Pictures are below, does this look like a problem and if so is there anything I can do or should I take him to the vet.

 

[alice]

hi i wouldnt think this is a problem as i thought there tails curled naturally anyway?

hope that helped slightly.


x

 

[terrypin]

hi as Alice has said i dont think there should be a problem with his tail im afraid only time will tell for sure .what i think you should be aware of is when and if he has the oppurtunity to become sexually active i have noticed the males often arent sufficiently large or heavy enough to immobilisethe females totally when mateing, my own females walk off and the male can be left to walk along on his hind legs while still connected.my dominant male is considerably smaller than my females and last year he was particularly active with all three girls i noticed he had a small sore patch on his legs just above the heel so i put a piece of fabric plaster on his shell on either side to prevent it rubbing.no problems so far this year but as last year was his first mateing maybe it was inexperience, i would just keep an eye on things in the future as you may see a similar problem with his shell.
terry

 

[Yvonne G]

I have seen cases where the male leopard's shell had to be filed off to allow the tail to come out, but so far your's doesn't look bad enough. Just keep an eye on him. If you notice that the poop is piling up inside and not being able to be expelled, its time to take him to the vet for a filing.

Yvonne