Shell rot ?

[BrinnANDTorts]

Is that the beginnings of shell rot ? pllleasseee tell me its not

 

[Yvonne G]

Looks like it to me.

 

[zzzdanz]

Hard to say for sure..grab some Nolvasan and see if it clears up. Adjust what caused it.

 

[Redstrike]

How are you humidifying your enclosure? I've posted about this before but, in my experience, if you're constantly wetting down the top layer, it'll up the potential for shell rot formation.

Lightly scrub/brush the affected regions with a povidone iodine dilution (1:10) or Nolvasan and apply an antifungal cream to those regions. I did this for about 10 days on a very minor case and cleared up fine.

 

[BrinnANDTorts]

I just bought her and she had that when she arrived.
Since I have had her , her substrate hasn't been wet. I have bottom heating and I dig a little hole and pour water into it. Top stays dry bottom gets wet.
How do I keep the little girl hydrated while I treat her shell rot? just soak her for an hour a day?

 

[zzzdanz]

You'll probably get different opinions on that but, with shell rot I say a soak a day is fine. Then keep it dry while you're treating it.

 

[Redstrike]

I just bought her and she had that when she arrived.
Since I have had her , her substrate hasn't been wet. I have bottom heating and I dig a little hole and pour water into it. Top stays dry bottom gets wet.
How do I keep the little girl hydrated while I treat her shell rot? just soak her for an hour a day?

Bummer!
I'm glad to see you're a heat-rope user, I've had great luck with these, sorry I forgot you were a fellow advocate!

I provide mine soakings 1/week, they've never liked it. I see them drink, so I'm comfortable doing this. So long as you apply the treatment post-soaking, that will be fine. Sounds like your conditions are fine, so I wouldn't worry about drying the substrate out anymore. Just leave things as they are and apply some antifungal cream after 1-2 rounds of Novalsan/iodine scrubbings.

 

[BrinnANDTorts]

Bummer!
I'm glad to see you're a heat-rope user, I've had great luck with these, sorry I forgot you were a fellow advocate!

I provide mine soakings 1/week, they've never liked it. I see them drink, so I'm comfortable doing this. So long as you apply the treatment post-soaking, that will be fine. Sounds like your conditions are fine, so I wouldn't worry about drying the substrate out anymore. Just leave things as they are and apply some antifungal cream after 1-2 rounds of Novalsan/iodine scrubbings.

Rose likes to burrow so I think its important that she burrow in warm substrate. I did switch all of her substrate today to sphagnum moss. The dirt stuff wasn't working at all.
I am starting to think that soaking my tortoises isn't as important as I thought it was...Just because I was reading Terry's care sheet and she said she NEVER soaks her tortoises and they look AMAZING.. So I am gonna stop soaking as long as they have a good water source in their enclosures which all mine do. All my tortoises do when I soak them is walk against the wall and try to get out

 

[Redstrike]

Bummer!
I'm glad to see you're a heat-rope user, I've had great luck with these, sorry I forgot you were a fellow advocate!

I provide mine soakings 1/week, they've never liked it. I see them drink, so I'm comfortable doing this. So long as you apply the treatment post-soaking, that will be fine. Sounds like your conditions are fine, so I wouldn't worry about drying the substrate out anymore. Just leave things as they are and apply some antifungal cream after 1-2 rounds of Novalsan/iodine scrubbings.

Rose likes to burrow so I think its important that she burrow in warm substrate. I did switch all of her substrate today to sphagnum moss. The dirt stuff wasn't working at all.
I am starting to think that soaking my tortoises isn't as important as I thought it was...Just because I was reading Terry's care sheet and she said she NEVER soaks her tortoises and they look AMAZING.. So I am gonna stop soaking as long as they have a good water source in their enclosures which all mine do. All my tortoises do when I soak them is walk against the wall and try to get out

Mine do the same when I soak them, I guess I employ the tough love card 1/week just to be sure they're getting some additional water.

Sorry to hear the soil didn't work out for you. I can see how it may have reduced the water from rising upwards. I hope things improve soon! That shell rot looks really minor, so you should be able to nip it in the bud quick.

 

[BrinnANDTorts]

Mine do the same when I soak them, I guess I employ the tough love card 1/week just to be sure they're getting some additional water.

Sorry to hear the soil didn't work out for you. I can see how it may have reduced the water from rising upwards. I hope things improve soon! That shell rot looks really minor, so you should be able to nip it in the bud quick.

I have never had soil work out for me , I have tried everything. Cypress mulch, peat moss, humus, just plain old dirt from my yard, lol so much and its all so heavy and gross.
After like a day of just working with moss I already love it
Is it normal if Rose spends most of her day hiding? She has her eyes open just watching everything, I get the feeling she is really just skittish. She loves the mornings times when she gets feed though lol
After reading Terry's sheet I have taken that approach with all my tortoises , I feed them once a day in the morning and once they all leave the food and I take it out. So now when they see my in the mornings they know its food time and they come running lol its great

 

[Redstrike]

She could be skittish from all the substrate changes? Mine took 2-3 months to really get comfortable, and they still hide and sleep for most of the day, so I'd say things are fine.

Hope sphagnum treats you well!

 

[Kristina]

Just for the record, if you are talking about Terry Kilgore's care sheet (AKA Redfoot NERD,) Terry is a he, not a she We also have TerryO as a member here, and she is a she but not the same person

As far as the shell rot - make a betadine water solution (should be a weak tea color) and use it to cleanse the area. Do this only on the first day, it is too harsh to use daily. Pick up an athlete's foot cream and apply directly to the area until it clears up. Keep the area clean and dry. Soak daily while using the athlete's foot cream, just pat the area dry afterwards and reapply the cream. It should clear up in a week to 10 days.

 

[BrinnANDTorts]

Just for the record, if you are talking about Terry Kilgore's care sheet (AKA Redfoot NERD,) Terry is a he, not a she We also have TerryO as a member here, and she is a she but not the same person

As far as the shell rot - make a betadine water solution (should be a weak tea color) and use it to cleanse the area. Do this only on the first day, it is too harsh to use daily. Pick up an athlete's foot cream and apply directly to the area until it clears up. Keep the area clean and dry. Soak daily while using the athlete's foot cream, just pat the area dry afterwards and reapply the cream. It should clear up in a week to 10 days.

Oooopsss my bad Terry RedfootNERD
I at least knew the last part about RedfootNERD and TerryO

That's awesome advice and thankfully that is what I have been doing(except I didn't know about the betadine water solution soak) I have her on dry sphagnum moss , the bottom layer is wet but she doesn't burrow that far down thankfully

 

[Redstrike]

Just for the record, if you are talking about Terry Kilgore's care sheet (AKA Redfoot NERD,) Terry is a he, not a she We also have TerryO as a member here, and she is a she but not the same person

As far as the shell rot - make a betadine water solution (should be a weak tea color) and use it to cleanse the area. Do this only on the first day, it is too harsh to use daily. Pick up an athlete's foot cream and apply directly to the area until it clears up. Keep the area clean and dry. Soak daily while using the athlete's foot cream, just pat the area dry afterwards and reapply the cream. It should clear up in a week to 10 days.

Oooopsss my bad Terry RedfootNERD
I at least knew the last part about RedfootNERD and TerryO

That's awesome advice and thankfully that is what I have been doing(except I didn't know about the betadine water solution soak) I have her on dry sphagnum moss , the bottom layer is wet but she doesn't burrow that far down thankfully

Don't soak them in the betadine dilution, just make the dilution to clean the area with.

 

[BrinnANDTorts]

Don't soak them in the betadine dilution, just make the dilution to clean the area with.

Totally read that wrong...I don't know how I got soak from the above message