Soft spots

[Ashliewood]

Hello! I have a wc Russian, have had him since
August 2011. He recently had some flakes of shell come off in the bottom of his
Shell the size of a nickel or a bit
Larger. The spots werent soft of anything but now they are white ish and seem soft. I'm not sure if this is an emergent issue as our vet is out of the office due to inclimate weather. He has a MVB 12 hours a day and gets Carolina pet supply TNT with every other meal(every other day) he gets soaked twice a week and has freh water every day. His substrate is kept somewhat moist. His temps on the warm side are 90-100 and in the cooler side 70-75 degrees fahrenheit. He is pretty darn active and very friendly, we handle him very seldom. Any advice would be appreciated, let me know if I can provide more information

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Here are some pictures

 

[Ashliewood]

His substrate is organic topsoil

 

[Yvonne G]

If you think it might be shell rot, you can clean it real good, dry it real good then apply some athlete's foot cream to it.

 

[ascott]

When you say soft spots, are you referring to like the shell itself is soft or do you mean like the affected spot is soft like peeling/bubbling paint? Does that make sense...?

What I see is damage that possibly picked up some rot....now I can not tell with the pic if the area is a little gooey....or if it is dry and flaky layers?

 

[kimber_lee_314]

Looks like shell rot to me as well. You may be keeping his substrate too wet.

 

[Ashliewood]

Thanks. It's like paint, bubbling underneath. Should I keep him off the dirt? I also found little tan/white bugs in the substrate...

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And just the affected spot is doing that. Also the top of his shell is kind of flaking along the growth lines.

 

[ascott]

Oh good then...his shell itself does not have soft spots (as this would be a bad thing ).

I would get a soft bristle (like a toddler age) toothbrush... soak your tortoise---then gently and slowly rub the soft toothbrush around the area and be sure to get any dirt/debris out of the area----then set him on a dry cotton towel (to let the area then dry off) and once the spot is dry---take a close look to see if there is any goo in there....if no then I would simply clean that area at least once a day just to keep an eye on it....if yes goo, I would clean and keep him on a drier flooring until that area dries up and heals over....

I would not worry about the buggies....they are likely the soil critters

 

[Ashliewood]

Thanks so much ;-) I changed his bedding so it will be a bit dryer. It will definitely dry out by tomorrow and I'm hoping this will heal up

 

[Arizona Sulcata]

Make sure you are feeding your tortoise calcium and protein supplements, this will improve quality of the shell.

 

[Ashliewood]

Is the Carolina's pet supply TNT a good enough supplement? I also have to reptovite with d3 about two or tree times a week.

 

[BrinnANDTorts]

Make sure you are feeding your tortoise calcium and protein supplements, this will improve quality of the shell.

The shell it self is not soft from lack of UVB or calcium
The post is in reference to the spot on the bottom of the shell where the shell has come away from most likely shell rot which has to do with the substrate not the quality of the shell, good news is its really easily treatable

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Is the Carolina's pet supply TNT a good enough supplement? I also have to reptovite with d3 about two or tree times a week.

Yea those are good supplements
But as you said in your previous posts that the shell itself is not soft so I wouldn't worry about that it doesn't have much to do with the shell rot on the bottom.
You already changed out your substrate and are treating so I think it will heal up real fast
My sister's redfoot had it , a pretty bad case too and its already healed and her tortoise is super happy

 

[zzzdanz]

Yes, that's shell rot. Dry substrate and some Neosporin will heal it up quick

 

[Ashliewood]

Thanks