White Powdery Substance on My RT

[Patorikku]

I found a strange white powdery substance on Phteven's shell this morning. Any ideas what it may be?

 

[DesertTortoiseLove]

Could be the uric acid from his urine. He may be a little dehydrated. Have you seen any other power like this anywhere else in his habitat?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I agree it is likely mineral of some sort left behind by evaporation.
Or rubbing transfer from a rock or cement.

 

[Patorikku]

I haven't seen any in his enclosure. I'll look again when I get home. I'm planning on soaking him in a bit as well.

 

[DesertTortoiseLove]

Make sure to give him water to drink in a shallow dish and I give my tortoise Roman lettuce for water absorption

 

[dmmj]

is there only one tortoise?

 

[Patorikku]

Yes, only one.

 

[Gillian M]

View attachment 184643 I found a strange white powdery substance on Phteven's shell this morning. Any ideas what it may be?

A very warm welcome to the forum!

Please give your tort daily soaks in warm water and make sure his enclosure is humid enough.

Pics of his enclosure?

 

[Patorikku]

It's a bit small, I already know. I've explained before that my wife is now a travel nurse and we move around the country every so many weeks. Once we get an RV we will be getting something bigger for him. I have been considering getting a Red Foot. My RT is rather antisocial. He spends a lot of time around us and still hates our very essence, lol.

As a side note, I do need to clean it out as well, lol. He likes to tread through his greens and then eat them hours after the fact.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

The white on the shell doesn't look problematic, but his legs don't look great - is he missing all of the upper scales on his back legs?

Is that enclosure just to move him from A to B or does he actually spend his days in there? It is exceedingly small if that is any sort of long time housing. What do you do for UVB and heat?

 

[Patorikku]

We travel a lot and he spends his time in there as we are currently in an apartment. I take him outside for a good while on sunny days for UV and let him climb on rocky surfaces to help him exercise and explore. What would cause his legs to look so bad?

 

[N2TORTS]

Calcium from your water source.

 

[cmacusa3]

View attachment 184930

It's a bit small, I already know. I've explained before that my wife is now a travel nurse and we move around the country every so many weeks. Once we get an RV we will be getting something bigger for him. I have been considering getting a Red Foot. My RT is rather antisocial. He spends a lot of time around us and still hates our very essence, lol.

As a side note, I do need to clean it out as well, lol. He likes to tread through his greens and then eat them hours after the fact.

Just to be honest, you don't need another tortoise until you can give that one much better living conditions. I'm not trying to be a jerk but that is cruel to leave that guy in that tub. He's antisocial because he's miserable.

 

[Patorikku]

Abram, I wasn't planning on getting a second tortoise. I was considering rehoming my RT first, I'm not sure yet though.

 

[Patorikku]

Calcium from your water source.

I use distilled and purified water to soak him. No calcium.

 

[Patorikku]

Just to be honest, you don't need another tortoise until you can give that one much better living conditions. I'm not trying to be a jerk but that is cruel to leave that guy in that tub. He's antisocial because he's miserable.

He now has a bigger home (about twice the size) and before we started traveling he was in one twice that size. He's always been antisocial. Even when he had a huge habitat. We must remember torts have their own unique personalities.

 

[Patorikku]

Turned out the white stuff was most likely freshly dried poop. He was clean of it this morning. I gave him a soak and he spent a good while outside today.

 

[cmacusa3]

He now has a bigger home (about twice the size) and before we started traveling he was in one twice that size. He's always been antisocial. Even when he had a huge habitat. We must remember torts have their own unique personalities.

Fair enough enough but twice that size is still to small.
I realize they all have their own personalities, I've been keeping for a very long time and have in the neighborhood of 30 torts and turtles combined and not one of them would I get rid of because of it being shy. It truly sounds like the RT has been shuffled around a lot and doesn't like the constant changes therefor its antisocial as you call it.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Have to agree with the above. Twice the size isn't quite as cruel as the above enclosure, but it is really far from an appropriate size. You need a proper enclosure for this tortoise - either safely outside, or inside and spacious (4'x8' is the recommended size for Russians) with the proper lighting and heat sources.

If you were thinking about rehoming this tortoise, I recommend not getting a red foot. Red footed tortoises need at least as much space as Russians, potentially more depending on size, and also 24/7 heat and humidity. That would be very difficult to maintain in your style of setup.

 

[Patorikku]

I want to thank everyone on here who tried to help me with the posted question. It was indeed poo. As for those that decided to criticize my habitat, I didn't ask for judgements about things I can't control so next time, please stay on topic.