Hi guys first post, my name is James and as you can tell from my username I'm fairly new at taking care of a RT. I just got him today and sleeping peacefully while I'm typing this post. I believe he was covered in his own feces and possibly some other type of feces. As soon as I opened the box, a foul stench hit my nostrils at first I thought this was normal so I put him in the pen (3'x2' tub). Twenty minutes later the foul stench filled my whole room so I took action, I gave him a bath (baby water hot) and started gently brushing his shell with a soft brush, two minutes of brushing his shell the whole tub started getting murky, all in all it took me thirty minutes to get most of the "feces" off him. As soon as I was done I put him back to his pen, as the shell dried I noticed it wasn't as vibrant as the RTs I've seen on youtube and on this forum and it also look significantly more drier. He also have dents on his shell which is filled with the remaining feces. I am using coco coir and coco husk(70/30) mix. I got him on petsolutions{com}
Cold Area: 70-73F
Basking: 100F
Everywhere Else 78-85F
Humidity: 30% basking/ 50% near hide
Here are my questions :
1. Does he have a dry shell?
2. How can I remove the remaining feces on his shell?
3. How come his shell is not as colorful as some other tortoises of his kind?
4. Does the dents on his shell means that he had some form of shell rot in the past?
5. How old ya'll think he is?
For some reason my pics wont upload on this site so I put them up on imgur. IMGUR
Sorry for the long post and thanks for the input
Cold Area: 70-73F
Basking: 100F
Everywhere Else 78-85F
Humidity: 30% basking/ 50% near hide
Here are my questions :
1. Does he have a dry shell?
2. How can I remove the remaining feces on his shell?
3. How come his shell is not as colorful as some other tortoises of his kind?
4. Does the dents on his shell means that he had some form of shell rot in the past?
5. How old ya'll think he is?
For some reason my pics wont upload on this site so I put them up on imgur. IMGUR
Sorry for the long post and thanks for the input