Bruised shell??? Please help

[Emmaskye99]

sorry for bad punctuation and grammar, this is my first tortoise so I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing.

I’ve had this baby Greek tortoise for about five months... I think he was two or three months old when I got him but I’m not sure. Yesterday he fell about three feet and flipped over on his back. I picked him up instantly, he just seemed shocked at first and he ate a small amount right after I put him back in his enclosure. He has been a little slower and didn’t eat much of the food I left in the enclosure. This morning I noticed the underside of his shell was a darker color overall (not referencing to the black dots he’s had those since I got him) His shell used to be more tan/yellowish but now it looks bruised. And he’s not walking this morning. I’m really worried and not sure what to do. Does anyone have any recommendations? He doesn’t seem to be in any pain but I also don’t know how to tell. His shell is soft too, I know babies have softer shells but I dont know when they’re supposed to fully harder. And quick side note: does anyone know if or when I need to trim his nails?

 

[zovick]

sorry for bad punctuation and grammar, this is my first tortoise so I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing.

I’ve had this baby Greek tortoise for about five months... I think he was two or three months old when I got him but I’m not sure. Yesterday he fell about three feet and flipped over on his back. I picked him up instantly, he just seemed shocked at first and he ate a small amount right after I put him back in his enclosure. He has been a little slower and didn’t eat much of the food I left in the enclosure. This morning I noticed the underside of his shell was a darker color overall (not referencing to the black dots he’s had those since I got him) His shell used to be more tan/yellowish but now it looks bruised. And he’s not walking this morning. I’m really worried and not sure what to do. Does anyone have any recommendations? He doesn’t seem to be in any pain but I also don’t know how to tell. His shell is soft too, I know babies have softer shells but I dont know when they’re supposed to fully harder. And quick side note: does anyone know if or when I need to trim his nails?View attachment 312795View attachment 312796View attachment 312798View attachment 312799View attachment 312797

The tortoise doesn't look too bad considering the situation. I would recommend just leaving it alone to rest most of the time. It does look a bit dry in the pix. It should be soaked daily for about 15-20 minutes, then placed in front of a pile of food. Other than that, I would leave it alone as I said earlier and give it a few days to rest before expecting it to act normally again.

You didn't say how the tortoise fell. Did you drop it or did it walk off the edge of a bed or ????

 

[Emmaskye99]

I dropped him unfortunately

 

[zovick]

I dropped him unfortunately

And where did it land? On pavement, a carpet, a wood floor, or ???

 

[Emmaskye99]

And where did it land? On pavement, a carpet, a wood floor, or ???

On wood flooring

 

[zovick]

On wood flooring

Well, that is better than concrete. Hopefully the tortoise will be fine. Just give it some time as I said earlier.

Good luck!