Bruised Under-shell?

[Amy J]

Hey guys, I was wondering whether anyone could give me some guidance, I've got a 2 year old African spur-thighed tortoise and during his bath this morning I noticed a red/purple area on the bottom of his shell near his tail. It looks a bit like a bruise and wasn't there a couple of days ago.

He lives with another tortoise pretty happily, but could this potentially be from him trying to mount the other one, or could it be something else? I will probably get a vet to look at him but thought I'd see if anyone on here knew what it was.

Any information you could give me would be great!

Thanks

 

[surfergirl]

welcome to the best to get answers like this!

Looks like that is a Greek tortoise or know as a Mediterranean spur thigh tort and it looks older than 2 yrs. just checking to make sure you attached the right picture? I do see a red colored area on it's right side. I have never seen this type of coloring on the plastron, I apologize I cannot help but hopefully someone who has will chime in quickly.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I agree with @surfergirl, this is not an African spurred tortoise but one of the Testudo tortoises. What species of tortoise does he live with? Have you witnessed mounting behaviour?

I've never seen bruising like this, but @Yvonne G may have.

 

[Amy J]

Thanks for the help. He was listed as Sulcata on his certificate when we got him and he has visible spurs, that's all the info I have which led me to believe he was African. I'll post a pic of his shell in a minute. He lives with a Mediterranean spur thighed and they look totally different.

I have not witnessed any mounting behavior or any aggressive behavior when they are together.

I have attached a picture of Buddy, this was him a year and a half ago.

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

I'd recommend uploading complete photos of both of your tortoises. This one is not a sulcata. The Mediterranean spur thighs can be quite diverse looking. Housing different species together is generally a bad idea - they typically have different care requirements, behaviours, size, and pathogens. In your case, you very well may have two of the same species, perhaps different subspecies though.

Pictures of your enclosure/yard where you keep them are a good idea too - there may be some object he is mounting and hurting himself on.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Amy, and welcome to the Forum!

Your papers are wrong. That's NOT a sulcata. Looks like a Russian, but I'll need to see pictures of the top side to know for sure. I don't know what caused the bruise, but being housed with another tortoise might give you a clue. Tortoises don't do well in pairs, especially two males. During their pushing and shoving he may have bruised himself on something in the habitat.

Can we see more pictures please? Both tortoises. The tops of them. The enclosure.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome Amy. I hope we can help you sort all this out.

Bruising like that s not common, but if you'll share your housing and heating details with us, we might be able to come up with a decent educated guess. You are among friends here, so don't be shy.

I agree with all of what the above posters said, just for one more vote in that direction. Neither the plastron pic or your avatar pic are a sulcata, and the two tortoise pics you've shown us have very different care requirements than a sulcata does too.

 

[Amy J]

Hey guys thanks for all your help, it would definitely be good to have a better idea of what species they both are.

Here is a picture of the tortoise with the bruising....

 

[Amy J]

These are pictures of the other one...

 

[Yvonne G]

They look the same to me, only slightly different colors. Let's ask @HermanniChris

 

[Amy J]

Just to confirm, I dug out the certificate for the second tortoise, that one says testudo graeca. So maybe one of them is incorrect?

Also, I am aware of the problems of keeping 2 tortoises together, I am ready to remove one if problems occur (which may have already happened) It's only been a couple of weeks and this is the first sign of anything strange.

I am unaware of anything wrong with the housing, there is nothing Buddy could injure himself on. If it is the case that he is Mediterranean and not African as I was led to believe, what changes would I need to make to his care (if any)?

I really appreciate everyone's help, I can't believe we didn't know what species he was all this time. I feel terrible!

 

[HermanniChris]

They are both Testudo graeca and there is absolutely no question on that. T. graeca exhibits a wide variety of colors and shades and that's why they sometimes look different when in fact they are from the same area. The bruising is not normal and is most likely not from an injury but from an underlying problem. I cannot really gauge much from the photos though.

 

[Amy J]

Thank you HermanniChris! I will take him to a vet to get checked tomorrow to see what's up. And thank you for confirming the species!

 

[Bogie=babyDINO]

Let us know what the vet says! I hope everything goes well!!

 

[Amy J]

Hey everyone, just a quick update...He went to the vet today and she confirmed an infection. We are not sure where he got it as yet but will be investigating. He is on antibiotics for two weeks so is now on the road to recovery!

 

[Bogie=babyDINO]

Yay!! I'm glad to hear he was checked out and hopefully the antibiotics does the job. I think that is so odd an infection showing up through the shell like that. Keep us posted