I'm sorry, I can't remember, this was many years ago when I was still a child. I just know that we tried different oils, olive oil was one of them.I would love to know what edible oils you used and read in books. Because extra virgin coconut oil has unique properties not seen in many other applicable oils.
But I looked it up in two old books - one just says cooking oil, the other one recommends to rub the shell with a bacon rind.
Maybe it works better with coconut oil, but are you sure it doesn't stay in the keratin?
On Nov 19 you postet a picture:
It still looks very oily to me. The rich colours of shell and skin, the surface, the shine,... everything looks completely different from all the tortoises that I know (wild ones and tortoises from outdoor enclosures without oil on their shells).I took a pic before I went to class this morning.. He hates morning pics... No oil present.
I can remember this was what my mothers torts looked like for weeks after we applied the oil (I didn't like that look, it was just too unnatural in my opinion ).