Growth rings

[DanH44]

Good morning,
Do these growth rings seem normal? They seemed very large to me but I could be wrong. I have been trying to keep her on a better diet because she used to over eat and started to become overweight.

 

[Tom]

The carapace is growing abnormally, but this is most often a husbandry issue. The following questions should help us figure it out.

1. What size is the enclosure?
2. What substrate?
3. What are the four temps, warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low?
4. What type of heat lamp?
5. What type of UV lamp?
6. What were you feeding her?
7. What supplements and how often?

 

[DanH44]

The carapace is growing abnormally, but this is most often a husbandry issue. The following questions should help us figure it out.

1. What size is the enclosure?
2. What substrate?
3. What are the four temps, warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low?
4. What type of heat lamp?
5. What type of UV lamp?
6. What were you feeding her?
7. What supplements and how often?

1. What size is the enclosure? 3.5x5FT
2. What substrate? Coco fiber and dirt
3. What are the four temps, warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low? Mid 80s, low 70s, 95ish, high 60s.
4. What type of heat lamp? Indoor Flood light bulb
5. What type of UV lamp? 4 ft long lamp down center of enclosure, my solar meter reads 2.8-3.0.
6. What were you feeding her? Kale, green lettuce, greens, Mazuri pellets.
7. What supplements and how often? Calcium and vitamins. 1-2 times a week.

 

[wellington]

Tortoises really don't get fat if fed a proper diet and have the proper size enclosure.
The enclosure needs to be bigger. 4x8 foot is minimum. Basking you need to be sure is 95-100 or they can't properly digest their food.
If proper diet and space, they should be fed enough food, that they can graze off and on all day.
If you can't go out with the enclosure, many go up and build a second level. One or the other needs to be done here.

 

[Yvonne G]

This russian tortoise is pretty badly deformed. We see this type of deformity in box turtles, but not that often with russians.

My advice is for you to clear your memory banks of everything you have in there about tortoise care and read our care sheet, making whatever changes are necessary according to what you read.

It's pretty hard to get a russian tortoise to grow abnormally like that. With the right husbandry they're very easy keepers.

If you post pictures of the enclosure we'll help you figure out what you're doing wrong.

 

[Tom]

1. What size is the enclosure? 3.5x5FT
2. What substrate? Coco fiber and dirt
3. What are the four temps, warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low? Mid 80s, low 70s, 95ish, high 60s.
4. What type of heat lamp? Indoor Flood light bulb
5. What type of UV lamp? 4 ft long lamp down center of enclosure, my solar meter reads 2.8-3.0.
6. What were you feeding her? Kale, green lettuce, greens, Mazuri pellets.
7. What supplements and how often? Calcium and vitamins. 1-2 times a week.

All of that sounds pretty good. Enclosure should be a little bigger, and the diet needs improvement, but over all, it sounds good and this shouldn't have happened. This is the kind of thing you see when they are housed indoors in a tiny glass tank with no heat, no light, no supplements and fed lettuce for a long time.

How long have you had the tortoise and what was the source?

 

[DanH44]

All of that sounds pretty good. Enclosure should be a little bigger, and the diet needs improvement, but over all, it sounds good and this shouldn't have happened. This is the kind of thing you see when they are housed indoors in a tiny glass tank with no heat, no light, no supplements and fed lettuce for a long time.

How long have you had the tortoise and what was the source?

4-5 years old when I got her from a local store. There is wood chips in the one corner that the food dish is kept on top of because it seemed to keep the food cleaner throughout the day. I’ve had her for 2ish years.

 

[Tom]

4-5 years old when I got her from a local store. There is wood chips in the one corner that the food dish is kept on top of because it seemed to keep the food cleaner throughout the day. I’ve had her for 2ish years.

With what you have described here I see no logical reason why this should have happened.

 

[jaizei]

1. What size is the enclosure? 3.5x5FT
2. What substrate? Coco fiber and dirt
3. What are the four temps, warm side, cool side, basking area, and over night low? Mid 80s, low 70s, 95ish, high 60s.
4. What type of heat lamp? Indoor Flood light bulb
5. What type of UV lamp? 4 ft long lamp down center of enclosure, my solar meter reads 2.8-3.0.
6. What were you feeding her? Kale, green lettuce, greens, Mazuri pellets.
7. What supplements and how often? Calcium and vitamins. 1-2 times a week.

How often/ how much of the Mazuri are you feeding?

 

[DanH44]

With what you have described here I see no logical reason why this should have happened.

I soak her every other day for like 15 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, her shell was not perfect when I got her by any means.. I was hoping it would have improved.

 

[DanH44]

How often/ how much of the Mazuri are you feeding?

2x a week

 

[Tom]

I soak her every other day for like 15 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, her shell was not perfect when I got her by any means.. I was hoping it would have improved.

This isn't the type of problem usually seen when conditions are a little too dry. This is the kind of problem seen when there are major fundamental issues with incorrect nutrition, incorrect housing, lack of calcium and/or lack of UVB.

It sounds like you are doing everything right, but whoever had the tortoise before you created problems that can't be fixed. There is no way for us to know what the long term implications might be from this. The tortoise might live a long happy life now that it is in the correct conditions and receiving good care.

 

[DanH44]

This isn't the type of problem usually seen when conditions are a little too dry. This is the kind of problem seen when there are major fundamental issues with incorrect nutrition, incorrect housing, lack of calcium and/or lack of UVB.

It sounds like you are doing everything right, but whoever had the tortoise before you created problems that can't be fixed. There is no way for us to know what the long term implications might be from this. The tortoise might live a long happy life now that it is in the correct conditions and receiving good care.

Do you think the enclosure looks ok?

 

[Tom]

Do you think the enclosure looks ok?

I would prefer something larger, with more potted plants and decorations like logs or large rocks, and it looks very dry. Lightly damp would be better.

 

[TammyJ]

I was wondering about the vitamins, what are they and if they are really necessary if the tortoise is being properly fed?