Hi everyone, my name's Jenna and I live in the UK. I'm a beginner and I've been looking on this site for advice for a while now and thought I'd join and start a thread asking your advice. If you could possibly correct any information I was given and give me advice that I should definitely take on board I'd be so grateful.
This is Zeus, I got him at the beginning of September last year and he was born on 1st May. He's very active, eats plenty and I bathe him every day in lukewarm water for about ten minutes. There was a bit of an issue as I'd read up on everything I thought I could, and according to the people at the tortoise shop they said that a calcium/D3 supplement substitutes a UV-B bulb, but I can use it alongside the supplement also. I thought he'd gotten MBD as his plastron is fairly bouncy however they did say that, due to his age, it will be. They suggested I get cuttlefish bone and add it to his enclosure, which I have done. The temperature of his basking spot is around 95-100 F and he has a UV-B bulb as well.
Ever since I found issues that may be nothing, but I've been paranoid as I had been feeding him a fair amount of iceburg lettuce for ust over a month with dandelion leaves and flowers mainly, however the lettuce did make up a large part of his diet, with the added supplement. Now I've been buying salad bags with 2.5% fibre and 1.5% protein ,which he's been eating eagerly. I am concerned with the protein however, so recommended foods are welcome. I have ordered tortoise weed seed mix which I now have to wait for it to grow before he can eat that. It's been fairly difficult as England is very cold and we don't have much of any weeds and such outside at this time of year. But I want to do everything I can.
These are some of pictures of his shell I've taken today, where I am concerned. Please click on them for a bigger photo so you can see clearly
This is a picture of what seem like ulcers - the yellow colour is due to glare from the light, it is slightly orange. My camera highlighted what I'm concerned about, they aren't as vivid as that at all. Also should I be concerned about that dinted line? It's been there since I got him.
It almost seems like the parts of his shell are coming apart, is this natural growth?
Again the picture is more vivid than in person. Again it seems almost like a crack along the plastron. And should I be concerned about the orange tint?
I feel I should stress that I haven't a clue whether these are signs of ill-keeping or not as there are not many picture references to what a tortoise should look like around his age. Contradicting these also are his apparently high energy rates as he's always on the move climbing what he can and always looking around for food sources and frequently returning to bask. I have yet to see him chew on his cuttlefish bone and he seems to highly dislike dark places as he tends to walk around shelters instead of going inside (he eventually walked through a darkened tunnel like structure and occasionally goes through it now). He also walks around the edge of his enclosure which I found was a sign of boredom, so I let him out to walk around the room sometimes (always supervised). He isn't stressed with human contact, as I only take him out involutarily for a bath, otherwise I place my hand in and he walks onto it if he wants to come out which he does about 85% of the time. He seems to recognise my scent as he smells me before walking onto my hand and tends to snuggle into my inner elbow after an exploration (shortly after I put him back in his enclosure as I take this as a sign he's cold, however he wakes up almost straight away, basks for a minute or so and is off wandering again).
Please let me know anything you can, I don't want to risk his health. If there's nothing wrong as far as you can see then please let me know as this would be great news also Thanks very much!
This is Zeus, I got him at the beginning of September last year and he was born on 1st May. He's very active, eats plenty and I bathe him every day in lukewarm water for about ten minutes. There was a bit of an issue as I'd read up on everything I thought I could, and according to the people at the tortoise shop they said that a calcium/D3 supplement substitutes a UV-B bulb, but I can use it alongside the supplement also. I thought he'd gotten MBD as his plastron is fairly bouncy however they did say that, due to his age, it will be. They suggested I get cuttlefish bone and add it to his enclosure, which I have done. The temperature of his basking spot is around 95-100 F and he has a UV-B bulb as well.
Ever since I found issues that may be nothing, but I've been paranoid as I had been feeding him a fair amount of iceburg lettuce for ust over a month with dandelion leaves and flowers mainly, however the lettuce did make up a large part of his diet, with the added supplement. Now I've been buying salad bags with 2.5% fibre and 1.5% protein ,which he's been eating eagerly. I am concerned with the protein however, so recommended foods are welcome. I have ordered tortoise weed seed mix which I now have to wait for it to grow before he can eat that. It's been fairly difficult as England is very cold and we don't have much of any weeds and such outside at this time of year. But I want to do everything I can.
These are some of pictures of his shell I've taken today, where I am concerned. Please click on them for a bigger photo so you can see clearly
This is a picture of what seem like ulcers - the yellow colour is due to glare from the light, it is slightly orange. My camera highlighted what I'm concerned about, they aren't as vivid as that at all. Also should I be concerned about that dinted line? It's been there since I got him.
It almost seems like the parts of his shell are coming apart, is this natural growth?
Again the picture is more vivid than in person. Again it seems almost like a crack along the plastron. And should I be concerned about the orange tint?
I feel I should stress that I haven't a clue whether these are signs of ill-keeping or not as there are not many picture references to what a tortoise should look like around his age. Contradicting these also are his apparently high energy rates as he's always on the move climbing what he can and always looking around for food sources and frequently returning to bask. I have yet to see him chew on his cuttlefish bone and he seems to highly dislike dark places as he tends to walk around shelters instead of going inside (he eventually walked through a darkened tunnel like structure and occasionally goes through it now). He also walks around the edge of his enclosure which I found was a sign of boredom, so I let him out to walk around the room sometimes (always supervised). He isn't stressed with human contact, as I only take him out involutarily for a bath, otherwise I place my hand in and he walks onto it if he wants to come out which he does about 85% of the time. He seems to recognise my scent as he smells me before walking onto my hand and tends to snuggle into my inner elbow after an exploration (shortly after I put him back in his enclosure as I take this as a sign he's cold, however he wakes up almost straight away, basks for a minute or so and is off wandering again).
Please let me know anything you can, I don't want to risk his health. If there's nothing wrong as far as you can see then please let me know as this would be great news also Thanks very much!