Help with Skin peeling on hind legs

[raphael2013]

Hey everyone,

New to posting. But i always read up on the tortoise forum.

I have a baby red foot tortoise who is approx. 8 months old. Hes doing finw but i noticed that his hind legs are peeling and you can see his skin is whitish/grey. Ill attack a pic.

He is currently eating a pellet type food that i mix veggies in. He is very picky and wont eat greens right now. But he is earing mushrooms and riddacio. He stopped the green leaves when winter started settling in here in new york

His tank is kept usually around 80% humidity and around 75-80 degrees.

He has a cypress mulch bedding

I wanted to check if this is normal and if not. What should i do?

Thank you!

 

[Yvonne G]

Of course, one can't know for sure, but my guess is that you are not feeding enough foods high in vitamin A.

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-vitamin-A.php

Diet has an awful lot to do with the health of the animal. Read up on the diet of redfooted tortoises at the Tortoise Library

Your tortoise needs more variety in its diet in order to be healthy.

 

[raphael2013]

Of course, one can't know for sure, but my guess is that you are not feeding enough foods high in vitamin A.

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-vitamin-A.php

Diet has an awful lot to do with the health of the animal. Read up on the diet of redfooted tortoises at the Tortoise Library

Your tortoise needs more variety in its diet in order to be healthy.

Heys. Thanks for the reply.
What i do is i add a vitamin a powder supplement into the pellet food that he eats. I also add a bit if calcium powder and some of the oxbow herbivore rescue powder to.

 

[ascott]

His tank is kept usually around 80% humidity and around 75-80 degrees.

How are you achieving the humidity? Do you add water to the substrate? what type of substrate are you using? I would never let the temp drop below 80 degrees, especially with the increased humidity....oh, is there a place within the enclosure that the tort can go to in order to dry out entirely? This is necessary for a health tort...the legs look to me like they have peeled due to being wet and not drying out....too wet and so there may be some bacteria that has allowed the skin to slough off....this is why I asked about how you attain the higher humidity? and if you offer a dry out location?

---

may we see a pic of the plastron? (bottom of the torts shell)..

 

[raphael2013]

His tank is kept usually around 80% humidity and around 75-80 degrees.

How are you achieving the humidity? Do you add water to the substrate? what type of substrate are you using? I would never let the temp drop below 80 degrees, especially with the increased humidity....oh, is there a place within the enclosure that the tort can go to in order to dry out entirely? This is necessary for a health tort...the legs look to me like they have peeled due to being wet and not drying out....too wet and so there may be some bacteria that has allowed the skin to slough off....this is why I asked about how you attain the higher humidity? and if you offer a dry out location?

---

may we see a pic of the plastron? (bottom of the torts shell)..

---

I have a humidifier near the tank on. Which shoots humid air in without completly wetting the substrate. The humidifier is closer to one end while his hut which has a heat pad underneath is at the other end. The temp usually drops at night to 75. Which is why he sleeps on the heat pad. The area where he sleeps never gets wet. Also he has a baskig light in the middle of the tank closer to his hut. To help dry off the substrate and him.

I attached a photo below, he has some of the cypress mulch on him because he just went into the water dish for water lol. Also he maybe a she. Were not entirely sure yet.

Earlier this winter he had rns and we went to the vet to get him antibiotics and the bet suggested we give him warm soaks 1x a day for about 15-20 mins.

I can attch a picture of his substrate as well if you need?

Thank you!!

 

[SunnySideUp]

Do you have the heat pad on any sort of thermostat? Is it buried a substantial distance below the substrate? I've heard those are prone to overheating, which could, potentially, cause burns. I personally would favor a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) over a heat pad for night heat.

 

[ascott]

I would suggest that you remove/turn off the heat pad for awhile and see if after a month the skin stops peeling.....I also would turn the humidifier timer to off for at least a couple weeks....I know the species enjoys higher humidity...however, looming at the legs and looking at the plastron ..I believe you have some type of bacteria going in...and I would allow this torts environment to dry out a bit and see if the skin improves...I also would do daily warm water soaks and at the end of the soak I would gently clean the plastron with a soft toothbrush and apply some anti fungal cream to it.....you certainly can wait around to see what the others suggest...but now this is what I would do....

 

[raphael2013]

I would suggest that you remove/turn off the heat pad for awhile and see if after a month the skin stops peeling.....I also would turn the humidifier timer to off for at least a couple weeks....I know the species enjoys higher humidity...however, looming at the legs and looking at the plastron ..I believe you have some type of bacteria going in...and I would allow this torts environment to dry out a bit and see if the skin improves...I also would do daily warm water soaks and at the end of the soak I would gently clean the plastron with a soft toothbrush and apply some anti fungal cream to it.....you certainly can wait around to see what the others suggest...but now this is what I would do....

Great. Thanks for the ideas!
I can try to lower the humidity and turn off the pad. But at night i have to leave the pad on or else the temp drops to much for him. What kind of antifungal cream do you use?
I was planning to schedule a visit with the vet later this week to.

 

[ascott]

Perhaps get a night time heat source (black heat light, ceramic heat emitter) this way you can turn the heat pad off...see I am wondering if the heat pad is causing some of the issue...how deep is the substrate over the heating pad? Has the tort dug down closer to the heating pad?

You can use any of the athletes foot creams.....

 

[raphael2013]

Perhaps get a night time heat source (black heat light, ceramic heat emitter) this way you can turn the heat pad off...see I am wondering if the heat pad is causing some of the issue...how deep is the substrate over the heating pad? Has the tort dug down closer to the heating pad?

You can use any of the athletes foot creams.....

We have a nighttime heat lamp that i leave on for the little guy. But he chooses to stay in the hut and not come out at night, the heat pad has a good amount of sustrate on it as well as some sand. But he does like to burrow onto it. To the point where theres very little left.
Ill try the cream later today, and keep you posted

 

[ascott]

Perhaps relocate the hut closer to the night overhead heat source...this will allow you to be able to turn the heat mat off and see if that is indeed what is generating the peeling...which I suspect is....