Hermann Tortoise Soft Shell

[Sophs90]

My Hermann Tortoise's shell has all of a sudden gone completely soft and caved in slightly, she has also stopped eating as much....she has always eaten her cuttle fish bone and egg shells, she also has a large UV light on her for at least 12 hours per day and lives inside...please help she is only 2 years old and tiny still. She has a healthy diet of dandylion leaves, strawberries and various lettuce leaves, I feed her around 4 times per week.

 

[Yvonne G]

It sounds like you've been doing things correctly, however, from what you've described of your tortoise it doesn't look good for her survival.

I'm guessing that your UV light hasn't been giving the tortoise the UVB that it needed in order to make vitamin d3 to make the calcium work. Your tortoise is in such bad shape that I think it is imperative you get it to a vet and try to get some calcium into it ASAP. The vet will know what to do about the vitamin d3 too.