Hi! I need help! My Russian Tortoise, Maggie, just turned 8 years old, and she's really a mess. Her carapace is dull and chipping and growing irregularly. She doesn't have that quilted look, she's not pyramiding, but everything's just getting really irregular. I don't think she's a happy girl. I am not sure what I can do to help her. I'm going to take some photos when I get home from work today so that perhaps you can see what I'm talking about. I want her to be a happy girl. I want to be good to her. I recently found that I was giving her a *very* poor diet, so now I'm varying that, and I've ordered potting soil so that I can plant the dandelion seeds I bought and give her a feast. Thank you! Sue, mum of Maggie or "Mag's ma".
Maggie (Russian Tort) has chipping, irregular carapace
- Thread starter Magsma
- Start date
The potting soil is not in her enclosed is it? Potting soil has fertilizer in it. Top soil is what we use as substraight.
Just make sure the potting soil doesn't have any sort of fertilizer. You can use the organic stuff and it works fine. welcome to the forum.
Happy Thanksgiving, all! Here are Maggie's pictures. You'll see she's even shedding a plate on her face. She has a beak, but we are working on this with an emery board to make it go away, and I'll estimate we're about 1/3 of the way there (from where we started). As you can see (I hope), her shell is irregular and a bit chipped. She looks dried out and she is not the happiest of girls. She hates baths, but I do give them anyway. I will grateful listen to any suggestions or instruction you can give me and so will Maggie.
Last edited by a moderator:
Is her substrate somewhat moist? It seems like she's very dry. I would add more moisture to the substrate, maybe put her in a close chamber for a while to increase the humidity. gently clean her she'll with a soft toothbrush and Warmwater just to get the excess dry stuff off. Spray her she'll every day with water. I would soak her every day or every other day for a week or two and then maybe two or three times a week after that.
And I'm so sorry, but it's idiot time here; I know nothing. I bought potting soil to grow Maggie's seeds in. I didn't know that I shouldn't have bought it for Mags if it had fertilizer in it. It is Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix, fertilizer analysis 0.21 - 0.11 - 0.16, whatever that means; which tells me that since the numbers aren't 0.00 - 0.00, that I can't use it to grow her food. Am I right? What am I to use, any suggestions?
Use organic Garden or potting soil. It doesn't have any chemicals in it.
Hi Sue, and welcome to the Forum!
Actually, Magma's new growth looks pretty good, if somewhat irregular and not symmetrical. You see this a lot when a tortoise is "power fed." I would be most worried about that chip on the side of her beak. Take a toe nail clipper and clip that whole thing off. Weak beak, nails and shell comes from not getting enough calcium and vitamin d3 from the sun. Are you using a good UVB light?
One of our members has an experiment going with extra virgin, cold pressed coconut oil. Maybe that's something you'd like to try with your tortoise's shell:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/coconut-oil.103782/
Actually, Magma's new growth looks pretty good, if somewhat irregular and not symmetrical. You see this a lot when a tortoise is "power fed." I would be most worried about that chip on the side of her beak. Take a toe nail clipper and clip that whole thing off. Weak beak, nails and shell comes from not getting enough calcium and vitamin d3 from the sun. Are you using a good UVB light?
One of our members has an experiment going with extra virgin, cold pressed coconut oil. Maybe that's something you'd like to try with your tortoise's shell:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/coconut-oil.103782/
Here's a great thread for the rest too-http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
I agree with clipping the beak, it'll grow back after a long long time!
I agree with clipping the beak, it'll grow back after a long long time!
