New parent to sulcata looking for advice

[Dtallia23]

Hi all, first time posting. I recently got a 50lb sully. He has previous damage to a very good portion of his shell. From what I can tell, it seems to have happened early on in his life but I could be wrong. We have had him for about a month and he seems to have some lifting on towards the center on 4 of his scutes. I’m just concerned if there could be anything going on as far as infection or if anyone has seen this before. With a tortoise that has previous damage. Or if there is anything I could change/do to help the situation. I live in southeast Louisiana. He is currently in an outdoor enclosure with a house with ceremic heater and Kane heating mat and thermostat set at 85 degrees for winter time at the moment. He has a pond for soaking that I change the water out every day to every other day. His diet consist of a mix of Timothy, orchard, and bermuda hay. Leafy greens mixed in two to three times per weak as well as Mazuri tortoise pellets. And the occasional cactus pad. I also sprinkle calcium on his leafy greens once a week. He eats every day and very active and uses the bathroom daily, very friendly and loves the rocks in his enclose 😉. I do plan on expanding his enclosure to take over the full area of my back yard once my fence is constructed. I appreciate any advice that can come my way

 

[wellington]

@Yvonne G can help more with the injury. It does look old
Feed more cactus and any natural leaves and flowers you can find. Mulberry leaf not the fruit, hibiscus leaf and flower, grape leaf. Plant grass, clover and any other seeds you can find that's safe for them to also add to the diet.

 

[Dtallia23]

@Yvonne G can help more with the injury. It does look old
Feed more cactus and any natural leaves and flowers you can find. Mulberry leaf not the fruit, hibiscus leaf and flower, grape leaf. Plant grass, clover and any other seeds you can find that's safe for them to also add to the diet.

Thank you, i am in the process of getting mulberry trees and hisbicus plants and prickly pear to start growing. Also I just received 5 lbs of seed from groworganic that I saw Tom had recommend in previous threads. Peacefull valley premium irrigated pasture mix is the seed. I will definelty feed more cactus.

 

[vladimir]

Thank you, i am in the process of getting mulberry trees and hisbicus plants and prickly pear to start growing. Also I just received 5 lbs of seed from groworganic that I saw Tom had recommend in previous threads. Peacefull valley premium irrigated pasture mix is the seed. I will definelty feed more cactus.

That seed is great, he'll love it!

 

[zolasmum]

He has a very sweet face ! It sounds like he will have a good and happy life with you.
Angie

 

[TammyJ]

He's adorable! 😍

 

[Yvonne G]

That damage happened a very, very long time ago. It takes YEARS for shell to recover like this has. There's nothing you can do or that needs to be done.

Here's a bit of info to help you understand:

For the sake of argument, and because we'll never know for sure what happened let's just say that he was a baby when the family dog got hold of him. The dog's canine tooth poked a hole, then the dog's owner grabbed the tortoise, pulling it out of the dog's mouth, causing a straight line rip down the side of the shell. This was all successfully treated at the time, many years ago.

In the intervening years the bone under the injury died in spots, causing some of the keratin to lose its blood supply, but new bone grows under the dead bone,, and new keratin replaces the dead keratin.

After a long time all that old, dead bone and keratin has to slough off leaving the new stuff to show.

What you are seeing as peeling is just nature getting rid of the dead bone and keratin. Don't try to help it along. Just let nature take its course. There's nothing that needs to be done.

That's a beautiful tortoise. You're very lucky to have him.

 

[Tom]

Hi all, first time posting. I recently got a 50lb sully. He has previous damage to a very good portion of his shell. From what I can tell, it seems to have happened early on in his life but I could be wrong. We have had him for about a month and he seems to have some lifting on towards the center on 4 of his scutes. I’m just concerned if there could be anything going on as far as infection or if anyone has seen this before. With a tortoise that has previous damage. Or if there is anything I could change/do to help the situation. I live in southeast Louisiana. He is currently in an outdoor enclosure with a house with ceremic heater and Kane heating mat and thermostat set at 85 degrees for winter time at the moment. He has a pond for soaking that I change the water out every day to every other day. His diet consist of a mix of Timothy, orchard, and bermuda hay. Leafy greens mixed in two to three times per weak as well as Mazuri tortoise pellets. And the occasional cactus pad. I also sprinkle calcium on his leafy greens once a week. He eats every day and very active and uses the bathroom daily, very friendly and loves the rocks in his enclose 😉. I do plan on expanding his enclosure to take over the full area of my back yard once my fence is constructed. I appreciate any advice that can come my wayView attachment 367356View attachment 367357View attachment 367358

Its not safe to use a CHE for heating in this application. It will slow burn the top of the carapace, and not effectively heat the tortoise. Replace that with a radiant heat panel ASAP. They make chicken brooder panels, and one of those mounted to the ceiling will work too. Either of these can run on the same thermostat with your Kane mat.

Your tortoise looks fantastic and your diet sounds pretty good, though I would skip the Timothy and just use the other two. I love the pen and the pond too. Well done. Start thinking about how you are going to expand it all. He will need a bigger area soon. I like 30x30 feet for juveniles, and a minimum of 50x50 feet for adults, but larger is better.

 

[Dtallia23]

Its not safe to use a CHE for heating in this application. It will slow burn the top of the carapace, and not effectively heat the tortoise. Replace that with a radiant heat panel ASAP. They make chicken brooder panels, and one of those mounted to the ceiling will work too. Either of these can run on the same thermostat with your Kane mat.

Your tortoise looks fantastic and your diet sounds pretty good, though I would skip the Timothy and just use the other two. I love the pen and the pond too. Well done. Start thinking about how you are going to expand it all. He will need a bigger area soon. I like 30x30 feet for juveniles, and a minimum of 50x50 feet for adults, but larger is better.

 

[Dtallia23]

Thank you Tom, I really appreciate the advice and kind words. I will definelty switch over to the radiant panel asap instead of the CHE. Since ive gotten him I have been of the forum reading and trying to gain as much knowledge possible. I will refer back to your post on the night box and order the radiant panel you use for yours. He is beautiful and my family is very happy to have him. I will be expanding much larger with a fence around my backyard and giving him closer to a 50x60 area. Right now it is currently 24x30 but I have been expanding every week.

 

[Tom]

Thank you Tom, I really appreciate the advice and kind words. I will definelty switch over to the radiant panel asap instead of the CHE. Since ive gotten him I have been of the forum reading and trying to gain as much knowledge possible. I will refer back to your post on the night box and order the radiant panel you use for yours. He is beautiful and my family is very happy to have him. I will be expanding much larger with a fence around my backyard and giving him closer to a 50x60 area. Right now it is currently 24x30 but I have been expanding every week.

Here are the two night box examples for easy reference:

Single Tortoise Night Box

I like my larger tortoises to live outside full time. My climate permits this year round with a little help. For people who live where it snows all winter, this type of box is still good for warmer weather, getting them out earlier in Spring, and keeping them out a bit later into fall. You'll...

tortoiseforum.org

Double Door Night Box

As the years have gone by and I build more of these boxes, I learn more and more each time. This one is the latest and I incorporated everything I've learned over the years. I also tried to take lots of pics so I can explain in more detail some of what is going on. It will take multiple posts to...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[EppsDynasty]

That damage happened a very, very long time ago. It takes YEARS for shell to recover like this has. There's nothing you can do or that needs to be done.

Here's a bit of info to help you understand:

For the sake of argument, and because we'll never know for sure what happened let's just say that he was a baby when the family dog got hold of him. The dog's canine tooth poked a hole, then the dog's owner grabbed the tortoise, pulling it out of the dog's mouth, causing a straight line rip down the side of the shell. This was all successfully treated at the time, many years ago.

In the intervening years the bone under the injury died in spots, causing some of the keratin to lose its blood supply, but new bone grows under the dead bone,, and new keratin replaces the dead keratin.

After a long time all that old, dead bone and keratin has to slough off leaving the new stuff to show.

What you are seeing as peeling is just nature getting rid of the dead bone and keratin. Don't try to help it along. Just let nature take its course. There's nothing that needs to be done.

That's a beautiful tortoise. You're very lucky to have him.

I love your example. This was as good as it gets as far as answers go. And as good as it gets for the tort to, this was a great sully issue explained.

 

[EppsDynasty]

And yes I know this can happen to any tort.