Plastron help

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dmarcus

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So yesterday I decided to give Vegas a good cleaning because he had so much mud and some poop on him (I am sure his burrow still has water at the bottom from the rain we got Saturday). So after he was clean I noticed the pink line going straight down the middle of his plastron and after pressing on it I realized it was soft and I know it should be hard. The rest of his shell is completely hard except for that pink line.

I went back and forth on PM with Tom about what it could be and his reply was dead on about what it could be, what may have caused it and what should be done to fix it. I gave him one last cleaning this afternoon because he had mud caked on him again (everything above ground is dry, so it has to be from his burrow) and once I finish posting this I will be closing off his burrow.

I am posting photo's so everyone can see and tell me what they think...

IMG00397-20110816-1738.jpg


IMG00398-20110816-1738.jpg


IMG00396-20110816-1738.jpg


Thanks for looking and any replies positive or negative will be welcomed... Got to learn somehow...
 

dmmj

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I would like to know what caused it?
 

dmarcus

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Sorry was filling in his burrow and several other holes.

So what cause this was a combination of him constantly having mazuri, mud and poop on his plastron and then he was most llikely laying in the water that was in the bottom of his burrow. Like a lot of tortoises, he tends to eat a little from the front of his food and then heads right for the middle which means he tends to lay on his food.

I 100% blame myself for this one, with the heat we have been having and the fact that he spent most of the day inside his burrow I got a little complacent and didn't check him like I normally did. I would change out the water in his pool and I would put food down for him and when I saw that he had mud on his feet I would just spray him off, but I didn't flip him over so check him. We were also over watering with the sprinklers and the ground was almost always wet.

So with us trying to do all we can to keep him cooled off in the heat wave we were having, we over did it. Tom gave me a very easy to follow fix for this. Since he knew someone that this happen to before, all I have to do is to get him clean and then keep him dry for a few days. No water, no soaks, no mud hole, no hose, no sprinklers, and since I know his burrow was full of water, mud and poop I filled that in because I had no way of getting in there to clean it out.
 

dmarcus

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Robert said:
Thanks for sharing. This is helpful and definitely something I'll watch out for.

I am just glad it's not something worse, will see how it improves over the next few days....
 

EricIvins

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Pink growth is new growth........What are you thinking you're seeing here? I see nothing wrong, just new growth.......
 

drgnfly2265

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EricIvins said:
Pink growth is new growth........What are you thinking you're seeing here? I see nothing wrong, just new growth.......

The problem is that all of the water that the tort has been in contact with is making the plastron soft...
 

dmarcus

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EricIvins said:
Pink growth is new growth........What are you thinking you're seeing here? I see nothing wrong, just new growth.......

You sir did not read the whole thread, if you did you would have read the part about the plastron being soft and for a 35 pound tortoise to all of the sudden have softness on the plastron, there is a problem...

drgnfly2265 said:
EricIvins said:
Pink growth is new growth........What are you thinking you're seeing here? I see nothing wrong, just new growth.......

The problem is that all of the water that the tort has been in contact with is making the plastron soft...

You are correct, the problem is the soft plastron....
 
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