Russian Tortoise Shell Discoloration?

[NormyMommy]

Hey all,

Just now I noticed some discoloration on one side of Norm's shell. It's a pale cream-ish color. I've never really noticed it before and I can't seem to find anything online about it....but it has me kind of worries. Has anyone encountered this before?

 

[wellington]

@Yvonne G might be able to help.
I can't say I have seen this before. It almost looks like it's really dried out. Could he have gotten too close to a heat source?

 

[NormyMommy]

No, I don't believe there's any way he could have. Looking at photos from last month, he had it then, too. The top photo is when I first got him, just a little over a year ago, from a local reptile rescuse. The bottom photo is of him about a month ago.. That same area looks a little off-colored in both, but I feel like there's definitely more color loss in the recent ones.

 

[counting]

NOT AN EXPERT:

to me this looks like a shell burn and/or keratin chipping away :/

 

[Oogway the russian tort]

hmmm I don't know but it could either be from the shell burning/burnt or maybe shellrot???

 

[creepy-crawler]

the carapace shows damage, he is missing his "shell scales", it often happens when an animal sustained either a strong impact, were thrown, or dropped from great height. the white you see is the bone and he will never grow those scales back unfortunately, when you got him he was either stained with something or even colored somewhat to look less ragged. he is just fine

 

[NormyMommy]

I apologize for the late reply. We did get him from a rescue here in town, but he hasn't been dropped or thrown while in my care for sure. There's no shell rot to wore about, in your opinion? That's been my biggest worry.

 

[RosemaryDW]

No. He’s just got old damage. Shell rot is rare with Russians.

 

[NormyMommy]

Okay, great, thank you all so much for the replies! He has a few little spots like this across his shell and the color over the course of a year has faded significantly so I wanted to make sure. How he looks doesn't matter so much to me as long as he's healthy, and this is my first tortoise so I've researched as much as possible but am still learning as I go. I appreciate all the help.

 

[Yvonne G]

That pale cream colored band with the little white squiggles in it is new growth. The portion of the shell BELOW the new growth is old, damaged shell. It's not causing him any problems and probably will always look like that. The new growth is because he is now being kept in much better conditions than previously.