Russian tortoise shell has white spots?

[Jpr12]

Hello everyone,
I am new to Tortoise keeping and a new member on this forum. I have a Russian tortoise about 4.5 inches. I keep him in a tortoise house by zoo med which I plan to upgrade in the future. I recently saw white spots on desert my Russian tortoise’s
Shell. I’m worried and hoping that I can find some assistance on what to do.
Thanks everyone

 

[Yvonne G]

Can you scrub them off with a tooth brush and baby shampoo?

 

[Jpr12]

Hello yvonne G, I’ll go try that right now

 

[JoesMum]

Looks normal for Russians to me. It might be calcium deposits from water, but they may not scrub off. Not something to worry about

 

[Toddrickfl1]

if they disappear when wet then reappear when dry it's just calcium from hard water

 

[Jpr12]

Yay they went away with water but partially come back when dry. Thanks you guys. While I have this thread I’m going to ask one more question about diet. I try to occasionally give desert carrots and alovera with Romain lettuce. But he just eats the lettuce and puts the carrots and alovera to the side. Is there anything I can maybe do to entice him to eat them?

 

[JoesMum]

Forget the carrots. Russians can’t digest sugars properly - they cause digestive and kidney problems - so sweet foods like fruit, carrot, bell pepper and tomato should only be fed very sparingly and very occasionally if at all.

Your tort’s diet should be weedy and leafy greens.

Torts like what they know and can be very picky. Introduce new foods by wetting the food it will eat then chop a tiny amount of new food very small and mix it in. The water will stick it together so it can’t be picked out.

Take it very, very slowly and gradually increase the quantity over weeks.

 

[Jpr12]

Ok sounds good thanks