Scute come off after wedging himself..shedding?

[Gary S]

My sulcatta after his oaking in the tub went under our bed and wedged himself under. I finally got him out (his legs relaxed a bit) and his scute ( a thin layer that had been flaky looking) came off. Any suggestions and care I need to do? I read to clean it with Betadine solution? He is 16 years old.. 38 lbs. We adopted him 2 years ago to rehome him. Help..

 

[Stuart S.]

Man I'm sorry! @Yvonne G probably has some expertise here.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Gary, and welcome to the Forum!

Do you have a heat lamp for this tortoise? That looks like the top of the carapace was burned, making that area more susceptible to coming off when scraped under the bed. Notice how part of the underneath area looks dry and the top (in the picture) portion looks wet? That's another clue that there was a problem with that area prior to it being scraped off.

Also, in my opinion, big sulcatas need their own space outside with a heated shelter. There are an awful lot of things on the floor of the house that a big tortoise might get into trouble with.

You can clean the area and keep it clean and dry, but there's nothing more you can do. It's not going to grow new scute material for a very, very long time. . . maybe a couple years.

 

[Gary S]

He does live outdoors 75% of the time in our backyard (75' x 60' yard). And we bring him indoors when the weather dips below 60 degrees. We have him an igloo dog house with the bottom cut out so he can scratch and dig a little for the outdoor shelter. The igloo has a heat lamp in the top that I wired in but he has only had it just a few weeks and only slept under it a few nights because we have just had some cold weather here in Texas the past few weeks. The light is about 20 inches above his shell.

My wife has been noticing for a couple of months that the scute was dry and flaky around the perimeter of it for some time. I think it might has allowed fungus or parasites underneath after further reading last night. We cleaned the area last night as recommended with iodine and light tooth brushing, however my concern is the white looking stuff? What is that? Is that just bone or a fungus?

I am thinking we need to go see a good reptile vet that knows tortoises. We have one here in our town, but he didn't seem to know much about them when we took him to him a year ago with a runny nose. He did give him some nose drops and that cleared up quickly. However he was going to research of the internet every 10 minutes of the visit. I need a better vet.

Thanks for your help and advice by the way, any recommendations are welcome.

Gary and Pam

 

[Gary S]

I'm ok with the time of growing the scute back of course. I just want to be sure we care for him like we should. We have researched what we have found about sulcattas but surprisingly there isn't a lot of details on their care on the medical side on the net or books. This forum I just found last night and I seem to have found some good sources so far. Thank you again for helping us. My wife adores him and spoils him. He sleeps indoors typically in our livingroom in the corner of the L Shape couch sectional every night in cold nights. He is trained or taught everyday at 5 pm he is at our back door ready to come inside in the winter time. We soak him and clean him twice a week. (Thinking he might need more soakings than that now.) We need to boost his diet. He seems to like romaine lettuce, endive, and red bell peppers the most. Does anyone feed alfalfa pellets? I need to get a good source of hay or grass that is good for him.

 

[Yvonne G]

You need to measure how high up from the ground the top of your tortoise's carapace is then measure the temperature at that distance from the light to the top of your tortoise's carapace. I'm willing to bet he's been burned. That killed that portion of the shell. I've seen it a lot. Even my own sister burned the top of her tortoise's carapace.

Clean it good with Betadine only once, then just leave it alone. That top portion (top in the picture, that is) will eventually dry up and look like the bottom portion. That's the bone. It is dead too. But don't worry, because new keratin (scute) and bone are growing even now, UNDERneath that dead portion. The best thing for that wet, gooey looking portion is to allow it to dry out and keep flies off it.

 

[Yvonne G]

I have found that plain old hay is readily accepted by the bigger sulcatas. I buy a bale of either orchard grass or bermuda hay and toss my sulcata a small flake about once a week.

 

[julia]

You need to measure how high up from the ground the top of your tortoise's carapace is then measure the temperature at that distance from the light to the top of your tortoise's carapace. I'm willing to bet he's been burned. That killed that portion of the shell. I've seen it a lot. Even my own sister burned the top of her tortoise's carapace.

Clean it good with Betadine only once, then just leave it alone. That top portion (top in the picture, that is) will eventually dry up and look like the bottom portion. That's the bone. It is dead too. But don't worry, because new keratin (scute) and bone are growing even now, UNDERneath that dead portion. The best thing for that wet, gooey looking portion is to allow it to dry out and keep flies off it.