Scute peeling off adult Sulcata

Tankpuppy2379

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Georgia
4C4306D8-2CD3-4BE2-B65C-20348DCDBB9F.jpegOur 17yr old 70lb female Sulcata is loosing her scutes. There’s hard shell underneath and she is acting/eating normal. Her scutes are lifting and then pop off when she is burrowing. I took her to the vet and they said she is fine and it may be caused due to rapid growth due to her environment. Wanted to see if this explanation seems on point with others who have experience with this. Is there something we should we be doing to prevent this?

We adopted her last yr from a family in IL. She lives outdoors year round in south GA in a one acre fenced in backyard with no dogs. Her diet consists of grass, hibiscus flowers, and the occasional vegetable medley with calcium powder sprinkled in.
 

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Yvonne G

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This is from an injury that happened to the tortoise many years ago. The injury killed the blood vessels feeding the bone and keratin in that area. Because it was dead, it stayed the same size, while new bone and keratin grew UNDER the dead bone and keratin. The new growth is bigger than the dead portion, and as it got bigger than the existing it forced the dead part to pop off. There's no way to know what the injury was, but my GUESS is the other people had a heat source mounted on a side wall and as the tortoise slept alongside the heat source his shell cooked.

This is all new, healthy shell and there is no need for concern. It will always look like that.
 

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