Ok, First off, I'm just going to say be nice. This I am hoping is going to be an on going thread on a journey of dealing with my female leopard who was born with a disfigured shell. I adopted her knowing as such, and not knowing why. I'm hoping maybe the info it will help other tortoises. Follow along if you like, or ignore I'd just like to record what happens. I have appreciated a bunch of info I have gotten here, and knowing she was not raise in ideal conditions to start with, I have corrected this to the best of my abilities. I now try to comply to Toms methods as close as possibly to prevent further pyramiding and problems with babies. I am still learning, and will always be open to discussion and ideas and constructive critisism.
All this being said, I do have 21 years vet tech background and am working with my vet some. This experiment is to help try to correct her already bad shell, with proper husbandry I have gotten here, to see what the outcome will be over the years, once I move her outside, in the Idaho summers where the humidity rarely gets over 35-40%. So far I have seen such amazing results in just 4 weeks, that I'm hoping once they are older, and outside, that it will help keep the nice smooth shells.
Ok, So here's what I do. I changed to follow Toms guidelines as far as humidity and raising the best I can. I admit they are not in 100 percent close chamber but I am working on it. I use a lot of artificial greenery, mist the cage, and plastic wrap and keep the temps and humidity at his numbers all day. Can't be done open top? Can, but takes a lot of work time and energy.
So the one thing I add, Aquaphor every 7-10 days rubs very well into the top of her shell. She gets her 45-60 min soak a night. For this writing purpose, let's say we will start on Sunday. I clean the pen. She never soaks in dirty water. Soon as she goes, I give her clean water. Maybe I'm too paranoid. Sometimes I change her bath water 3-4 times in that hour. 90 degreeish. At this time I gently wash her shell with my fingers, no soap or anything, just water, check for abnormalities. After the last tub empty I gently rinse her with the warm water from the sink sprayer in her legs, tail, neck, head. making sure I get all substrate/dirt/grim from her. I then take Aquaphor, small amount goes a long ways. Usually she's nice and warm from the spray down so it doesn't take much for it to spread nice. Rub it in nice and good. not too much, you do not want to clog the pores, because it does contain petrolatum. Then what is left on my fingers I gently run on her legs pet the top of her head, under the chin. Her shell is hard, it has no impact on that what so ever. I never put any underneath. It lasts the whole time. Every day at her bath time I just take some of her regular water and rub her shell with it. I can still feel the Aquaphor on her shell for the rest of the week or so.
These two are the weeks before I got her. You can see the indents in her top shells
Morla Born 11/5/17
4/22/18 for record purpose
5/10/18 10 days (left) 6/16/18 30 days (right)
what I notice here if the new growth is coming in smooth, the second ring of scutes are not dipped in anymore.
These pics pics I notice the vertibre scutes. The very center one has flattened out some, but as you go towards the tail it flattens out, even the pyramiding between the next scute is almost resolved. The very side is completely smooth and there is no more pyramiding on the last row of scutes at all as if it has disappeared completely.
The best sign on this one is the shoulder scute. It is completely flat. Does not scoop in no longer, in fact it is starting to round outward like a normal tortoise. the bottom scutes by the leg has grown back evenly and no longer flares out where it connects to the plastern, but is smoothing transitioning under. This picture here you can also tell that the top vertibre scutes are starting to also curve rounding towards the shell shape.
(Moderator note: I didn't know what Aquaphor was, so Googled it, " Aquaphor Healing Ointment is uniquely formulated to restore smooth, healthy skin. Different from a lotion or cream, this multi-purpose ointment protects and soothes extremely dry skin, chapped lips, cracked hands and feet, minor cuts ...")
All this being said, I do have 21 years vet tech background and am working with my vet some. This experiment is to help try to correct her already bad shell, with proper husbandry I have gotten here, to see what the outcome will be over the years, once I move her outside, in the Idaho summers where the humidity rarely gets over 35-40%. So far I have seen such amazing results in just 4 weeks, that I'm hoping once they are older, and outside, that it will help keep the nice smooth shells.
Ok, So here's what I do. I changed to follow Toms guidelines as far as humidity and raising the best I can. I admit they are not in 100 percent close chamber but I am working on it. I use a lot of artificial greenery, mist the cage, and plastic wrap and keep the temps and humidity at his numbers all day. Can't be done open top? Can, but takes a lot of work time and energy.
So the one thing I add, Aquaphor every 7-10 days rubs very well into the top of her shell. She gets her 45-60 min soak a night. For this writing purpose, let's say we will start on Sunday. I clean the pen. She never soaks in dirty water. Soon as she goes, I give her clean water. Maybe I'm too paranoid. Sometimes I change her bath water 3-4 times in that hour. 90 degreeish. At this time I gently wash her shell with my fingers, no soap or anything, just water, check for abnormalities. After the last tub empty I gently rinse her with the warm water from the sink sprayer in her legs, tail, neck, head. making sure I get all substrate/dirt/grim from her. I then take Aquaphor, small amount goes a long ways. Usually she's nice and warm from the spray down so it doesn't take much for it to spread nice. Rub it in nice and good. not too much, you do not want to clog the pores, because it does contain petrolatum. Then what is left on my fingers I gently run on her legs pet the top of her head, under the chin. Her shell is hard, it has no impact on that what so ever. I never put any underneath. It lasts the whole time. Every day at her bath time I just take some of her regular water and rub her shell with it. I can still feel the Aquaphor on her shell for the rest of the week or so.
These two are the weeks before I got her. You can see the indents in her top shells
Morla Born 11/5/17
4/22/18 for record purpose
5/10/18 10 days (left) 6/16/18 30 days (right)
what I notice here if the new growth is coming in smooth, the second ring of scutes are not dipped in anymore.
These pics pics I notice the vertibre scutes. The very center one has flattened out some, but as you go towards the tail it flattens out, even the pyramiding between the next scute is almost resolved. The very side is completely smooth and there is no more pyramiding on the last row of scutes at all as if it has disappeared completely.
The best sign on this one is the shoulder scute. It is completely flat. Does not scoop in no longer, in fact it is starting to round outward like a normal tortoise. the bottom scutes by the leg has grown back evenly and no longer flares out where it connects to the plastern, but is smoothing transitioning under. This picture here you can also tell that the top vertibre scutes are starting to also curve rounding towards the shell shape.
(Moderator note: I didn't know what Aquaphor was, so Googled it, " Aquaphor Healing Ointment is uniquely formulated to restore smooth, healthy skin. Different from a lotion or cream, this multi-purpose ointment protects and soothes extremely dry skin, chapped lips, cracked hands and feet, minor cuts ...")
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. I did a soak in pedilyte and carrot baby food, then added store bought greens to her grass and weeds mixture. Now she's gained it back plus some, so I'm not sure why, maybe its the extra moisture in the store greens? There is a lot of left over food left.
