Shell Discoloration (Yellowing)

Yossarian

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My Greek boy is nearly 7 years old now, have noticed recently that the top of his shell seems to have started to turn more yellow, it is just discoloration at this point, there is no obvious damage or softness to the shell. He had some old issues with some rot and very minor shell deformation from bad husbandry before we rescued him (4 years ago) but he hasn’t had any issues since I’ve had him. He gets appropriate greens twice daily and is under a Mercury Vapour bulb and gets calcium and D3 every few days. I’ll try to get some pics up shortly but I’m worried this might be MBD or some kind of rot. I haven’t been able to find anything online specifically referring to what I’m seeing so not sure if it could be normal? I’m looking forward to any info possible.
 

Yvonne G

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Can we see pictures of him please, Scott?
 

Yossarian

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DD2A4131-E511-465F-9B6A-6B4A284D27D0.jpeg BC9DCAB0-2024-47C1-BA7B-B6E8E58F1E94.jpeg 289A6DF0-58D8-48F0-A09C-7A7F25CC5AD8.jpeg 01E143AF-8850-46B7-9A83-5D8495035BA8.jpeg

Some pics, sorry for the clutter.
I don’t have any older pics that really give a good image, of this, but I think the yellowing has become more prominent. Could this be from being too close to his light?
 

TammyJ

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Sorry but I think your tortoise looks absolutely fabulous. But I am no expert!!!:)
 

Yvonne G

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I see what you're worried about. It's new growth, however, I've never seen such uneven new growth before. It's very strange. Usually, a tortoise's silhouette has a certain symmetry to it. Sometimes different areas grow at different rates so as to keep that symmetry. Looks like your tortoise's silhouette needed more growth in the back area than in the front, and so you see the wide new growth bands. I don't think it's anything to worry about.
 

Yossarian

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I see what you're worried about. It's new growth, however, I've never seen such uneven new growth before. It's very strange. Usually, a tortoise's silhouette has a certain symmetry to it. Sometimes different areas grow at different rates so as to keep that symmetry. Looks like your tortoise's silhouette needed more growth in the back area than in the front, and so you see the wide new growth bands. I don't think it's anything to worry about.


Thanks for your comments, I don’t really have any experience base with this guy so I find it difficult to know what’s normal and what’s not.
 

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