Shell health

[Kerri+Doug+Speedy]

Hello everyone,

We haven't posted much here but we are looking for some advice. We live in Ontario Canada, winters here can be pretty dry inside and humidity and temperature can sometimes be hard to control in our terrarium. We have a redfooted tortoise (about 8 years old), and her shell has begun to look unhealthy. She has pyramiding, some of which she had before we got her and we have done our best to prevent more of. Now the grooves in her shell are looking very dry and flaky. We are not sure what is causing this or what the best course of action to take will be. We try to keep her terrarium humid by spraying it a few times a day with warm water, and we give her calcium supplements for her shell. Does anyone know what this is and how we can fix it? We have attached some pictures of her shell.

Thanks

 

[Kerri+Doug+Speedy]

bump, sorry any input would be appreciated, just worried about my tortoise!

 

[Ashes]

Do you have a temp/humidity gauge in your enclosure?

 

[abclements]

Your tort is pretty pyramided. I totally get the cold and dry thing though! A closed chamber enclosure would have really benefited this guy early on. In the second picture it looks like things got better at some point but not perfect. The best thing you can do for her is to get her into a large closed chamber enclosure with high humidity and the new growth will come in smooth. There is nothing you can do about the pyramiding that has already happened though. The flaky part will also be helped with enclosure humidity, also soak her a couple times a week and spray her shell with water daily.

 

[mike taylor]

I agree with abclements. Closed chamber is the way to go .