Hey guys, I'm a new owner of a baby cherry head. Today I noticed that when I gently rub the bottom of his shell his shell comes off with it. He's about 8 months old. I previously thought he might have shell rot but its not spreading so I think I'm done worrying about that for now. Any idea why? Is it because he's young? His shell also doesn't feel like leather it is hard; I also understand that it needs to be a little flexible because he has a lot of growth ahead of him.
Shell peals?
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Hard shell is good, you do not want it to be soft and/or leathery!
Pictures of the plastron would help. Sounds like rot, but without pictures we couldn't say for sure. Tinypic.com makes things pretty easy.
Pictures of the plastron would help. Sounds like rot, but without pictures we couldn't say for sure. Tinypic.com makes things pretty easy.
Ditto what redstrike said! Hard good. Soft bad
Redstrike said:
So the yellow circle is the top part of the shell that came off, the red parts are the white spots on the shell that to my under standing are from too much calcium? Does that make sense to anyone? Also provided is a link to my previous thread just to show you how the shell condition has progressed.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-55222.html#axzz28rKYu95K
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Yes, I would say that is shell rot. You might be keeping your substrate a bit too wet for your little guy.
I have had this come up once and treated the whole plastron with betadine once to twice a day. You can get Betadine at any drugstore (CVS) in a liquid. Just use a Q-tip and cover the entire area.
I have had this come up once and treated the whole plastron with betadine once to twice a day. You can get Betadine at any drugstore (CVS) in a liquid. Just use a Q-tip and cover the entire area.
CDNPyxis said:
I can see how I have been keeping the substrate too wet for him, I was just worried that I wouldn't get the humidity high enough. As for the betadine I was told to not use it too much because it has something to do with the growth of white blood cells? Anything about the white spots on his shell?
boil3rr said:
Iodine, Betadine, and most other sterilizing agents kill all microbes. This includes the new growth cells, immune cells, and the pathogens you want to destroy. That's why most of us use the astringents 1-2 times initially, then just stick to the creams.
Although true that Betadine can do some damage to the cells of the tort in that immediate area, fungi are very tough and are within the shell of that area also. Betadine is not an astringent (at least not how I have seen it defined), and it is not straight iodine, I agree that something like alcohol is not what should be used as it does do a lot of damage to the cells on the healing edge. But I really don't know of a reason to not use Betadine long enough to make sure that the area is fully recovered and the healing process far enough along that the body is in control before you stop using it.
I would like to know if there is literature to suggest that Betadine is bad for torts on prolonged use, especially on the shell, which is largely a barrier.
As far as your question on the white spots goes; are they smooth with the shell around them? Hard to see from the photo, but I am guessing that they are just more areas of shell rot.
I would like to know if there is literature to suggest that Betadine is bad for torts on prolonged use, especially on the shell, which is largely a barrier.
As far as your question on the white spots goes; are they smooth with the shell around them? Hard to see from the photo, but I am guessing that they are just more areas of shell rot.
CDNPyxis said:
They are smooth with the shell around them it seems to me that the white spots are under top few layers of the bottom of his shell if that makes sense. I got betadine yesterday and started applying anti fungal cream with clotrimazole.
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