Shell rot :(

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Crohnsaholic

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Hey guys I was cleaning out Tom's cage when I noticed on parts of the bottom and part of the side of his shell are covered with white powdery looking areas with spots of brown in the middle. I am pretty sure this is shell rot, I am already drying out his cage ( as I realize now that it is too moist...) and am going to the pharmacy to pick up bedatine. I know I apply this daily to the infected areas but how do i do so? By using a toothbrush or just by dripping it onto the affected areas?

please help :(

I tried to upload photos but it said that they were to large in size.
 

LindaF

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follow the treatment on turtletary or redfoots.com. You also need a antifungal cream, Clotrimazole 1%.
Don't feel too bad. I went into such a panic and then I felt like the worse tortoise mom in the whole world. It is common....
 

Kristina

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Actually, do NOT apply betadine daily. Mix it with water until it is a weak tea color, and apply it on the first day. After that apply athlete's foot cream.
 

EricIvins

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Any type of Foot Cream will work.....It's a fungal infection usually caused by being kept too wet.....
 

Madkins007

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With the powdery residue, yours looks to be fungal in nature (it can also happen because of bacteria or just plain wet substrates in certain situations).

Treatment includes:

1.) Sterilize the habitat as best you can to get rid of fungi spores. Wash/disinfect what you can, and strongly consider replacing the substrate completely. At a bare minimum, let it all dry out for a while.

I also recommend using a 'hospital tank' for the first several days or week to give the real home a chance to get cleaned, and to let the treatment work as best we can.

2.) Clean the area carefully. You can use Betadine or plain water, maybe with some salt as a scrubbing agent. Clean the entire area as best you can.

3.) Use Betadine solution for the first day or two to completely kill as much as you can. We generally don't use it past the first couple of days as it can interfere with the healing process. You can dilute it up to about 1:20 with water (making a new batch each time). Apply with a cotton swab or paper towel- whatever it takes to get a decent layer over the affected area. Let it dry.

4.) Because this appears to be fungal, use any ointment sold for athlete's foot and such for humans. Apply a thin layer over the affected area and keep the tortoise on paper towels or newspaper for an hour or so to let it work before putting it back on the usual substrate.

If it were bacterial (pitting, dark 'puddles' under scutes, etc.), we would use an antibacterial for the first week, then switch to the antifungal if it did not seem to help. Purely environmental cases usually don't need medicines, but ANY form of shell rot can open the way to secondary infections and problems.

5.) You should see signs of things drying up and no more spreading within a week or so. Actual healing will take longer, and there may always be visible damage to the scutes.

(Based on Mader's "Reptile Medicine and Surgery" and discussions with other keepers.)


Some species and some substrates are a risky combination. I personally feel that some acidic substrates, like sphagnum moss, can cause it for Red-foots if the moss is kept too wet. (Here in Omaha, the moss is either bone dry or wet, I cannot seem to get it inbetween for more than a couple hours at a time.)
 

cindyinmaine

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I just noticed that my red foot has shell rot, after she seemed out of sorts for two or three days... she had been on Repti-Bark and also some sphagnum, and I think it was too wet. I am going to try her on just Repti-Bark, and dryer than usual, and have just tonight started scrubbing her plastron (the trouble areas) with a soft toothbrush soaked in vinegar, then a rinse, then drying her and then a bit of Clotrimazole. I ordered some Nolvasan online yesterday... is that better than Clotrimazole? It sounds like it might be dual-fungicide/bacteriocide... she actually seems better tonight than she has since Sunday, tho she HATED the treatment, and twisted her head around like I was killing her. But she's moving around again, and et some okra, which she loves.
:/
Cindy
 
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