Soaking?

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Squirtle Time

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I'm worried that I am soaking my RT too often. I have been soaking him every other day for 5-10 minutes, but I read that it is a desert tortoise and needs a very dry substrate or risk of skin and shell infections. So moisture isn't good for him.

How often should I be soaking him? When I got him he had a little "chip" in his shell where instead of the natural brown color, it is white. It is about the size of a dime or smaller. The spot is really small but it seems more defined over the past couple of days and I am worried he may have developed a shell infection. I am taking him to the vet on Monday, but I thought it could be related to his soaking pattern.

I have been giving him a calcium powder a couple times a week and although my enclosure is indoors, I take him out frequently to get sun and crawl around for an hour or more pretty much everyday and he has a UV light on all day.

Is it normal to have any imperfections on the shell or should I do something different?
 

Tom

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I soak all my tortoises of all species daily. This has included CDTs, both types of leopards and sulcatas. All of these are generally regarded as "desert" types. It should not cause any problems, especially if they are dry in between and get regular sun or bask under a heat lamp of some sort.

Post a pic of your spot and let us take a look at it.
 

GBtortoises

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Every other day for 5-10 minutes is fine. That's definitely not doing any harm and there will be no risk of skin or shell fungus because of it as long as your tortoise is able to completely dry of as Tom said above. Moisture (in their substrate), along with constant hydration (drinking) is actually very important for young tortoises that are still growing. It is not as crucial for fully grown adult tortoises of some species, Russians being one of them. Adult Russians just don't require the amount of moisture in their substrate that younger animals do.
Do you have a photo of the white area of the shell that you can post for us to see? If it is a chip out of the shell it's probably not fungus but the underlying bone showing through. If it is on top of the out layer of keratin of the shell it may be fungus. A photo would help. We might be able to save you the cost and a trip to the vet!
Shell imperfections are very normal, especially with wild caught tortoises.
 

Squirtle Time

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I will be able to upload a photo later today. Either way he is going to the vet for a general check up because I recently purchased him at Petco, and I wanted to make sure he doesn't have parasites or any other health issues that I cannot detect, but thank you for trying to save me the visit. Thanks for verifying a good soaking schedule. I'm hoping that its just a little imperfection in his shell, I'm glad they are common. Thank You!
 
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