Sulcata Shell Condition

[Yossarian]

Not my tortoise.

This post is mostly for my own education.

Does this white stuff look like it is related to shell condition, has anyone seen this before. Is it too dry? I dont have anymore info than the pic.

 

[Zoeclare]

Could it be sawdust? The pic is giving me anxiety like I need to wash this tort!

 

[Yossarian]

Could it be sawdust? The pic is giving me anxiety like I need to wash this tort!

Dont think so, I pulled this image from reddit. I am not sure how the shell would do that though.

 

[Tom]

Hard water stains? Or some sort of dust from the substrate? This might happen from some sort of Aspen bedding or wood shavings?

I don't see any of the typical staining you get from damp coir or orchid bark, which made me think of substrate dust from the wrong substrate.

 

[Tom]

You can see the substrate stains and grime between the leg scales here:


And no hard water stains due to my rainwater rinsing.

 

[Blackdog1714]

its odd but it looks like powdered sugar

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Reminded me a little of a fake snow craft-type product.

 

[Yossarian]

its odd but it looks like powdered sugar

I think @Tom is on to something, I bet it is kept on newspaper or something like that.

 

[Zoeclare]

Hard water stains? Or some sort of dust from the substrate? This might happen from some sort of Aspen bedding or wood shavings?

I don't see any of the typical staining you get from damp coir or orchid bark, which made me think of substrate dust from the wrong substrate.

Thats what I thought too! It looks like sawdust and if you look closely around the tort you can see little dusty bits on the surface of the table.

 

[Blackdog1714]

Thats what I thought too! It looks like sawdust and if you look closely around the tort you can see little dusty bits on the surface of the table.

THat is why I said powdered sugar. Obviously they don't read Tom's care sheet though!

 

[AgataP]

You can see the substrate stains and grime between the leg scales here:
View attachment 309472

And no hard water stains due to my rainwater rinsing.

Tom after soak time do you rinse them with rain water ?
I got rain water for life. ?
Should that be something I should do? I summer time he got rain water soak twice because it was in his bath and was nice and warm.
Is rain water something that would be more visible for a tort?

 

[Tom]

Tom after soak time do you rinse them with rain water ?
I got rain water for life. ?
Should that be something I should do? I summer time he got rain water soak twice because it was in his bath and was nice and warm.
Is rain water something that would be more visible for a tort?

Tap water or well water is usually heavily mineralized. This is ideal for drinking, but it leaves hard water stains on our tortoises and their enclosures. To prevent this you need water with no minerals in it. Reverse osmosis, distilled, and collected rainwater all serve this purpose. You can spray the tortoise or enclosure all day long with any of these and there will be no mineral deposits left behind as the water evaporates. Just don't use the de-mineralized water for drinking or soaking. They need those minerals.

After I pull the tortoises out of their poopy soak water, I rinse them with rain water that I squirt out of a pump sprayer. It rinses the poopy-ness and the mineralized water off of them, Then they slowly air dry in their humid enclosures. The wetness is great for their growing carapace and helps keep them growing smooth.

 

[Sassafras]

This looks exactly like something I found on my baby Herman one morning.
When I got my baby eastern Hermann I noticed one morning he had a powdery looking yellow dusting on his shell that he didn't have before. I attributed it to too much moisture in his substrate which at the time was aspen, with a spagnahm moss hide. It didn't rub off and I figured it was a type of fungus starting.

I got out the GSE, (Grapefruit Seed Extract) and put one drop in a couple thimbles worth of water and rubbed that all over his shell and plastron and skin just to have it all covered. That cleared it up in one application. Just like it did on a friend's cat who had ringworm. The vet had prescribed gentian violet which stained the white cats fur terribly and said it would take MONTHS to clear it up. That's crazy. A couple of applications of dilute GSE solution cleared it right up.
The stuff is great and I have used it with cats, birds, dogs, and a friend's golden Greek tortoise about 20 years ago that they bought from a pet shop in Florida. When they received it, it felt almost hollow, it was so underweight.

I figured it was wild caught and loaded with parasites. GSE is a powerful antimicrobial, anti fungal, antibacterial, antiparasitic derived from grapefruit seeds and pulp. It kills more pathogens than hospital surgical rooms disinfectant, without the chemicals.
I can't remember how I got it into the little fella , very diluted of course, but after that it gained weight and felt like a normal tortoise should, weight wise. He got that treatment for at least a week, or two. I can't remember it was so long ago. I think I just added some drops to his drinking and soaking water. You don't need much. It tastes nasty and I need to drink it in orange juice if I am dosing myself.

I also hooked him up to a device called a terminator zapper. A Hulda Clark style thing that delivers a small electrical shock at 15 hertz with a sine wave for about an hr a day for a while. I rigged up 2 longer wires that were attached to the positive and negative terminals on this square little back box thing and attached the other end of the wires to each of his back legs. I exposed some of the copper in the wire attached (looped around) to his legs and turned it on. It had to be in contact with bare skin to work.

One positive wire looped on one leg, the other negative wire looped onto his other leg. I gave plenty of length to the wire (a couple feet) so it could walk around a little and supervised so it didn't get caught up and tighten around his legs. Doesn't hurt them as long as they are dry when you are doing it. Moisture will cause a burn. I use it on myself all the time
It kills most all, possibly all,.. bacteria, fungus, parasites too. I would not be surprised if it could help the poor sulcata yellow bump disease.
GSE too. I always used Nutribiotic brand GSE. Please read about GSE. I've used it on delicate expensive baby birds, parrots, and saved their lives and health. A bottle of GSE will last a long long time please read about it and it's use for pets. Zappers were also used. Attached to their legs the same way as the tortoise.

I know tortoises are not supposed to have citrus, but that golden Greek did fine after this regimen.
I have used the zapper and GSE on many sick animals and they always got better from what was ailing them. Never worse. Never died.

I could go on about what I've used it for, animal wise but this post is getting long. Both have saved lives and cured illnesses. Naturally without chemicals.
I'd also use it (GSE) in a spray bottle if I saw a flea. About 30-40 drops per liter of water in the spray bottle. On the animal and their bedding, the carpets, etc. It works.