Urgent Help needed!Tortoise Shell chipped off

ReginaldSpikey

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Hey all, I have a rescue Star Tortoise for the past 9 years with me,I take great care of it and make sure she gets enough exercise and food,the only problem is she sometimes keeps trying to get into more and more tight corners in her enclosure(which has some bricks and cinder blocks at one side which support her shade)

I found her like this today and am panicking the f out,is this shell rot?or did she just get stuck and chipped her shell off in the process of getting out?If so,what do I do to her to help her out now?
535cb030-2d81-417c-b6bc-461f43ad4b04.jpg

Can't get to a vet since it's quarantine season and there aren't any reptile vets where I am at

For now,I have washed the chipped off area gently and placed her in a smaller,cooler enclosure with some water till the bottom of her shell to cool her out

P.S:She won't eat or drink anymore
p.s_1:She's just started eating and drinking now,but very slowly and cautiously as opposed to eating normally
 

Maro2Bear

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Greetings.. since you live in “parts unknown”, is it possible that your tortoise was chewed on by rats/rodents? Those marks look more like a rodent‘s chew marks rather than simple scraping.

i would wash in nice clean, warm water then apply an antiseptic cream. Keep the tort clean.

Then, i would determine how & where this occurred.

Is the enclosure outside?
 
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Toddrickfl1

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I agree, looks like a dog or rodent attack.
 

ReginaldSpikey

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Greetings.. since you live in “parts unknown”, is it possible that your tortoise was chewed on by rats/rodents? Those marks look more like a rodent‘s chew marks rather than simple scraping.

i would wash in nice clean, warm water then apply an antiseptic cream. Keep the tort clean.

Then, i would determine how & where this occurred.

Is the enclosure outside?

Apologies for the location,I am from a coastal city in South India and yes the enclosure is outside.

How we the enclosure is basically my terrace where to my knowledge there are no rodents(I can say this since I frequent the area almost every day when I go to feed and bathe the tortoise) and there is no access to any other animals since the gate to it is locked at all times.

Is it possible for her to grow that part of her shell back or will it remain as it is now?Also any recommended diet to help her out during this time?and if she is in pain,any ideas to soothe the pain?

Again thanks for helping out!
 

Yvonne G

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Hey all, I have a rescue Star Tortoise for the past 9 years with me,I take great care of it and make sure she gets enough exercise and food,the only problem is she sometimes keeps trying to get into more and more tight corners in her enclosure(which has some bricks and cinder blocks at one side which support her shade)

I found her like this today and am panicking the f out,is this shell rot?or did she just get stuck and chipped her shell off in the process of getting out?If so,what do I do to her to help her out now?
View attachment 291168

Can't get to a vet since it's quarantine season and there aren't any reptile vets where I am at

For now,I have washed the chipped off area gently and placed her in a smaller,cooler enclosure with some water till the bottom of her shell to cool her out

P.S:She won't eat or drink anymore
p.s_1:She's just started eating and drinking now,but very slowly and cautiously as opposed to eating normally
That looks to me more like something has chewed on the tortoise. Do you have rats in the area? wild dogs? Just wash it off and dab on some germ killer medicine.
 

ReginaldSpikey

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That looks to me more like something has chewed on the tortoise. Do you have rats in the area? wild dogs? Just wash it off and dab on some germ killer medicine.
None,dogs definitely not but now that many people are mentioning it,I guess it's possible that it could have been rats,I cleaned it's enclosure quite recently and am guessing it might be possible that a rat's nest may have been disturbed in the process

But again,to my knowledge no rodents in the area

Will the shell grow back eventually or stay as it is?
 

Yvonne G

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It will always look scuffed.
 

ReginaldSpikey

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It will always look scuffed.
Oh,well as long as she recovers fine and doesn't have any lasting pain

Any tips to help with any pain she could have and healing that part of her shell in general,I have applied an antiseptic cream and cleaned her with Luke warm water as of now
 
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