Worried about my Russians shell.

[getysburg]

Hi,
I recently, pretty much inherited a Russian tortoise from my aunt. It was close to winter so I overwintered it inside with a UVB lamp in a nice custom made box etc. The problem is its shell which is... well its appalling, it was mauled by a dog once (one of the reasons I insisted on looking after it).

I didn't think anything of it so I left it to heal. The problem is 6 months on the shell is still in pretty bad shape and some of the damaged areas, which were a creamy colour, have now flaked of to show a mix of black and yellow underneath. I did some net research and I've become worried this might be dry shell rot?

Besides the shell the tortoise is very healthy, eats well, has calcium supplement every few days, and has a bath once a week. The shell is hard, no softness and the black patches do not smell.

I've uploaded a pic, the new black patches are located bottom left and top right of the first central shell plate.

 

[terracolson]

the shell will not grow back.. it actually looks as good as could be expected to me

 

[Kristina]

Do you mean in these spots?

It does look sunken in there.

 

[getysburg]

Do you mean in these spots?

It does look sunken in there.

Those are the ones.

I read somewhere it could be new shell. The top one is the yellowish colour of new shell, but your the experts.

 

[Yvonne G]

Eventually that old dead bone (white spots) will flake off and there will be new healthy keratin underneath, the color of the normal shell. That's what it looks like to me. However, the flaking off of the old dead bone usually takes a year or more to happen. How long ago was the tortoise chewed on?

And...WELCOME to the forum!!