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I purchased my redfoot yesterday from a local reptile speciality shop. Their animals seem to be all in great health. My redfoot is around 4 inches in length, very active and eating great (he has eaten 2 pretty good sized "meals" already).

when i purchased him, i checked him over thoroughly and noticed soe odd splotches on his plastron. He was kept with several leopard hatchlings, and the shop had planted edible grass into their substrate (the super active leopards were chowing down on it). The owner had not noticed the splotches until i had pointed them out, and he said that they may be remains of crushed grass seeds which i found a little unlikely. He said that if there were any problems with the splotches that he would take care of it (financialy i am assuming). I am concerned that it is something much worse, maybe a fungal infection due to their need for high humidity? please help.

the shop owner was able to lightly scratch off some of the splotches...the scutes underneath the splotches were a little lighter yellow but nothing terrible looking. The picture has where the splotches were scratched off circled in ref, unfortunately because of my camera the scratched away parts look much whiter than they do in actuality.

That is a fungal infection. If left untreated it will spread to the carapace too.
It comes from being kept in dirty or wet conditions and is often seen in animals who constantly sit or sleep in their urine.
You see it when keepers have a tortoise house that never gets moved or thoroughly cleaned. The wastes accumulate in the soil or other substrate and the fungus thrives. It is also extremely contagious.
Clean the area as best you can with an antibacterial soap and then let dry. An antifungal cream for jock itch or althelete's foot supposedly works wonders.
That is a small tortoise and once this is cleaned up the scarring won't be that noticeable as it grows.

An older remedy than Carl suggested is my treatment of choice for the lesions you pictured. I scrape the white, dead shell tissue away fairly vigorously with a canine tooth scaler (or the edge of a sharp knife blade will also work), then paint the area generously with a cotton swab dipped in Gentian Violet (available in drug stores). Go beyond the actual borders onto the healthy shell area when applying it. This is the purple looking stuff which used to be painted on ringworm lesions in humans. It kills fungus and stays on better than ointments because it dries like a paint. Most tortoises only require a couple of treatments to totally cure the problem. Stubborn cases may take more treatments, but it is not harmful and you can get a month or more out of one treatment. Be careful though, this will stain your skin purple if you get it on yourself. Good luck, whichever treatment you decide to use.

I had forgotten about Gentian Violet Bill. You're right, it does stay on better than the creams.
But I think the last time I used it was in the 70s.

>> But I think the last time I used it was in the 70s.

So, the last time you had Ringworm was in the 70's Carl? Not bad! JUST kidding man...

In the past I've used betadine with decent results when dealing with shell fungus. I use a wire brush, water and scrub like crazy! Then, apply betadine , scrub some more, rinse then 'wet' the area again with betadine and wipe with a towel so a portion stays behind on the shell. I've had no problems with that so far and decent results.

Matt

After looking around and hearing what alot of people had to say, i ended up combining a few treatments. I "soaked" him in a shallow pan of warmish water, then swabbed the area with a generous amount of bactine, towel dried, applied a foot fungus medication, and then a tripple anti-biotic for fear that it may have possibly been a bacterial infection. I did this treatment twice a day. I have also been replacing the spag in his cool hide daily just to keep things clean.

after the first day most signs of the fungus were gone, but i am still doing the treatment just to make sure. Also his plastron is rather "raw" where the numbskulls at the store scratched away at the fungus after trying to convince me it was crushed grass seed.

to make a long story short, this treatment seems to have worked great. The little guy seems to be much mcuh more active since things have cleared up. thank you to everyone for all your help.

on a side note, while at a pet store the other day i ran across a spray for treatment of bacterial and fungal infections specificly for tortoise shells. I believe the brand was HerpMed (but after google searching it, i cant find it anywhere)...does anyone have any experience with this stuff just for future ref?

i dont know why i said bactine, i meant betadine. sorry.

A common and big mistake in keeping Redfoots is keeping them too wet. They do benefit from high humidity but it definately is not a necessity. The best thing to do is keep him dry and provide an area that is high in humidity but not wet so he has a choice of areas.

On the damage that is done I'd suggest a gentile cleaning with a toothbrush and the application of a an antifungal. The bone will eventually flake off on its own.

>>I purchased my redfoot yesterday from a local reptile speciality shop. Their animals seem to be all in great health. My redfoot is around 4 inches in length, very active and eating great (he has eaten 2 pretty good sized "meals" already).
>>
>>when i purchased him, i checked him over thoroughly and noticed soe odd splotches on his plastron. He was kept with several leopard hatchlings, and the shop had planted edible grass into their substrate (the super active leopards were chowing down on it). The owner had not noticed the splotches until i had pointed them out, and he said that they may be remains of crushed grass seeds which i found a little unlikely. He said that if there were any problems with the splotches that he would take care of it (financialy i am assuming). I am concerned that it is something much worse, maybe a fungal infection due to their need for high humidity? please help.
>>
>>the shop owner was able to lightly scratch off some of the splotches...the scutes underneath the splotches were a little lighter yellow but nothing terrible looking. The picture has where the splotches were scratched off circled in ref, unfortunately because of my camera the scratched away parts look much whiter than they do in actuality.
>>
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care