Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 3 year old redfoot (Don) has a very dry looking shell. Infact, he always looks kind of dry all over. He has a hide box that is 90% humidity with moss to keep it moist. he doesn't hide there much though. I give him weekly soaks. Though he doesn't like that much either. I also try to mist him every time I walk by. My other redfoots also "appear" to be dry but not as bad as Don. I upped his fruit intake a bit in hopes to hydrate him more.

My other concern is that his shell appears to be splitting on the bottom in two places. (see the third image) These "splits" dont appear to be open wounds and I don't thing they are battle scars. I think his shell is just doing that on its own. Has anyone run into this.

Last but not least, Don is my only tortoise that has a shell that is not symetrical. (see the first image) He has been like this since he was a hatchling. The "scutes" near the back of his shell are crooked. Can someone explain this? could this cause problems for Don in the future?

From what I've heard the irregular scute pattern is from incubation temperatures usually. As for the dry shell, maybe the overall humidity is to low? I don't see anything that looks like an infection in the shell but others would be better than I at telling this.
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aquariphiles.com-where I blog about aquarium stuff

Hi Lyka,

Its hard to tell from the photos but it could be a form of shell fungus or rot. This sometimes shows up as white marks but eventually can turn to a degradation of the shell over time.

This type of infection can occur from dirty substrate. Hard to say this is what it is but if the shell appears to be chipping or flaking, its likely an infection of some sort. You can counter the infection sometimes by applying triple antibiotic to the area that shows the white.

I've rescued many box turtles that had infections who recovered 100% using a simple tube of antibiotic from Walgreens.

If it persists, you may want to see a vet.

The scuting is permanent as mentioned by the previous poster and is fairly common when animals experience a fluctuation in temperatures in the incubation period. Its not harmful.

Best of luck,

Paul

thanks for the info. I dont think it is an infection. the entire shell has a general appearance of dryness.