Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got this 32 lbs sulcata from lonnie from the shell shop, you probably saw him for sale last week on the classifieds, he told me it was very nice etc, well i got it and it has this mark on the back of its shell, any idea's what caused it or what happen? he told me he didn't see them mark and "he packed it in the dark" I think he should of been honest about it, i won't be dealing with him anymore

Andy

RedoFootMan@yahoo.com

Well Andy as first glance it looks like an old drop, possibly holding the tortoise face up then dropping it to cause such a localised area, I would have expected to see more damage below if it were a predator, or more damage above if it was caused with the tortoise flat on the ground, Although looking inside the scar it could signify a burn or the result of the repair resin, but then these are only guesses as it is a 2D picture.
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Richard Butler
United Kingdom

For starters you really have to question the ethics of the person who 'didn't see' the damage.
It looks like it is quite old damage and seems to be growing normally now judging from the annular growth on the margins of the scutes.
Some possible causes are Bacterial infection to the connective tissue under the scute, impact damage (Ramming from another tortoise), Fungus and maybe even genetics.
What I believe happens is the connective tissue is destroyed for whatever reason. The bone secrets new keratin and a new layer of connective tissue develop between the new layer of keratin and the bone. The old scute eventually peels off. Now, it usually looks knarly because there is no annular growth but the subsequent growth will come in relatively normal.
At least that's my guess.
Ed

It looks like damage from repeated ramming of the shell during mating. I have seen similar damage in other tortoise species that are agressive during mating. The area might have been chipped from being rammed and then got infected. Regardless of what happened, it looks old and healed. The seller should have mentioned it!
Regards, Mike