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Can anyone tell me what this is, what causes it and how to get rid of it? It seems only to affect my redfoots and only on their plastrone. They are outdoors in Florida on the Florida soil and leaves. The pen is clean from feces and is pleanty roomy for them.
Thanks for your help.

I received a couple of Leopard tortoises that were kept outdoors in Fla. that had the same 'rot'. I believed it was from too much moisture and a fungus or mite. I also got some chaco tortoises that have this. They were WC. The makeup of the Chaco(habitat) looks exactly like Fla.
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Ed
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Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Hi EJ,
I appreciate your input. I also have leopards in the back yard and they don’t have the “rot” so I doubt it’s the humidity. The redfoots are the only ones that have it. I have elongates, Russians, and Burmese mountain tortoises, all out back and on the ground. None of them have this problem. What did you treat the leopards and Chocos you have that had something similar?
Thanks.

Over how long of a period of time has the condition developed to this state? Is that white layer lying on top of the scute or going into the scute tissue?
You might want to try post your question on the yahoo Tortoise Trust list. There are many very experienced people on that list and Andy, the director of the TT, always helps, when it is a question about the health of an animal. With his vast experience I am sure, that he could tell you, what causes this and which treatment might be in order.
Regards, Gaby

Thank you for the giggle.
Tell Herr Highfield I said Hi.
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Ed
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Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I forgot to mention that the owner of that list will ban any individual that disagrees with his point of view so you tend to get a biased opinion.
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Ed
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Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Hi Gaby,
Thanks for your response. The white area is damage actually going into the scute tissue. I'll try to get a better picture of it. As EJ said, it could be from a mite or humidity. I'm wondering about fungus too. One guy told me to use batadine.
Thanks for your help.

Kept them in a dry environment.
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Ed
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Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

I have been reading on a couple of occasions, that people attributed shell rot to too high moisture in the substrate. I really wonder though, if that is the case, especially with regard to redfoots.
In literature about redfoots in the wild, K. Moscovits f.i. writes, that she observed redfoots in Maraca using burrows, that got flooded in the rainy season as well as after any harder rain. So they were basically sitting in water puddles, keeping cooler and well hydrated that way. When these puddles started to dry out the tortoises covered themselves with the resulting mud.
So this does not sound as if keeping them on moist substrate should harm them.
The exception might be, when a shell injury is existing. In that case high moisture would likely support the growth of fungus and bacteria. But I doubt, that all your redfoots, that are concerned, had plastron injuries to start with?
I really hope, that you can find out from somebody knowledgeable, what is causing the problem, and what can be done to treat / prevend it. As many of us are not blessed with good reptile vets, the more we can find out ourselves the better.
Ed,- why do you think, that a mite could be the problem? I thought, that mites attack through the skin of reptiles?
And what did you do with your animals, that were affected? Did you treat them or did the problem resolve itself?

Gaby

The photo shown looks similar to what I see on the leopards I got form Florida and the Chacos. It does not look like it is active so I didn't take any action. In both cases it is not getting worse so there is still no need for action.
The deal on the mites is something I've read in litterature and have never actually seen the bug.
Another thing that will cause the scutes to slough is septicemia. It seems to kill the tissue under the scute. If the animal survives the scute dries and peels off leaving a similar scar.
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Ed
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Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care