I live in southeastern Wisconsin... the weather is comparable to Syracuse, I think. I got my Russian from a pet store almost 4 years ago, and when I got him he had a small round scar on one of his scutes. Last year around this time the top layer of the scute began chipping off around the scar, to the point where the entire scute came off. I took him to the vet twice over this, the first time they gave me iodine to put on the exposed area and some antibiotics--one pill piece per day for ten days. The next time, after more shell had chipped off, they gave me nitrofurazone to spread on the scar and told me to give him the pill pieces for two and a half weeks. The vet also examined pieces of the shell and found bacteria on them. The shell is still chipping off but at a much slower rate.
About the pitting, the vet prodded the pits with a pick and since they are hard sections, she didn't really have any idea of how to treat it and basically told me not to worry about it (but of course I do 
). I've basically watched his shell condition deteriorate since I got him but I don't know what's causing it, since he's kept very dry and it's obviously not shell rot. The shell is also slightly discolored in some areas and did not appear to be growing between the most affected scute and the ones surrounding it. Otherwise, my tortoise is healthy. I'm not sure if it's just my vet or if there's really no way to treat this. Anyone have any ideas??
And by the way, you have a beautiful tort, I'm sorry about it's shell problems!
Ed
How much more of the top shell layer do you think I can expect will flake off in the future? Every once in awhile one of the edges is peeling up and more comes off, but the majority of the chipping occurred over last summer. Is it possible that he had shell rot before I got him and it disappeared on its own? Over the years I never noticed a softness to his shell around the area of the scar (which was about half a centimeter across originally) or any smell.
