Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi tortu-experts,

My new baby Hermanns (CB) has a soft plastron. The back of its shell was also soft (top of the butt area). I was afraid of MBD but also thought that 1) it's a baby 2) EBV where I got him/her said that Hermanns' shell is softer comparing with Greek (my other tortu -also CB- who I compare with). The two tortus have separated living quarters.

I had it for 3 weeks and it seems that the shell has since hardened and he/she has grown a little. By the way, THANKS Cindy for your tips on the humid hide!!!!
However, the plastron is still soft especially in the middle. is this because that was where the egg sac was?

She/he eats and seems alert but also sleeps a lot. He has a terrarium with heating pad, UV lamp, heat lamp, a humid hide on the warm side, a coconut house, shallow water dish and grass/veggies to eat. i feed it dandelion, clover and grass from my never fertilized-chemical free lawn, romaine, occasionally a bit of tomato, apple or zucchini. Also there's some Timothy hay but she/he only likes to hide under it. I sprinkle a mix of calcium and herpetivite on her/his food.

He/she is slightly bigger than a quarter, like a half dollar coin. Also, how old is she/he?

Thanks in advance...!

TT

This is why I like suggesting the use of Mazuri Diet. It was formulated for tortoises and takes a great deal of guess work out of the formula.

You are trying to provide all the nutrition for your little guy that it needs for proper development. I don't know about you but I sure don't know ALL the essential elements it needs or the proportion in which it needs them. So to overcome this ignorance I feed as much variety as possible. I'm talking 30 or 40 different items and I don't think that is enough variety. Adding the Mazuri seems to fill in any missing elements based on my results and the results.

What is really interesting is that hatchlings under a year old usually have soft shells. Ever since I've been using this diet on hatchlings I'm finding an abnormal increase in the hardness of the shells of animals under a year old. I'm also playing with a couple of leopards that are getting no UVB at all.

Finally, I can't stress heat and hydration enough. Without those 2 factors the metabolic process has to be greatly impacted in a negative fashion.

With that said, I'd suggest increasing the soakings to daily if you are not doing that already and stabilize the temperature as best as you can... to about 80 to 90F. This is where the dreaded fishtank is actually a benefit.

Of course, look into feeding the Mazuri tortoise diet once or twice a week.

If the kidneys are not wiped out already you will see amazing results.
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Ed
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Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

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