So I bought a lovely little female Redfooted tortoise on Sunday. She's been a wonder. She's active, healthy, spends most of her time outside in her outdoor enclosure eating grass and weeds, and is even getting warmed up to my presence and following me around. She also has a love for speeding down the sidewalk, occasionally stopping to sniff something potentially yummy in our yard, and munch on it to her heart's content.
This Redfoot was bought at the pet store I work at, though she wasn't ours to begin with. She was a transfer from a sister store, that didn't have the space for her, and was tired of her not selling. Apparently they had her for quite some time. So we took her in.
On Tuesday I was picking her up, and tilted her a bit to see her bottom shell...and it was nasty. ):
I'm not really sure if its 100% shell rot, but what I've read up on it on other sides and seen pictures of, it seems the most likely thing. We keep our Redfoots on mulch, but our sister store isn't that great. I bet they had her on soil.
At least they told us they won't be carrying tortoises anymore due to them not selling well in their area.
Above her legs, on both sides of the bottom shell, a few layers of the shell seem to have rotted away leaving a clearish-opaque layer visible, the border around the rot is white and chalky. Both spots are just slightly larger than a dime, and along her shell there are very teeny tiny specks of what seem to be emerging rot. When I saw this, I went on the and spent a good half hour rushing through websites, and what to do in case of shell rot.
And at 8:30pm and went out and got her the recommended medicine and supplies.
I took out her mulch and layered her cage with a towel, then put some moist Sphagnum moss in her hidey (apparently its slightly acidic, so it helps against the fungus), got some Chlorhexidine solution (because apparently Betadine prohibits new shell growth), a soft children's toothbrush, and some antifungal cream. Twice a day she gets a soft scrubdown with the Chlorhexidine, a rinse, dry, and a thin layer of antifungal cream. I typically set her in her "bath" (a small cat litter pan) and wait until the fungal cream sinks in and dries. Typically she gets a treat (some piece of random veggie) to distract her so she doesn't stress out and poop all over the place.
Now its nearly been a week and I haven't seen too much of an improvement. Anything I'm doing wrong? Does rot like this take a while to start healing? Of course if it gets worse, I'll check her into a vet ASAP. I found the vet listings on this site, and one that was highly recommended in another user's post isn't that far away from me.
Lemme know if I should add anything to this treatment, or hold off on something. I feel kinda stupid I didn't check the bottom of her shell before I bought her, and when I went back to my work to get her moss, I checked the other two, and thankfully they're rot-free.
I just feel a bit dumb I didn't notice it. I kinda feel like one of the uneducated ninnies that buy obviously unhealthy animals. ><
Anyway thank you. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
