soft shell

[a.collins18]

hi all, the underside of my tortoise' shell has started 2 go a bit soft, especially in the middle (on the two lines in the center) i give him limestone flour with all his food and have a cuttlfish bone for him 2 add more calcium if needed, i need 2 get some nutrobol and will asap, is ther enyfink els i can do???? all comments welcome

[angela__k__84]

That's pretty worrying, and certainly sounds like a vitamin deficiency.
What strength UV do you use and do you dust your torts food with calcium dust?
Personally I would get him to a qualified vets asap. This is not something you want to get any worse.
Good luck with it.

[fatfecker]

Does he go outside? Artificial UV is crap compared to the sun, please also note that most polycarbonate/acrylic/glass will block a lot if not all UV.

He needs UVB to metabolise the calcium, you can provide Nutrobol which contains Vitamin D3 (powdered sunlight effectively) and most keepers dust their food with limestone flour and nutrobol to ensure high calcium diet and absorbtion.

Also be aware that UV bulbs degrade substantially over time, although the visible light remains pretty much the same (i.e. it looks the same to us) the UV being transmitted decreases substantially. Depending on how long the bulbs have been active you should aim to replace the strip light type every year and the powersun type every 2 years.

[annsimpson1]

I must say my youngsters who will be four this year have been out every summer since they were hatchlings and have never had a days illness, or at least I don't think they have, they are outside from waking to hibernating and although I put cuttlefish etc out they rarely if ever touch it, you really can't beat the fresh air and natural light.

[fatfecker]

Likewise Ann. As long as the night time lows don't drop below 10 degrees I don't envisage bringing any of my meds inside at all until around september

[helen2]

How old is this tortoise?

[fatfecker]

mine are aged 2 years to 12 but I treat them all the same, even the newly hatched (got 3 eggs incubating at the moment)

[EVIEMAY]

Plenty of natural sun or uv - additional liquid calcuim supplements like Zolcal D - dose is dependent on the size of your tortoise so a trip to the vet is a good idea.

[a.collins18]

hi all, thanx 4 all the info and concern,

i have bought a new uvb bulb and nutrobol. yes he does go outside alot when its hot and even if its not that hot he still goes out for a few hours, his shell has got harder now, i do think it was the uvb bulb cuz i had it about 8 months and when i put the new 1 in u cud tell the difference.

thanx 4 the advice people

[netz]

Hi , my lil leopard went thru a phase of having soft shell quite strange as he bunks up with my sulcata's and they were fine , i changed the uv bulb and hey presto wot an improvment , my vet says to change them every 6 month even though they still work , the strength of my uvb bulb is 10.0 . hope ur lil tort continues to imrove