Pet Information > ASK Experts > Exotic Pets > Turtles > Sulcata tortoise shell question

Sulcata tortoise shell question

22 16:02:11

Question
Sulcata Shell
Sulcata Shell  
Hi. I have a female sulcata for over a year now. She is around 7 to 8 years old I believe. I have noticed the past couple months as she has been growing her shell has been splitting and growing kind of crooked and now has lifted and cracked on the side. I have 4 other Sulcata's as well and I have never seen this. So I am not sure what to do for her, or if I need to change her diet or move her from the others. We have only had her for about a year now so I am not sure what care she received prior. I keep all my sulcata's outside in a very large portion of my back yard. they have half my yard with a 4 foot block wall. They get plenty of sunlight and shade as well as half grassy area and lots of water. I feed them the alphalpha hay grass as well as leafy greens mostly  but I do give them fruit as well every other day or so. I also buy a large bag of the tortoise diet from the feed store and they get a large cup every day between the 5 of them. She eats everyday no hesitation. I do not use any kind of thermometer or humidity since they are all outside in the natural sun light. In the winter I do put the uvb reptile bulbs out for them to have some light heat. And on occasion when we have had freeze warnings I bring them all in the house. I have never had her at the vet however due to this shell issue if this does continue to get worse I will be going. I just wanted to make sure I was feeding and caring for them the best I can, or if I can make some changes for her even if I need to put her in her own pen so she can heal and not get worse with her shell. They are fed once a day in the am. They have water in 2 large water bowls they are able to crawl in everyday as well as muddy area's with water in the grass each day. I have never given any supplements as I am not educated on knowing what to give them but open to the information. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
This is a carapace fracture. A serious matter. The shell is living bone. This can lead to bone infection, internal organ compromise and death. I need to see better more close up pictures of this. Several of them. Illuminate also inside the fracture if you can. Email the pictures to me directly @ phrynosoma_texas@yahoo.com