Leopoard tortoise plastron scutes lifting

Question
QUESTION: Hi Jamie.
I have a Ivory Snow Leopard tortoise i rescued from the street in Maui about 4 years ago. I am unsure how old she (not sure if it's male or female... just call it a she) is. Today when i was bringing her indoors for the night i noticed the scutes on the plastron are all lifting, a lot! I noticed when i picked her up, i could feel them. I didn't notice when i took her out this afternoon though. There doesn't seem to be anything else wrong, no smell or discharge or discoloration. She was wandering through the spot where the sprinkler was set but other than that nothing different had happened. I don't know if I should try to find a vet ASAP (we live in cattle country, not a lot of vets with tortoise knowledge around) or if i should pause the panic and clean and dry her... I've read a lot saying to remove the loose scutes but i don't want to injure her. Any input would be wonderful. Thanks!

ANSWER: Hello there Stacey
Leopard torts are dry torts. They will not experience lifting from just one time of getting wet.  Please tell me how you are keeping her and the diet so i can assist you.Also a good way to see if it is male or female is look at lower shell. If it is concaved in then it will be a male that is concave so that he can mount a femals. A flat shell generally means female.

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QUESTION: Hi Jamie
I have to keep her indoors during the colder weather, she is in a enclosure we built with bark on a plastic floor (the floor is a recycled campaign sign so it's not a plastic she can ingest) I put new bark in weekly. she has day and night heat lamps. she gets a a washing every 2 weeks, just a scrub with a baby toothbrush. She was on a diet of zoomed tortoise food (the colored pellets) but i have switched her to the desert tortoise food. in the summer she is on the same and has free range of the yard. We live in a area that is hot and dry in the summer. The lifting actually seems to be better but there is still defiantly some separating there. Is it something that can remedy itself? (I'm pretty sure she's is a female)

Answer
Please look further into diet. She should be offered dark leafy greens I do not like the pellet foods as sometimes it is not complete. Please add some hay to the diet as well.
Make sure also that when free roaming that the area has not been sprayed

She will do great