i have 3 tortoises that roam in my backyard, they are all females and about 2 years old. i just noticed that one of them has some flaking and dry blood on it's shell. what is wrong with her. the other 2 are healthy, no pyramid, great diet warm weather and plenty of sunshine and only this one is having problems w/ her shell. help??
2007-09-06 05:21:35 · 3 answers · asked by sprdad13 3 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
Are you sure they're females? Sulcatas can't be sexed until they are about 5 years old, unless yours were temperature sexed during the incubation process. Even so, they still wouldn't be visually sexable for a few more years. The reason I ask is I've heard of things similar to this where males were being kept together. A dominant male will be territorial and ram into the other male, cause wounds and slight damage to the other's shell. However, I don't know if only mature males fight, or if young ones will fight too. That's all I can think of without seeing pictures.
2007-09-06 07:37:34 · answer #1 · answered by madsnakeman 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Dry warm weather may be part of the problem. Even Sulcatas need some humidity- their burrows in the wild are often 70%-90% humid, so they need a choice. Dry conditions lead to flaking (and pyramiding in young tortoises.)
Not sure where the blood would have come from- you'll have to search for a source for that.
2007-09-06 17:10:13 · answer #2 · answered by Madkins007 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Put some shell creme on it it will fix it up
2007-09-09 18:07:43 · answer #3 · answered by stephenprince5217 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋