Eddie:

Sam,

I hope you and the business are doing well.

I wanted to pick your brain about an issue I've been having with a little russian tortoise name Senua.

As backstory, I live in Tennessee and work with a pet store out of newyork city. They recieve surrenders sometimes in terrible condition, and they ship them out to my small sanctuary.

With the guidance of a vet, some research, and some of your videos and others, I’ve been able to help a lot of turtles and tortoises and they are now living their best lives in naturalistic settings with proper diet.

With senua, he arrived with shell rot. I was guided to clean it with a chlorhexidine solution, keep it in a sterile environment, and use athletes foot cream to aid in taking care of the rot.

Seemed to do the charm, but the humeral scutes continued to peel, so I stopped with the soaks. Eventually I put senua outside in an isolated enclosure. Eating well etc.

Ignorantly, it skipped my mind to keep checking on senua consistently. We got hit with unusual amounts of rain, and when I checked again it seemed better overall, but worst on those humaeral scutes. Senua stayed out of the rain in his hide, but I'm not sure what to do. I plan on contacting the vet again.

Hoping to get more insight from you. I plan on resuming the treatment.

-----

Sam:

Hi Eddy, check out my article on Shell Rot.

Tortoise shell rot or fungal infections  

Tortoise shell rot or fungal infections are a common problem in many species of tortoises. Fungal infections can cause a variety of symptoms, including shell rot, which is a condition where the shell of a tortoise or turtle becomes damaged, discolored, or begins to break down due to infection. Most Tortoise fungal shell infections first appear as a white flaky substance found on the shell; it looks almost like paint but it is flakey and dry. The infection forms for a few different reasons, #1 the area of the shell is typically damp for extended periods of time and is somewhat hidden from the drying properties of the Sun. Even small indentations or ridging in the shell (Called annuli) are enough of a factor to promote this fungus The fungus will be typically found on injured and damaged shells that have pits of uneven plates. It also is typically found on the plastron or bottom of the shell because this area is the most wet and dark area of the shell. There are some other factors that can cause damage to the shell including bacterial or fungal infections, poor husbandry (e.g. unclean living conditions, inadequate nutrition, or inadequate lighting and heating), There are many instances were heating elements are to close to the carapus or top of the shell where they cause different levels of tissues damage. The damage is done to the tissue laying directly under the bone Some can be quite severe. Typically these types of shell trama can happen for a year or two before it is obvious to the keeper there is a problem. Be sure to test the top of the shell temperature with a laser heat temperature gun, do not exceed 80* at the top of the shell. You don't need to heat the shell over 80*f in a confined shelter at night

In some cases shell fungus can cause so much shell damage that the shell is significantly deformed, cracked

these imperfections or scars will continue to collect moisture in the damaged area.

This means constant and repeated treatment.

as a more permanent solution if you keep the animals confined during treatment you can get to a point that the active infection is no longer present.

Make sure there is no smell, or further fungal activity 

At the point you can epoxy those areas smooth this will end the fungal inversion.

Note: it is imperative make sure there is no active infection before epoxying 

Fungal infections of the toes, nails and feet .

This is almost exclusively the result of poor habitat construction and poor disinfection protocol.

Treatment: 

Ensure the animal is on a dry surface so the feet do not get wet.

The tortoises should be drinking from a water bowl . Many people continue to soak their animals long after it is necessary.

Tortoises need to be trained to drink water from a bowl.

disinfect the cage surfaces daily 

(To mix chlorine with water to disinfect animal cages, a 1:32 dilution
 is effective in inactivating many infectious agents. 
This means mixing 1/2 cup of bleach with one gallon)

Spray the infected areas with 6% Hydrogen Peroxide 

(you have to buy 12% and dilute it down to 6%

Hydrogen peroxide is sensitive to light so keep in a black or brown bottle). about an hour after treating with Hydrogen peroxide spray with wound kote

Hydrogen peroxide is the best and fastest treatment 

but you can also use betadine, chlorhexidine, Athletes foot spray 

You can also spray the feet with Wound koat 

Farnam Wound-Kote Dog & Horse Wound Care Spray, 5-oz ca

In more severe fungal infections, use systemic drugs to treat infections.

Almost all fungal infections on Iguanas and compromised skin get secondary bacterial infections.

If your Fungal treatment isn't working you need to consider adding system drugs like.

Tortoise skin infections 

This is almost exclusively the result of the skin remaining too wet for an extended period of time. 

Some tortoises can tolerate much longer exposure to damp surfaces than others.

Sulcatas are a desert tortoise that can quickly develop skin fungal infection 

also their skin will root and may disconnect from the shell. other common causes are 

poor habitat construction and poor disinfection protocol

Identification Skin infection in tortoise 

The skin will appear dry and flaking big pieces of skin off dont be confused by normal shedding

Tortoise do naturally shed some skin from their head, neck and skin 

The skin can be thickened and blistered or have scabs.

the skin typical loses its pigment and can appear very thin in some places 

Habatat care and feeding 

Ensure the animal is on a dry surface so the feet do not get wet.

The tortoises should be drinking from a water bowl . Many people continue to soak their animals long after it is necessary.

Tortoises need to be trained to drink water from a bowl.

disinfect the cage surfaces daily 

(To mix chlorine with water to disinfect animal cages, a 1:32 dilution
 is effective in inactivating many infectious agents.
This means mixing 1/2 cup of bleach with one gallon)

Skin Treatment. Spray the infected areas with 3% Hydrogen Peroxide 

Hydrogen peroxide is sensitive to light so keep in a black or brown bottle).

about an hour after treating with Hydrogen peroxide spray with wound kote

Hydrogen peroxide is the best and fastest treatment 

but you can also use betadine, chlorhexidine, Athletes foot spray which you can buy in the Drug store the most common antifungal agent is terbinafine 

You can also spray the feet with Wound koat  (a deep Blue spray stain almost like ink) 

Farnam Wound-Kote Dog & Horse Wound Care Spray, 5-oz ca

In more severe fungal infections, use systemic drugs to treat infections.

Server or stubborn fungal infections can compromise the skin leading to secondary bacterial infections.

If your Fungal treatment isn't working you need to consider adding system drugs like.

Systemic drugs for treating complicated fungal infections.

Antifungals:

Voriconazole 

*you can also use Voriconazole 

Antibiotics: Antibiotic Dose Rate