Strange markings

[Jester]

Hi everyone
I am new to tortoise parenting so am looking for a little advice.
My tortoise is called Moonpie and he is about 2yrs old. I got him in December 2019. At the time he had 2 wee white dots on his head that seemed to go away. Recently I noticed the mark on his head had changed colour and shape. It measures 0.5cm. I'm thinking it might be a burn.
Any advice would be great.

[Nina]

Hi Jester,

Many thanks for contacting us. Love the name Moonpie! Can you tell me what species he is, and also something about his set-up? Is he in a tortoise table or a vivarium, and does he have an outdoor enclosure too?

Unfortunately the photo is just to blurry for me to see the spot well enough -- could you take another photo that is maybe a bit sharper?

What do you think could have caused a burn on his head -- is there something hot that the top of the head could have touched? Also, is there anywhere that he goes where he could have scraped the scales off the top of his head -- like a little cave or shelter that he goes into where the top might not be high enough and his head is rubbing against it as he goes in? The more you can tell us about his living conditions the more information we will have to exclude possible causes or come to a conclusion as to what might have caused this.

Nina

[lin]

He couldnt have caught that middle scale and it has finally dropped off, do you think.
As Nina suggests a clearer photo would be more helpful if you could get one.

Lin

[Jester]

Hi Nina,,Linn

I have attached a new picture of Moonpies head. He is a herman tort. He lives in a tortoise table , indoors only. There are no low down hide aways to rub off. I did for a while have his heat lamp lowered as he was not eating and I thought he was cold. It helped with his eating and he is a healthy weight. When I seen the strange mark on his head I raised the heatlamp back up,,,he is still eating well.
[attachment=0]15922499614921217902563.jpg[/attachment]

[Jester]

[attachment=0]15922503217971888319052.jpg[/attachment]
Finally got Moonpie to stay still for a decent pic,,,hope this helps,,,

Cheers Jester

[lin]

Ah, thats a better one.
It does still look like an injury to the large scale in the miggle of the head and it has died and fallen off. What we need to do now is have a vet check him over to make sure there is no infection there. Do you have a vet that treats reptiles, epecially tortoises.
Its not soft at all is it, there is no oozing or smell from the area?

Lin

[Jester]

I haven't sourced a tort vet,,but will check in with my regular vet to find me one. There is no smell,,,not wet,,quite dry feeling. He doesn't seem bothered by it either.

He is eating well,,, fairly lively,,loves to climb,,sleeps fine.
Seems comfortable. I think thats why am a little fussed,,if that makes sense.

Cheers Jester

[lin]

Your right, it is not making sense. A trip to a good vet will put your mind at rest and you can be sure then that nothing is going on unseen. It seems to be taking quite a time to start healing.
Have a look on our vet list to see if there are any recomended that are near your area.
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... s-by-area/

Lin

[Jester]

Thank you so much,,, I'm in Glasgow do I will get in touch with the Ark and Lawries to see who can help,,,
I will let you know what they think..
Thanks again
Jester

[Jester]

Hi Linn,

Just thought I would give you an update on Moonpies head. We had a health check at Lawries vet in Cumbernauld, they were very sure that Moonpie has come into contact with something, what is not clear but possibly her heat lamp when it was lower down, but the wound is clean and will with time scale off. Moonpie was given a full check over and there are no concerns about her health or the lesion. They confirmed that Moonpie is female, good weight, beautiful healthy shell and fabulous muscle tone.


Thank you so much for your help.
All the best,
Jester