white spots on shell

[Scumpy]

When my Horsefield tortoises woke up from hibernation, one of them had white spots on her shell.
Two are round and one is along a 'joint' in the shell.
Please see the attached photos.
They do not wash off in the bath.
What are they and do I need to do anything about them?

[Nina]

Hi Scumpy and many thanks for the photos! My colleague, Lin, and I have looked at the photos and here is what we think:

The tortoise with the white dots, definitely needs to be seen by a qualified reptile/'exotics' vet, as it looks like he might have some form of shell rot or fungus that needs treating immediately, before it gets worse. We can see on the margins between the scutes what looks like a line where the scutes are separated a tiny bit and some forum of rot of fungus could get in, and Lin has marked these in red on the photos. We can't see enough of the other tortoise to tell if he also has these very thin spaces between scutes where germs could get in, but it would be a good idea to take both of them in.
[attachment=0]Scumpy's tortoises.jpeg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]Scumpy's tortoise.jpeg[/attachment]
Do you have a good reptile/exotics vet? If you are in the UK, we have a list of recommended vets, organised by area and county here https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tor ... s-by-area/ If you can't find one, let us know and we'll have a look for you. If you do find one near you, please check if the 'exotics' vet is still there, because vets change jobs and we aren't always notified.

One final thing -- these aren't Horsfield tortoises. We would need a few more photos to do a definitel ID, but they look quite like Hermanni to us. If you send us some more photos (looking straight down from above, from the side with the head showing in profile, and also the underside).

I hope this helps, and please do come back with any questions you might have. We do feel that even though those white areas are very small, if we are right and it is one of the 'rots' or some sort of fungus, it can grow quickly and eventually result in whole scutes falling off, so it needs to be looked at as soon as possible. If you don't live in the UK, let us know the country you are in and we'll do our best to find a good vet near you.

Nina

[JonathanCalder]

My tortoise has the same problem. Mine is not near any of the good vets you listed. What should I do?

[Nina]

Hi Jonathan,

If you can tell me where you iive (just the county and town) then we will try and find a suitable vet for you. Just send it to nina@thetortoisetable.org.uk
If you could post a photo of your tortoise, we might be able to see whether it is the same problem or not. Has your tortoise just woken up from hibernation, and how long has it been since these white spots appeared?

Nina