Marginated Shell Question

[iliveinazoo]

We have 1 spur thigh and 1 Marginated tortoise, the joint between the carapace and plastron is fairly smooth on the spur thigh but not so on the Marginated and I'd like to know if I should be worried about it?
I'd be grateful if you could take a look at the pictures and give your opinions.




He seems well in himself otherwise.

Apologies if this is posted in the wrong section.

[burnt toast]

You need to upload photos to photobucket or similar, copy & paste the IMG code in the post, then your pictures will show up.

[iliveinazoo]

thanks I didn't realize I didn't do it right, hopefully it's OK this time.

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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/54658461@N02/860969227"]

[URL="http:// [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/54658461@N02/8609698753/][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/54658461@N02/860969875"]URL]

[burnt toast]

I dont want to be rude, cant see clearly in pictures what the rest of his shell is like but I would guess this Marginated has been poorly grown. I have a couple like this too. One in particular I have had from the age of around four, she was very pyramided when I got her & had seems just like yours (as well as bulging from the side ) but she looks better now, not good but better than she did.

Dont think theres much you can do about it now except perhaps better hydration & good husbandry, hopefully its just cosmetic

[EJ]

You might want to rephrase... it's not poorly grown. It's just not developed to the way we would expect it to look. It could very well be a very healthy tortoise.

Originally Posted by burnt toast

I dont want to be rude, cant see clearly in pictures what the rest of his shell is like but I would guess this Marginated has been poorly grown. I have a couple like this too. One in particular I have had from the age of around four, she was very pyramided when I got her & had seems just like yours (as well as bulging from the side ) but she looks better now, not good but better than she did.

Dont think theres much you can do about it now except perhaps better hydration & good husbandry, hopefully its just cosmetic

[burnt toast]

Originally Posted by EJ

You might want to rephrase... it's not poorly grown. It's just not developed to the way we would expect it to look. It could very well be a very healthy tortoise.

I assume you say this in jest & I did say its probably just cosmetic

[TillyTortoise]

Originally Posted by EJ

It's just not developed to the way we would expect it to look.

Soo.. poorly grown.

[EJ]

Poorly would indicate something is wrong/unhealthy. Because it does not look like what we would expect... it does not mean it is wrong/unhealthy.

Give that a bit of thought.

In the case of the OP... it does look cosmetic and the animal looks quite healthy as far as I can tell from the photo.

Originally Posted by TillyTortoise

Soo.. poorly grown.

[EJ]

Not jesting at all... you did say it looked poorly grown.

Originally Posted by burnt toast

I assume you say this in jest & I did say its probably just cosmetic

[alley cat]

Looking at the pics your tortoise seems to have a very thick looking shell, this could be due to the conditions that it has been kept in or maybe incorrect diet.
The tortoise doesnt seem to have much space where the leg is as the shell is so thickened looking, can it draw its legs in completely and also its head?