Soft Shells

[Chicken]

Hi,
Both my Torts have got soft shells. How can I get them stronger. They are Horsfields approx 3 - 4 yrs and I have had them since July.
They get fed on a weed diet on Tues, Thurs Sat and Sun with Nutrobol sprinkled on each meal. They have cuttlefishbone in the enclosue and limestone flour. They also have Uv light.

Am I doing anything wrong?

Please help.
Thanks,
Chicken

[anna m]

I can't see that you are doing anything wrong. Maybe a trip to the vet? They might be ill? I'm no expert though so hopefully someone will help you soon

[Bindi]

Hi Chicken, I would say a trip to the vets is essential, their shells shouldn't be soft at their age. Were they soft when you got them? Have they got noticeably softer since you got them?

[linda]

what sort of uv light do you have please

[Chicken]

I've only just checked one of them after visiting the vet with the other. He showed me how to check. so I checked the other one and that was soft too. Now I'm worried. No problem with the one I took.

I have a small uv light which is called an Acadia compact.

Thanks
Chicken

[Bindi]

How old is the bulb? Did you get it new when you got the torts?
Was your vet a tortoise specialist?
There is obviously nothing you can do right now, so try not to worry (I know that's easy to say)
I'm not an expert and there are others, like Linda who are much more experienced than me, but I would find a specialist vet who will probably give them calcium injections.
Is your basking light shining on the same spot as your UV light?

[Lou]

is it only soft underneath? or on top to?

[Chicken]

Yes the vet is a specialist.
I got the bulb in September when they no longer started going outside so much.
The bulb is near their heat lamp.

And it's just underneath.

Chicken

[linda]

sorry if i have misread

do both torts have the soft shells

did the vet think the tort he saw was soft or has it become soft since the vets visit

has the shells always been soft

can you please find a link to your bulb so we can see how much uvb it is providing

what variety of weeds are you providing

i would be concerned if my torts of this age had soft shells
there may be a problem such as mbd
and the tort is leaching calcium from its bones shell etc

i think a vets visit may be in order

sorry for all the questions but it makes it easier to advise

[linda]

is this the lamp
if so it will not be providing sufficient uvb


Arcadia Natural Sunlight Compact



Product Information
Natural Sunlight Compact Lamp
The D3 Vivarium lamp, and the Bird lamp, have both proved to be extremely popular in their compact forms, with many people finding them more convenient to install when compared to the traditional linear tube.
Now, the same benefits of a compact lamp are available to anybody keeping reptiles with lower UV requirements, such as most snake species, courtesy of the new Arcadia Natural sunlight compact lamp.
At 2%, the UVB output is ideal for such reptiles, and also for amphibians, insects and arachnids.
As with the other compact lamps in our range, it is an energy saving lamp, which although producing an output equivalent to that of a regular 100W lamp, actually only has a consumption of 20W
The output can be maximised, by using the lamp in conjunction with the Arcadia compact lamp reflector.

For which species?
This lamp has been created especially for those species such as geckoes, snakes, amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders etc.), spiders, scorpions, stick insects and others who do not need as high a UVB and UVA output as achieved by the Arcadia D3 Reptile Lamp.
For all reptiles such as iguanas, bearded dragons, chameleons, skinks and tortoises, requiring a higher UVB requirement, needed for the synthesis of Vitamin D3, use the Arcadia D3 Reptile Lamp with over 5% UVB and 30% UVA.