Tortoise Shell Question

I am a new Leopard Tortoise owner. My tortoise's name is Titus. I have had him about 2 1/2 months. He was very tiny when I got him. He has grown just a litte, but I am alittle worried about his shell. His photo from when I first got him is posted in the Turtle Gallery and is titled "Titus" if you need to see his shell to understand what I am asking. The black area's in the shell creases, around the patterns has turned completely white. The color on the shell except for the patches is gone. It started out a little bit, now it is all over. Is this because he is growing? Do they lose color that quickly? Will it come back? Any insight is appreciated, I have looked all over and cannot find an answer.

[IMG]Well, from viewing some of the gallery pictures, what I am describing looks somewhat normal. Does anyone know what causes this? It changed very quickly and i am curious if they get any color back? The picture is when I first got him, now thte black is white.


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Leopard tortoises kept under UV lights often exhibit this lighter coloration.
Many pet stores do this intentionally to make their tortoises look blonde-phase.

A much healthier approach is natural sunlight as often as is possible, supplemented with UV bulbs indoors when necessary.

Cute little fellow you have there.

I realize this post is a few months old. Are you seeing some substantial growth out of him now?

He has really grown alot. I cannot really tell until I compare pictures. But I am constantly taking pictures of him. As far as lighting, we just got him a much bigger enclosure with alot of room to walk around and different lights. I know we have a light on one side that emits heat and UV rays. We have a plain heat bulb that does not light up as well. One thing I noticed is that since we have moved him to this enclosure, his shell seems to be a bit darker. We used to have a screen on top of his cage that must have blocked some light. but now there is not a screen. It is almost like he is getting a tan or sunburnt... Any thoughts?


BTW... Updated picture of Titus.

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The same thing happend with my redfoot and i am not too concernd. good amounts of sunlight should help the problem.

Thank you fr the reply. I am not as worried. His shell is starting to darken up. The only thing i notice is how unsmooth his shell is. Everyone keeps telling me he may be alittle bumpy (pyramidy) while he is groiwng, but if he is on theright diet and gets the right light, he will smooth out..... have you ran across this?

This is called pyramiding and it is not "normal." There is more information under the tortoise health post. I recommend doing a deep research to understand exactly what pyramiding is and the causes of it.