Whoa... My initial response to those pictures was for my jaw to drop. To be bluntly honest... it's so deformed that I'm not exactly certain what it is. My guess would be eastern or three toed box turtle, going by shell color and it skin. Anyone else have a guess? Was it originally bought or was it caught? How long has your girlfriend had it? If she's recently adopted or had it given to her already in that condition, it's understandable... Really cut back on the protein in it's diet and encourage it to eat more greens and veggies. Absolutely no canned dog or cat food. And is it missing a foot? How many toes are on the back foot (feet)? Get it outside in a proper pen if you don't have it in one already. While it won't fix the deformity it will help keep it from getting worse. Also, the eyes look a little puffy, the beak looks a bit overgrown, and the skin looks dry, please get this turtle to a vet.
She has had it for several years, some one found it and gave it to her to take care of. It was in this condition then, the foot and everything. It is in a proper enclosure and well taken care of. It's physical deformity was from the wild and is in no way due to any mistreatment or to it not being well cared for, because it is, just to make that clear. But, more greens and veggies sounds good, but it doesn't eat dog or cat food, it usually eats turtle food of some sort, I'm not sure.
Cut back on the turtle foods. The pellets made for aquatic turtles tend to be formulated ok for those species, but I find the ones that are supposed to be made for box turtles to be rather lacking. I only mentioned the cat and dog food because so many people make that mistake... and because it's actually listed as a good food in some care guides. :roll: However, the eyes still look puffy, beak overgrown, and skin dry. A vet can determine if there's a vitamin deficiency and can fix the beak some. As for the dry skin, give it daily soaks in shallow water outside of it's enclosure, in a tub.
Thanks for the advice. Also, she just bought some sort of product that is for dry skin, a mineral block, and some vitashell I think. Just so you know...
Please do not put anything on your turtle's shell! Tortoise and turtle shells are alive, like our finger nails, and covering them with anything can block the pores in them. This can cause problems, infections - shell rot, deformities.. If there is something wrong with the shell itself (I didn't see anything in the pictures?) such as shell rot, you would lightly scrub the shell with diluted chlorehexadine and take the turtle to the vet. Reptiles don't need anything for dry skin, proper supplementing and daily soaks will help the turtle more. Check the humidity, if it's indoors then the cage is probably too dry. As for the mineral block, supplement the turtle like you do your other reptiles - you need to be sure that it is ingesting calcium and vitamins. Specifically vitamin A, try adding grated carrots to it's veggie meals. Sorry this has turned into me pushing care info off on you. You never did say how many toes are on the remaining back foot?
Well I don't mind the suggestions, it is completely fine. I'm not sure about the toes on the back foot. So daily soaks, (about what temp. water?), more vegetables, and supplementation. How exactly do you know what types of things it needs? Like vitamins and such.
Water temp should be slightly warm or room temp. Obviously not cold or hot. As for supplements, I read as much as I can about them and take advice from keepers that have had turtles for 10-20+ years. (yes, I cheat) I like this site http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/articles.html Try reading through as much as you can, not just the info on supplementing. There's bits here and there under diet and "Veterinary Information" specifically Common Diseases. It mentions eye problems and vitamin A. My dusting schedule isn't that exact for my turtles, mostly since they're outside they eat a lot of wild insects that they find in their pens. Veggies and any insects I offer are lightly dusted with calcium, every week to week and a half they get a calcium and multivitamin dusted meal. Because they're outside, I do not use calcium with D3. If inside that does need to be worked into the schedule since UVB lights can't provide it all. I'm not entirely sure if any of the mineral or calcium blocks for turtles includes D3? As for vitamins and calcium in foods, see practically any of the other post I've made on diet on here. It's easier than repeating everything. :lol:
Wow, sorry to say this but he looks bad. He may be the same species as the ones in my local library, it's hard to tell though because they're more deformed than he is. :x
