Our turtle Deedee, is the same species on the label of most turtle foods I've seen she(or he) has some blackening and what appears to be either scuffs My wife thinks its a fungus but I think its more like scratches from concrete chunks from the environment she was found in just the same its only on the bottom of her shell and she seems very healthy otherwise shes very agile for a turtle and she chases the lil food pelets till thier all gone any suggestions? thank you in advance
Is there any way we can get a pic? It's hard to say what it could be by your description. Also can you give some details about her diet/environment?
It'll take a bit of work to get a pic for you I know that would be best we just got her les then a wek ago I'm not sure her environment before then we got her and another (thats gone missing) we put them both in a Pool thats nolonger for human useThe side wall busted and now its pond for frogs and a turtle the scuffs I mentioned before May have come from chunks of concrete Filler in the pond the turtle climbs on everything I'll post a pic as soon as I can, we live in tampa TNC area if that helps
OK I finaly got pics as you can see she has scuffs and blackening on her bottom side and her shell on top is turning reddish as well as what looks to be a small chipped indentation toward the back left side of her topshell (this is new) it looks like she may be flaking on the top as well as the edges of her shell we moved her out of the broken inground pool and into this it gets cleaned everyday a new Turtle friendly habitat is in the making here's what we feed her
yeah that bottom looks kind of bad, try putting a rubber liner in the old pond so all the concrete is covered, or just keep the baby pool the turtle won't care. BTW its a RES, their easy to sex. Long front nails and a long tail mean its a male, and the other way arond for females. There are some other ways, like the top shell on males is normally wider at the butt to help protects its longer tail.
The bottom of the shell looks like shell rot., not scuffs. If that's what it is, that's very bad. Shell rot will essentially eat away at the shell and eventually ulcerate and bleed. First you need to get her to a qualified herp vet to make sure. She should also be dry docked, meaning keeping her out of the water 8-10 hours a day. Basically putting her in for the night so she can stay hydrated and eat. While she's out, she should be medicated with Betadine or Povidone Iodine (10% solution or the Povidone, the betadine is already diluted I believe). Just swab some over the affected area generously. Also, her diet is dangerously wrong. Back off of the pellets some. They need more greens like mustard, dandelion, etc. Some occasional fruit is good too. They're omnivorous so too much protein is bad. And you should never just feed them the turtle pellets. The turtle sticks should only be fed about twice a week and then only half a stick. They should supplement the diet only. The cichlid chow should be avoided completely. When feeding a turtle, only feed as much as can fit into their head at one time, and then only 3-4 times per week (about every other day). That said you can offer crickets (one a day a couple time per week), feeder fish (you can leave in the tank alive, good supplement to the diet plus exercise in catching them), frozen shrimp or bloodworms (again only as much as could fit in their head 1-2 times per week), fruits and veggies (as much as they want really, greens like collard, mustard, and dandelion 3-4 times per week...no real restrictions on how much). You really have to watch their protein intake.
Yeah I see the brown spots now, theres some shell rot. But I've had turtles with shell rot before and never have I seen it do that, normal the rot starts as a brown dote and grows in size out from its starting point (like the zerg in starcraft). I'm guessing that the concerte started sratching up the shell and the the bacterea(sp) got in threw a crack in the shell. Also if you look at the pic of the topof its shell there chipped part in the right side of the back half.
Wo thanks everyone!!! I'm dry docking her Immediately and asic I will get some betadine as well as switch her food the damn food bottle said feed her for 2 hours a day I see now how wrong that is nature doesn't provide pellets so I'm gonna go with the natural food idea is brocilli ok I brok up a small tree of broc into small bits as I don't have any other greens right now Thanks Biochic for the detailed info and everyone else for the lil bits that have helped alot I will continue to post pics as we get deedee back to super turtle condition
Well my RES had shell rot and I tried everything and nothing work (it had the rot for years), then about 4 weeks ago I moved it outside and the rot went away.
broccoli is okay occasionally...it, like spinach, can cause calcium binding due to it's high phosphorus levels. Shell rot is pretty progressive. If your turt had it, then it wouldn't have had it for years. It would have ulcerated and eaten at the shell badly. I'm guessing your turt may have had mineral deposits on it's shell or had over basked and essentially burned it's shell. Many aquatic turtles will over bask in captivity and the shell will whiten and sometimes flake off but will not be destroyed like with shell rot. Which could also be why it went away when it was put outside.
no couldn't have been that, there were no heat lights. The rotted part of my turtles shell grew in size from each thing I tried, it was the smallest when I started feeding the turtle fish, but it then turned red (which could mean it was nothing more then a mineral deposits). Any way its gone away now, so its all good.
