Urgent Care :: white spots on shell

[bangaloreboy]

ok here he is taking a stroll on my study table ! and i have been noticing as if his shell is peeling off ! havent done any thing its not smelly also there are some white spots which is seen ! so plz advice




also he is become very aggresive over the past few days ! starts chasing fingers and trying to bite it thro' the glass! he even mistakes the finger for food and jumps out of the water to bite it !






he is basking for 4-5 hrs a day ! like about 45mins a stretch ! he likes to swim a lot and likes jumping into the water ! he gets up on the drift wood frm one side and does a dive from the opposite ! he even sleeps under water !

[industrial_girl_2000]

His *behavior* sounds normal to me (biting thru glass or at your fingers, basking, diving, sleeping underwater). The white spots at his young age aren't normal, but a UVB lamp will help his shell develop properly.

Do you have a UVB lamp? What kind of lamp do you have? Is it only UVA? Yes, there is a difference. Many reptile lamps are not UVA and UVB...many are only UVA which provides heat. UVB is important for calcium absorption, growth, and shell development.

[marisa]

Cute turtle. From what I can see in the pic, the shell looks pretty good. Those little tiny white spots toward the back of the shell are what you're talking about (I don't really see the shell peeling off)? They don't rub off at all if you gently try to remove them? Is the shell lifting where they are?

What's your set-up like? What do you have in the tank?

[bangaloreboy]

i can c the edges of the shell out like first they were smoooth but now i can feel the difference in hight...........sorry but i really am not ableto describe it !

the tank right now is a basic setup ! it holds about 6 lts of water ! I know itys very small but nxt month will be upgrading the tank to a bigger 5 feet long aquarium !


i keep changing water once in 3 days ! no gravel no stones only glass !
he has a wooden thingy which u can see him bask on in the pics ! thats like his basking station and his cave for him to hide !

i usually keep the 10 watt house bulb on all the time......afternoon he comes out and basks in the sun for a short time ! night time when the light is on he basks for like 45mins to 1 hr

feedin : like used to feed pellets but now feed him musquitoes , egg white , pellets, carrot shreds.......

generally he is very active . put a guppy fry in his tank and he was very busy all afternoon tryin to catch it !

and generally the house incandesent bulb can i use it ! me in india so its pretty difficult to sourse stuff here especially a vet for this guy

[industrial_girl_2000]

Check this out:

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_ ... 30051&Ne=2

It is an example of a UVB bulb & you can buy UVB bulbs thru the internet. All turtles MUST have a UVB light source. An incandescent light is not enough & only gives UVA. Both UVA and UVB are important for he long-term health of your turtle. It's especially important for the baby turtles since they are growing quickly & need to absorb calcium to build shell & bone.

[marisa]

You keep a 10-watt house bulb all the time? (He needs darkness to sleep at night.) How warm does the the basking area get (put a thermometer on it, wait 20 minutes and check the temp). Incandescent bulbs are fine for heat, but if he can't get outside to bask under unfiltered sunlight regularly, he needs a UVB light. When you say in the afternoon he comes out and basks in the sun, do you mean that he basks outside? If so, basking in the sun is very good for him. But if you mean he basks in the sun in front of a window, he's not benefiting from the sun---the glass is filtering out the UVB rays, and he needs a UVB light.

I'm imagining that where you are, the weather is nice and warm. If you're not doing so and you're able to, take him outside several times a week for an hour or so. Since he's so small, I'd supervise him (read a book or something next to him while he's outside). You don't want to leave him in the sun without a shady place to go to, no water or in a container that he could escape from or in a place where another animal could get at him.

I wouldn't keep cutting out parts of the scutes.

[bangaloreboy]

hmm the windows of my place does not have glass ! so he gets direct sunlight in tghe afternoon ! but the problem is he dosent bask when we take the cover of the aquarium off......i think he feels in secure so he dosent come to bask but there is lots of sun even when he is swimming

about the light it is about 3-4 c more than water temp the water temp is about 28-30....all this without the help of a thermostat as the tank is very small for one ! will be getting the thermostst, filter, uvb bulb with the bigger tank !

and is it ok if i put him in a try without water and keep him under sunlight for 15 mins every after noon for some good sun rays ? plz advice

[SpotsMama]

The risk is that they heat up SOOOO fast in the sun. It would be good for him to get the sun, no doubt, but you've got to protect him from overheating. Can you provide a place for him that's part sun and part (heavy) shade? Where he has a choice where to go? Some of the turtles here have overheated after only a few minutes in direct sun.

[DavidY]

The sun on the tank will provide your turtle with plenty of UV since you don't have glass in the windows, but as was mentioned, watch the temperature in the tank closely during warm sunny days. If you want to set up a separate dry area for your turtle to bask in the sun, make sure there is also a cool shady area for him to cool off if he needs to. Remember that turtles are cold blooded so they cannot regulate their body temperatures by themselves. They need to move to the basking area to warm up (and to help digest their food) and then move to a cooler area to cool down. It sounds like you will be ok without the uvb light if you can maintain a fairly regular schedule of basking in natural sunlight, in my opinion.

[bangaloreboy]

yup thats what i do ! aloow him to bask in the sun for 15 mins ! then observe him wether he is fine or wants to jump in water......now days have made a tray for him with a damp place where he can go if he is feeling hot in sun ! i am allowing him to bask in the sun for 15 mins at a stretch !

[Hoooneylynn]

well, also watch the temp water... even if you put the water /tray out in the sun so he can go in there to cool off, the water temp can raise in minutes. you need to provide him with a shady area that he can go to if he needs to.