Urgent Care :: Black spots and pits in shell?

[Kharma1182]

I recently acquired a red eared slider. She's about 4x5 inches (shell). She had previously been kept in a 55 gallon aquarium, about 1/4 full of water, and limestone rocks for her to climb out and bask. UVA/UVB light 13 hours a day. She was fed ReptoMin floating food sticks every other day, and meal worms as treats every now and then. As well as bugs on occasion, and sometimes some fruits or vegetables.

She was given to me about a week ago, and I now have her in a 29 gallon tank, filled nearly to the top, with a floating rock for her to bask on. I have the same UVA/UVB light that she had before. But I'm really concerned about these black pits all over her shell. I tried to get pictures, and hopefully you can see well enough... My good camera isn't working right now, so I had to use my cell phone and webcam (both are LOW megapixels). I have been feeding her the same as she'd been fed before. Any ideas on this?

Here is the link to the pics of her. As I said, they aren't very good, but hopefully they're good enough.
http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n519/Laidibirds/Speedy/

[steve]

Hi Kharma1182. It's really hard to tell what issues you're having. I'm concerned about the pits...is the shell hard around them? Is the shell hard all around? Any odors or other discoloration? The black spots might just be the pattern of her plastron changing.

I would adjust her diet... stick with a small amount of pellets and keep offering more veggies. If that bulb is more than 6 months old, it's probably not producing any more UVB rays. Does she have a basking light?

[Kharma1182]

The shell is hard around the pits, and everywhere else. No odors, no discoloration that I know of. I use the UVA/UVB bulb as a basking light, it gets pretty warm. She's usually out basking for several hours a day. How much would a small amount of pellets be? I have no idea how much to feed her, and she ALWAYS seems to be hungry. Also, can I offer her as many veggies as she'll eat, or should I limit that? Thank you for the help!

[steve]

I'd give her shell a good cleaning everyday for a week or so and dry dock overnight. I really can't tell if there are any concerns about the pits (could be old infections/injuries). Have you measure the temperature for the basking area?

For pellets, give the amount that would fit her head (not including the neck) every other day. If you want to give it her everyday, halve that amount. And be a bit conservative when measuring this out. Veggies can take much more of her diet though I wouldn't use an unlimited amount since some RES would eat until they vomited.