Urgent Care :: Questions about Crush's shell and tail

[YBSmom]

How big is your turtle? around 2in
How long have you had it? 2 years

What is the water temperature? 80
Are you using a water heater? yes but I'm not so sure it works well, the light never came on. Luckily the water temp stays the same
How much water is in there? 18 gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? Stress coat
Are you using any filtration? Whisper 10-30gallon

What is the basking temperature? 90
Is there a basking light? sunglo 60watt
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? large turtle dock
Is there a UVB light? yes. I did want to mention that I had them sitting on the screen lid but after reading many posts on the site I have removed the lid and clamped both lights on the edge so they are now the right highth from the dock.

What have you been trying to feed it? 3-4 HBH Turtle Bites (made with raisin, papaya, banana, pineapple, spinach and more). Also Zoo Med's Turtle Treat~Krill, but not very often, romain lettuce and a peeled grape but she(?) never ate it
When was the last time your turtle ate? this morning

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 20 gallon long tank
Is the tank near a window? no
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? living room so yes busy in the evening but not during the day

Have you read the Basic Care section? yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? yes, I think I've read just about every post here.lol

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms?
When we moved her(?) to the bigger tank, her shell became dull. I unfortunately used VitaShell once but wiped it off and am hoping she's just shedding. I'm too nervous to wait 3mo. until I know for sure so I decided to post pics here. Also, her(?) eyes were irritated when we moved her to the bigger tank so I've been using Zoomed reptile eye drops the past few days. As if that's not enough to be stressed over, I've noticed a round spot at the top of her tail last night. We use river rocks and I'm hoping she couldn't break any and eat them?? Dh and I felt they were too large for her to eat. I'll try posting a pic of her tail too.
I'd like to thank everyone involved with this wonderful site, we've learned so much in the past 2years and is probably the only reason she's(?) still alive!









Sorry for the blurry pic, it's the best I could get.[/img]

[steve]

What kind of heater are you using? The Visitherm Stealth models are the only ones I know of that don't have an indicator light. It would be wise to get a decent heater.

He is only 2 years (24 months) AND 2" (the shell length)? If that is accurate, then he is very small for his age.

VitalShell is not a good product to be used, so please don't use it. The dullness could be mineral deposits or a different type of water quality issue. Irritated eyes could also be an indication of that.

I really can't make much out of that pic. Can you describe it?

Are you using a different water source or a different amount of conditioner?

[marisa]

Cute turtle. The tail pic is too unfocused to make out anything, although I can see a whitish area. Is it a lump? Is it crusty? Is the white shedding skin?

From the pic, your turtle has grown and has scutes that should be coming off eventually (the top ones should have come off long ago). The scutes usually become dull and whitish as they prepare to shed, and it sounds like this is why your turtle's shell became dull.

What brand of UVB light are you using?

[YBSmom]

Hi Steve,
I would hope the one we got is good as we just paid $30 for it. It's made by Hagen and says Thermal Comp-Act submersible aquarium heater 50 watts. It has temperature set dial, waterproof seal, pilot light (Which never worked) and ceramic heater core. I wish I had read the posts about the Stealth before we bought this one but I didn't.
I sure hope his health wasn't stunted. We bought him for our 3yr old daughters, along with the deathbowl and were not given any information on them. It was right after Katrina so we lost most of our belongings. We had to rebuild our house and buy all new appliances, etc. We did buy the Herp habitat which was much bigger than the deathbowl he was in, it had an island, and was about 1 and 1/2ft long, with about 8 gallons of water. (uva/uvb and heat lamp also) You can imagine how happy he was when we could finally get the bigger tank. I feel terrible but the only other choice was to bring him to petsmart where one of the employees could take them but said they would be placed with a bunch of other turts and would not have any human contact.
My husband didn't want to use rubbermaid boxes because it would be too dangerous for our small children.

I used the vitashell once then posted a question here about it and was told not to use it anymore so I haven't. I was using Aquasafe or Start Right water conditioner but have now changed to Stress Coat. Water source is the same.
His tail seems to be round at the very top then is skinny the rest of the way. It doesn't look like shedding skin, the skin looks normal/healthy around it. The UVA/UVB light is a coiled one that I bought at petsmart. I've always used the same but didn't keep the box and can't remember the name of it. It costs about$22...I just looked at the lightbulb and it says Super UV coil lamp 20 watts.

Thanks Marisa, we think so! ( : I took so many pictures and even held her up but all the pics turn out blurry or you can't see it. The skin looks healthy and normal around it. Her skin shedded a while back and lost most of the dead skin so it's not that.

I'll continue watching her closely and if I can get a better picture I'll post it here.
Thanks again for all your help!
Cindy

Thanks for your quick responses!

[Hoooneylynn]

Do you have a thermometer to watch the temperature? Are you sure it stays the same temp all day and night?

[YBSmom]

It does, I'm a little obsessed with checking temps all day long and several times during the night.lol If it didn't I would've returned that heater and gotten the stealth.lol

[Hoooneylynn]

LoL, I know how that is!

[Ferd]

If the tail is just really large around the front, it could mean that he is a boy. this is only true if it is round around thw whole tail.

[Ferd]

opps, forgot to add that it looks like Crush is Pyramiding. The top scuteds should have fallen off long ago. look it up on some other topics. Im unsure about how to reverse it.

[Hoooneylynn]

Its only 2 inches. There is no way to tell the sex until 4 inches, regardless of tail size now.

[Ferd]

I thought that maturity was reached due to age not size. besides the tail is so thick near the body, what else could it indicate? id the tail the same thickness in the area close to the body?

[Hoooneylynn]

Nope, maturity is reached by inches. All turtles grow at different rates... Look at the claws.. boys have long claws. Most male turts dont grow long claws until right before 4 inches. You can only tell the sex until 4 inches.

[SpotsMama]

has Crush been checked for parasites? He is really small to be two years old.

[iac637]

that could be it we have had all our turtles checked for parasites. Its easy for them to do the like to get a "little Poopie "( thats what our vet calls it, he's hilarious) sample. but if you can't get one they will make sure they are active and strong and give them the treatment anyways at least our vet does. It won't hurt him if they do its like giving your dog heartworm pills to prevent them. with our little guys we had to treat at home as well once a week for 4 weeks so that wasn't bad. The bad part is getting them to open their mouths.

Our vet has also told us that feeder fish are a big cause of parasites in turtles, because who has the dirtiest tank in the pet store? The feeder fish because they are all piled in there for quick sale. He said if we wanted to do feeder fish to raise our own or stick with the farm raised worms. so as much as I loved to see our guys swim after the fish I don't have the setup for breeding fish yet, so our guys are on worms for live food only.

[YBSmom]

we've never bought any feeder fish for him. We had a pleco about a year ago but he killed it. Could he get parasites from that??
I'm off to read about pyramiding.

Thanks again for everyone's help!