Urgent Care :: Please help! Problem with bottom of shell...

[camee1991]

As some of you know I rescued a baby Res last week from my neighbors. He is close to 2". He is finally eating well and basking and swimming, etc... but tonite I just realized while handling him and looking him over that his bottom shell (cant think of the proper term) is sorta concave and not real hard?! I cant push on it gently and he sorta squishes out of his shell. It feels the "softest" in the middle. No breaks or shell rot or smells noticed. He is beautiful. Is it normal for the underside to be a bit soft? The top of his shell is nice and firm and is getting close to shedding.

I dont remember Tobi when she was this little; heck I didnt know anything much about turts then at all! Now since I have another baby, Im sorta scared...

Can someone tell me what this could be? Or if it is normal...or do I need a vet?!

Before I got him on 5/30/07...he lived in a 10 gallon with 2 inches of water and NO heater, filter, no light and "possibly ate crickets and a couple sticks of reptomin" for 2 months! (No one saw it though) So, when I got him, I put him in a 10 gall. with a light, heater, cascade filter and about 4 gall of water at this time. He didnt eat for about 3 days but was HYPER and swam and ran around like nuts! Now he is eating like crazy! I realized it was a HUGE change for him.

Besides the belly, he seems perfect!? HELP! I dont want it to crack or smash or I dunno...its wierd! (Dont look wierd, just feels wierd)

Thanks!

[RunninWideOpen]

Howdy!

The fact the it's concave isn't abnormal I don't think. I know males grow up to have concave plastrons. I don't think the squishiness is a problem either. My 2 baby boxies I just got have squishy bellies, but they're only a month old. they're about 1 3/8" .

do you have any idea how old the lil guy is?

[camee1991]

Hey there!~
Okay I feel a little better! Had NO idea about squishy bellies! I believe he is at least 4 -5 months?! (Educated guess...)

Man it scared me! Still does. Its kinda like it could fall apart maybe if he was on something rough ya know? But it "looks" fine. Guess Ill stop being soooo paranoid! (maybe)

[RunninWideOpen]

well, someone else will come along that can confirm or correct. I know their shells are soft when they're that small. it really surprise me too when i realized that my boxie's shells were that soft underneath. they were softer than i expected.

I'm glad to hear the lil guy is eating and enjoying his new life

[camee1991]

Me too! Thanx!
It feels like this is Alllll new to me, even though Ive been through it before. When you know more, you pay more attention to detail than when you know nothing (Like I did with Tobi) How she is so healthy, God only knows!

I hope we ALL enjoy his life for a LONG time!!!

[Starchick]

I've never had a hatchling so I can't confirm the squishy belly thing, but what comes to mind is metabolic bone disease, especially if he went a while without uvb. It might be nothing but at least look into that to at least rule it out.

[steve]

The concave plastron is more of a feature of tortoises and land turtles. It is barely noticeable -- if at all -- in RES. Is this concave area in the center? Could it be where the yolk sack was being absorbed? I have heard of them becoming infected or slow to be absorbed.

Is this something new? How "deep" is it?

[camee1991]

I dont really think it is MBD.
The only slightly concave area is smack dab in the middle of his plastron. It isnt majorly noticeable. To me, this is NEW, as I havent "within the week Ive had him" noticed this before. And I have held him quite a bit and not even noticed the "slight softness" like I did before.

It really isnt "deep" persay Steve. Its like barely concave and when you stick a finger tip on it and "slightly" push...it seems as if I pushed harder it would crack open. And like I mentioned before, he squishes out of his shell when I push. (Not hard at all) It is really strange. And honestly I am not sure of his age.

The neighbors got him, like I said, off of an intersection about 2? months ago...and he was a bit bigger than quarter then, not much. Now he is about 1.5"+. He may be about 3 months?!
He seems soooo healthy besides this.

I realize about the UVB bulb and have one ordered. He at this moment has a heat / UVA right now. Should have the other within a week.
Tobi went without UVB for her whole life until the last 9 months probably...(since I didnt know) And her shell is awesome, thank goodness!

I just dunno....

[marisa]

Aquatics have pretty flat plastrons. If he was fed a diet of crickets (bad calcium phorphorus ratio unless gut loaded and even if they are, it still isn't that much) and Reptomin, he probably still wasn't getting enough calcium. Try to increase it in his diet.

The second half of my painted preemie's plastron had a dip to it when he was a hatchling. With the basics and a proper diet, it filled out and has become flat.