General Care Discussion :: New Here... Shell Rot? & Other Q's!

[divaturtle]

Hi guys. Basically, I've been scouring the internet to find out more information about my turtle (named Grumpy) for a while now, and I don't know how I came upon this forum, but I feel like everyone here should have better advice than any other random Google search.

To make a very long story short, (and please don't judge me for any of this!!) my sister and I caught this turtle from a pond in our neighbor's backyard about 12 years ago. Since then, he (she maybe?) has been eating reptomin pellets, and every once in a while he may eat a veggie but he seems to avoid them at all costs. He loves fruit (grapes to be exact) but he only gets them very seldom. I know that it's horrible to take a turtle out of it's natural habitat, but of course I didn't worry about this many years ago when we were like 8 years old, and I know that it would be dangerous of me to let him go now, since he's been accustomed to the captive living for so long. (Unless I'm wrong??) My parents never really knew anything about caring for him so we just fed him like I stated before, sometimes let him swim around in the summertime in the man-made mini pond in my backyard with some coy fish.
He is about 4 inches from top of shell to bottom, I'd say. He loves to bask, lays out probably 9 hours a day under his lamp. The water is usually 74-76F on average. Light stays on about 16 hours a day.

I have a couple questions regarding how to better his life now that I have the resources and I'm old enough to understand:
1. I have him set up in a large tank with about 4 inches of water. Is this enough water?
2. I have a large basking rock for him, but it is dome shapes and he squirms his way onto it to bask under the dome light. Is it bad that its not a flat rock?
3. His shell as of lately has gotten to the point that it looks like shell-rot. I'll post a picture. Does anyone have any idea if it IS shell rot/how I should go about helping him?
4. His plastron is not.... how it should look. It's dull and scuffy and just looks really abnormal. I would appreciate any and all advice on this. I'm thinking (but I could be wrong,) that this 'scuffiness' could maybe be due to him having to shimmy up his basking rock? I'll try to get the best picture that I can. It just looks REALLY weird and maybe this is from malnutrition for years, but the scutes just appear to be... arranged in the wrong way. I have seen lately a larger shed scute-piece in his water, which I removed. Looked too big to be from the top of his shell, so I would assume it was from his belly side. This may explain why the scutes on his belly have been a little loose around the edges, because he's getting ready to shed them off?
5. Lastly, I want to expand his diet and try to get him to enjoy some more veggies and other foods. I've seen the post about the "jello shots" and I'm thinking about trying this. Any other advice on some veggies that are simple to introduce to the RES? Is it difficult or even IMPOSSIBLE to reverse the damage that may have been done from years of malnutrition? He seems to be the pickiest animal I know.


Thank you in advance for any information or advice anyone is willing to share, I really appreciate it and I'm hoping to get Grumpy feeling his best.
Also, please excuse me if I sound inexperience on all of this turtle-lingo or I'm out of the loop on this turtle care.. I of course have been listening to pet store employees for years now without any hesitation (stupid me.)

Shell rot?

His poor belly side :(

[steve]

1 - How many gallons is that tank?
2 - Rocks can be abrasive to the shell. It doesn't matter if it's flat, but the plastron needs to be able to dry off.
3 - what part do you see shell rot? Not sure if its the picture, but his plastron and neck look very red. Thats a possible sign of septicemia, and I would have a vet check him out.
4 - it does look a bit strange, but I also don't think he is a RES.
5 - check www.redearslider.com/plants.html for more ideas.

[divaturtle]

Hi Steve.
If you don't think he's a RES, do you have any idea what he could be?! His face and facial colors look identical to those that I've seen on this site, and all over the internet whenever I research RES!
Tank is 30 gallon. On his top shell, the white lacy dried out appearance.... is that normal?! Maybe I have the complete wrong idea of shell rot.

I will definitely look into reptile vets around my area.

[steve]

Based on the plastron, possibly a painted turtle. I can't tell much from the pics, but its possible that its a bacterial infection that clears up after one or two sheds.

[divaturtle]

Here is another picture of him. I've done a lot of searching and I just can't seem to find another breed that he matches up with as well as a RES. Maybe he's a mix, if that's possible?! You can tell I don't know much about turtles.
I'm planning to call a local rep vet today. Even if it is nothing serious, he's never had a check up so it can't do anything but help.

As you can see, he has a little orange coloring on his head. As he's gotten older he's gotten much less vibrant-orange colored. I'm hoping that this is what you saw in the picture as the red around his head and neck, because when I look at him his skin doesn't look alarming to me to all, just the bottom shell.

Thanks for the info, I need to brush up on my turtle knowledge.
Off to the vet Grumpy goes, wish him luck!

IMG_20120713_112331.jpg (9.76 KiB) Viewed 4563 times

[steve]

Might be a midland painted which might explain the reddish neck. Has it always been like that?

[divaturtle]

Yes it's always been an orangey color. More vibrant when he was younger, but it has always been orange/streaky-orange.

[steve]

Older terrapins often become melanastic which make it harder to ID.