General Care Discussion :: Health

[emma]

My turtles shells are either starting to pyramid or shed...can you help me decide? Their shells were totally dry when I took these pictures tonight.

Ms. Cool-- Around 1.6-2.0 inches





Laser- his shell is not as bad, but seems to be starting the same process. Around 1.4-1.8 inches



Keira- around 1.6-2.0 inches





I didnt know if you would need the plastrons or not..so i just put them on there.

[emma]

oh and i have been wondering...what is the white spot on the last picture??

[marisa]

They've retained a lot of their scutes. How fast have they been growing?

What are you feeding them, how much and how often?

Does the white spot come off if you rub at it?

[emma]

I feed them 4 pellets every day, sometimes every other day, and they get lettuce everyday (romain, or red). I give them cuttlebone also. They get fruit every 2 weeks. They get blood worms every month but they dont seem to intrested in those anymore. So mainly just lettuce and pellets.
So, retaining scutes means, they were supposed to shed their scutes but they didn't? How can I fix this?

[industrial_girl_2000]

What kind of pellets are you feeding them? What kind of fruits?

FYI - one good fruit for RES's are fresh blueberries, which are high in antioxidants, especially Vitaman E, which helps shedding. It takes time to shed though so don't just expect that if you give them a blueberry one day, that they will shed the next day. I like blueberries for Sheba because I don't have to cut/peel anything. I just wash and toss in the tank. Easy.

Otherwise, I see a lot of growth on them which is a good sign & their shells look clear & healthy with good color. I can see in some of the pictures that some of the scutes are starting to lift around the edges.

Don't worry about *when* the scutes will shed....they just shed on their own eventually.

How long have you had these turtles?

[emma]

I got them at the end of July so around 4 months. I don't know how much food the guy at the petstore gave them, they were there for around 2-4 weeks.
I give them grapes. But only Keira seems to like those. I give them ReptoMin hatchling pellets, and just started to give them some Zoo Med Aquatic Turtle food.

[Tenodera]

that spot at the ned looks likea reflection of the light to me, though I could be wrong.

[emma]

Ok, umm....so, am i feeding them the correct amount? Died sounds good?

[RunninWideOpen]

sounds right. are they basking? do you have both heat and uvb bulbs?

[emma]

Yeah, they bask. I have a UVB/UVA bulb- 5.0 26 watts and a regular 60 watt house bulb. I just cut a huge hole yesterday so the UVB could come in. Maybe not enough UVB was the problem? But I had them outside almost every other day in July and August, and parts of September.

[RunninWideOpen]

doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong, really. i assume water temp is in mid-70's? you could push it up to 78....a little warmer encourages shedding.

I'd try the diet adjustments suggested above and see if that helps. Sometimes turtles are just different. I have one box turtle that's growing super fast, but eating the same amount and the same stuff as the other one.

[emma]

I have the temp at 78 degrees right now, and they just got done shedding skin about 1 month ago..

[marisa]

I'd try to vary the diet a bit more rather than just pellets and lettuce (and grapes). Can you get some anachris (aquatic plant) for them?

Warmer water will encourage skin shedding, not scute shedding (unless you want that).

[emma]

Ok, I used to have anarchis for them, but they made such a mess with it. I had it for about 4-5 weeks with the 20 strands I got.