General Care Discussion :: Skin Infection

[cprcheetah]

Hey there...been absent for a while. Anyways Zeke my 7 year old RES has an infection on his skin on his back leg under the shell. It was quite the trick trying to get him to extend his leg so the vet could have a looksie. Anyways we are doing antibiotics in water, as well as a topical antibiotic ointment. We need to encourage him to bask more, he likes to bask at night but mostly after the lights are out....do I need to leave them on? On a more positive note he has gained 20g since I got him. He was 72g back in 2006 when I rescued him, now he is 92g. His shell length hasn't grown any though. He is also eating just about EVERYTHING and ANYTHING I feed him. Which is good. It took a while to get him to eat the lettuces.

[marisa]

Do you know how much he basks during the day when the lights are on? If it's not that much and he does prefer to bask later, you could adjust the times that the lights are on.

What kind of UVB and heat lights (or MVB light) is being used?

Out of curiousity, how do you know what caused the infection?

It's good to hear that he's been improving. How big is he (shell length without the curve)? For 7 years old, though, his weight (92g) seems low. He is otherwise healthy?

[cprcheetah]

He usually is only up for about 20-30 minutes during the day but after I turn out the lights he is up there for hours. Silly goose! For the Basking light he has a standard reptile basking light, then he has the daylight and a hood light on his tank. We are just assuming that is what caused the infection as that is the most common as it is in a place where it would be hard to keep dry and it's a 'moist' type dermatitis.

He is only 7" shell length without the curve, he hasn't grown at all shell wise since I got him although I thing he's gotten a little wider. How much should he weigh? Maybe I need to increase his feedings? He seems healthy and happy other than his little infection although he is going melanistic, but he's been leaning that way since I got him 2 years ago.

[PcBuilder14]

No offense but I hope my turtle doesn't become melanistic and stays bright green. Right now he's dark, dark green because he's shedding.

[steve]

As long as his weight gain is fairly steady, it seems like it's progressing in the right direction. At 7", it's hard to say how much more he can grow. I would try to encourage him to bask more during the day (maybe covering the tank sides?) though you can apply the topical ointment and dry dock him overnight.

Alternatively, there are ways to heat up the basking area so it won't disturb your turtle. Ceramic heat emitters do not produce light and red-bulbs are not supposed to disturb them.

[starscollided]

just as an idea - - my turtles like to bask more at night and tend to play more in the water in the morning so i let the natural light in our kitchen be enough for them an then have the UV and the heat lamps turn on later and then stay on later at night. I recently switched to the BLUE heat bulbs and my turtles LOVE them - - and when they are basking at night its more of a twilight sort of thing

[marisa]

A 7" RES that weights 92 grams sounds very underweight. Are you sure you have the weight right?

To start becoming melansitic at 5 years of age sounds rather young. My RES is a little younger than yours (about 6.5 years) and he doesn't show any signs of this. They can live to be quite old, and 5 years isn't that old...

Is the hood light a UVB light? What's the temp of the basking area?

[cprcheetah]

A 7" RES that weights 92 grams sounds very underweight. Are you sure you have the weight right?

To start becoming melanstic at 5 years of age sounds rather young. My RES is a little younger than yours (about 6.5 years) and he doesn't show any signs of this. They can live to be quite old, and 5 years isn't that old...

Is the hood light a UVB light? What's the temp of the basking area?

I must have been having a "DUH" moment he is .92 KG not GRAMS so he's 92000 Grams! LOL! Good grief...just lots on my mind I guess. He has got lots and lots of black on his shell which is why we were thinking he is going melanistic. My vet thinks it's premature due to the crappy diet he had up until he was 5 years old. I will try and get some pictures.
As far as the 7 years old being the 'correct' age on that we aren't 100% sure we are just going by what Petco was told by the people who dumped him there.
Weighed him on a different scale and he is 2.03# so he's gained a little over 1/2 a pound since I got him.

[scripta_elegans]

Zeke weighs more than my 6.5 inch girl now, so that's good! .92 Kg is actually 920 grams. Spike is at 815 grams. I just went to the vet about skin irritation on Sparky's neck, and he said to apply silver sulfadine to the area once a day, and dry dock him for a couple hours. It seems to be helping already, but he isn't a big fan of me pulling his front leg out to apply it. He actually hissed at me.