General Care Discussion :: How to clean their shell

[swegin]

Hello all

I have had my turtles for a little over a year now and it has been quite a learning experience. Both of my turtles (Burt and seymore) have grown a lot and are living in good coditions. When my wif and I got our turtles seymore was knocking on deaths door, it took over a week to get him to eat, and his shell has struggled to shed ever since we got them. We have them both on a jello shot diet that consist of green ketuce, zucchini, carrots, and blue berries. Ever since we started them on these jello shots they have both especially seymore improved in health.

Now that they are doing better, seymore's shell has been trying to shed for awhile know (3+ months) I am thinking due TI the poor condition of his shell it is going to take awhile, so I was wondering if there would be any way I could help the little guy out and scrub his shell.....is this a good idea? And if so what solution do I use?

[steve]

To clean their shell, you can use a clean paper towel to wipe it down. If you want to do a gentle scrub, then get a new tooth brush and use water that's the same temperature as the tank water. Optionally, if the shell has no injuries, use some diluted betadine when scrubbing. Make sure the turtle does not drink in any of this water.

For assisting shedding, you shouldn't have to. Are their air pockets? Are the edges lifting up?

[swegin]

Yes there are some air pockets and some of the edges are lifted up. When he is under water and the light is shining on him it almost looks like he has metallic copper spots on him.... What is that all about?

[steve]

That's just shedding. Light is reflecting through the thin translucent scute.