General Care Discussion

Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:04 pm **Is there something wrong with his shell?**

It looks like Gustave's (2 years old) shell has just been scuffed, but I'd like to know for certain. The spots are not soft, there seems to be no other discoloration or tint to the spots.

http://tinypic.com/r/2e0v1hj/5

http://tinypic.com/r/4j0zue/5

Not sure what you mean by "scuffed". For the most part, the shell looks OK but the scuts are retained. There are some air spots developing and there is some rippling which is usually growth/diet related. Gustave looks big for his age, has he ever shed?

Scuffed: He has a floating basking log, so he knocks against it while swimming and I am afraid that the log is rubbing off his "shell".

As for the retained scuts, is there anything that I can do? In the beginning, we had issues with basking and resorted to using a basking log. However, Gustave is now using his dock, so he is basking completely above the water.

He's always been a picky eater, we've slowly worked our way through every vegetable with unhappy reactions. The best thing I've found is dipping the squash and various other vegetables in slight tuna water. It is cheating, but it does get him to eat the vegetables.

As for the growing, he grew so fast the first year and a half. I rescued Gustave from one of those Florida vendors, so I am really hoping that he wasn't pumped full of chemicals in the beginning. He hasn't grown an inch within the last half year.

Any suggestions or ideas to help him would be very welcomed.

I would need to see the bottom of the shell.. but if there is no redness, pitting, etc it should be fine. You'd want to continue with a good diet, lots of basking and UVB.

As for scute retention, you need to make sure there are no pockets that let gunk to get trapped under the scute or under the seam. This happens when there are overlapping scutes and hides what's going on. I might do an initial cleaning, then inspect for any problems.

My turtle saved her scutes forever, until I got UVB, then she shed them like crazy. Do you have UVB?

He does. He basks underneath it regularly.

Do you also have UVA? Both types of bulbs?

General Care Discussion :: Is there something wrong with his shell?

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