General Care Discussion :: Vets advice on dehydrated shell

[marilynjean]

I found my RES in December and although Clyde is doing all the normal things still wanted to have him looked at by a vet. I have been concerned about his shell. The vet said he was healthy. His skin, eyes, nose, mouth are very healthy but his shell suggests a pretty hard life endured in the wild. Clyde really likes to bask but he also spends time swimming so I was surprised when she said his shell looked dehydrated! Her suggestion to improve his shell and also take care of any bacterial infections is to have him soak in a mix of betadine and warm water for 20 minutes. She wants me to do this for 10 days. After that do it maybe once a month. She said the solution will not hurt his eyes or anything else. She also suggested a product called Zilla humidifying spray tropical mist to help his shell condition. Hopefully his shell will improve. Has anybody else had experience with dehydrated shell and what did you do?

[steve]

Can you post a picture of the shell? Has it healed? I wouldn't use betadine for a dehydrated shell, since it is an antiseptic. Though many people have used the diluted soak, I haven't tried it because I'm worried about ingestion. I haven't tried the humidifying spray either, though it sounds OK... but I'm skeptical it would have any major benefit. There's also the sulfa dip if you wanted to add some preventative care for the shell.

[marilynjean]

shell worry

Steve asked me to post a picture of Clydes shell. This shot shows the area that shed several weeks ago. I had hoped once that area shed it would reveal a healthy shell, however the area that shed is still a grayish color. Clyde is now about ready to lose a bit of shedded shell on the other side and although I can't really see very well yet what's underneath it sorta looks like once again it will be a gray color. The reddish color on shell is reflection of heat lamp above. He also has a UVA/UVB light as well.

I only did the betadine soak once because I grew a little alarmed at some things I found online about it.

Today I went to the pet store and asked them about the hydrating mist/spray (Zilla). They were surprised by the dehydrated shell diagnosis the vet gave me and suggested I add a cuttlebone as she thought his shell condition could be calcium deficiency. She also didn't like the idea of a 20 minute soak, especially since Clydes skin has no sores and looks really very healthy.

She also thought a sulfa block might be good so I bought one but have not put it in the tank yet.

Can anybody give me a guess what might be going on with his shell. I'm at a loss now and rather skeptical of vets advice. Any advice would be so very much appreciated, please.

I feed him red leaf lettuce and romaine, grated carrots, occasional blueberry. He also loves Repti-Sticks.

[steve]

Looking back at some of your older posts, his shell was pretty rough from the beginning. Don't get a sulfa block... it's not same product as the sulfa dip. It's normal for the shell to get darker and lose some of it's patterns. I wonder if that's what you seeing in the instance.

[marilynjean]

I won't use the sulfur block. Don't want to start doing unnecessary things that don't do anything or can cause problems. And absolutely no more betadine soaks. At this point with Clyde will just keep eye on him. He finally has a proper setup and doing everything a healthy turtle should be doing. Maybe after another shed or two his shell will look better, as long as he's healthy that's the most important to me. Thanks for your help!

[steve]

Feel free to post pics of areas that concern you... we'll be glad to offer an opinion.