General Care Discussion :: What's with the shell? Are regular checkups neccesary?

[samandnelly]

So far I've only gotten my turtles to a herp vet once...and it was when I first got them. The herp vet didn't seem to know much about turtles but checked for worms by testing a poop sample and just looked at their shells. They were very small then (1/2" to 1"). They are now 2" to 3". They used to have speckles on their shells when they were little:

but it seems these speckles have grown:

When I went to the herp vet (she works at Coddle Creek) she said these speckles were sometimes apparent on turtles as an added "marking" rather then having just the varied colors of green lines around their scutes. But if they were just markings, should they be growing with the turtles? They are no longer "speckles" they're more like "streaks". Could this be shell rot? I have posted this before and everyone was saying it was normal to have to speckles in the first place. They are very healthy and eating lots but...what would be your recommendation?
Also I know you guys are probably tired of hearing this, but we are on a limited budget...and we only want to spend a vet visit if it's vital.

[Pizza]

From my knowledge and your pictures/post, your turtle looks fine and there is nothing to worry about with its shell.

And yes, markings do grow with your turtle's shell size (think about the little green spots on the plastron of a RES when it is a hatchling, they eventually grow with the shell and become large black spots).

[samandnelly]

Also his plastron inbetween his scutes is gray but not pink...its sortof grayish pink...do they usually have just a little pink coloration on thier bellies?

[industrial_girl_2000]

Your turtle looks very healthy in the updated pic.