General Care Discussion :: My RES is attacking her feet badly help!

[kmaldona1]

She is really going at her feet, why is she doing this, she is biting herself hard! I'm afraid she is going to hurt herself. Her feet don't look like she's doing any damage though. Even my daughter was startled when she saw her doing this and was begging me to make her stop.

[steve]

Can you inspect the area for any problems? If you take her out of the tank, would she stop?

[kmaldona1]

I did her foot looks fine but I want to prevent her from hurting herself. becuase if she continues to attack herself like she is, she eventually will. I hardly ever take her out of her tank. only to clean.

[theartbook35]

Does your turtle have any loose pieces of skin on its leg?

My turtles just recently went through a big skin shed. Usually, I'd see Typhoon turn and bite at the loose pieces of skin on her front legs. It's not like they have anything else to use to bite the skin off...

If your turtle is definitely not shedding, there could be debris, parasites, or an infection irritating her skin.

I've spied on my turtles also pulling each others' shed pieces off completely. They are either attempting to be cannibals, or they are helping each other.

[Sniffa]

Try getting a cuttle bone. So maybe it will bite that instead of its feet.

[kmaldona1]

I put some cuttlebone in her tank last night and she didn't even bother with it. she is shedding slightly, but not really around her front feet.

[tammi]

Have you checked her for mites? They might make hjer itchy if she has them.

[theartbook35]

Have you checked her for mites? They might make hjer itchy if she has them.

That's a good point.

Usually, my understanding is we typically see our turtles with parasites after they are brought home for the first time, after being outside, or if they come in contact with another animal that has them.

Do you see any cloudy/transparent skin on her front legs, like, between each of her scales? Even if it hasn't fallen off yet, that's still shedding.

[kmaldona1]

I have had her for about a year and half, and she has never done this before, she is shedding lightly but not on her front feet. This started happening when I added the ATBA to her tank and raised the water. But she is really ripping at her foot, she is gonna make it bleed sooner or later, I put a piece of cuttlebone in her tank and she likes but then she goes back to her foot. she looks at it like if its going to attack her! I'm just really worried and i don't know what else to do.

[theartbook35]

I've never heard of that before. Maybe you should examine her foot closely, and make sure there isn't something irritating her there.

[Azfar]

How about post pictures of your turtle feet that she loves to bite.. maybe anyone here can figure it out whether your turtle is shedding or maybe just itchy, or got some skin problem such white spots, fungus or burn or anything to skin..

[ShellbyRES16x]

I'm not sure what to do in this situation, but maybe the turtle's skin is dry or itchy. I have this lotion sort of stuff called Turtle VitaShell from Tetrafauna, which I put on my turtle so his skin is not dry. Maybe if you rub it on her legs, she might stop. I've heard of this behavior in wild-caught turtles who were then given pellets, and then the turtles would mistake their legs for food.

[marisa]

How long has she been doing this? (Is the biting still going on?) What's her diet like?

[kmaldona1]

This is the foot she keeps attacking, any one see anything wrong. I think she is starting to irritate it.

[untsmurf]

The first nail looks chewed on, and the first three nails are colored differently. The skin does look like it's shedding slightly.