General Care Discussion :: Missing Nail

[acf]

I have recently rescued a fairly small RES and am working on treating some previously existing shell problems. However today while looking at him/her closely, I noticed a missing nail/claw. I can only assume this is not normal, as my pervios RES has never lost any nails/claws, so I was wondering if anyone could let me know what could be the cause of it? I have noticed his/her nails are much shorter in length then my other RES and am suspicious as to wether or not the previous owner was clipping them unknowingly. Could it be a lack of Calcium in his/her diet? I do offer cuttlebone on a rgular basis. Just thought I would seek any advice that may be out there. Thanks so much!

Circled is the missing nail/claw, as you can see the whole thing is gone.

[SINI5T3R]

That is most likely because it was in a fight with another turtle. I rescued two HUGE grown Turtles, one a Res and one a River Cooter and they had been housed in a 10 gallon tank with no basking area or nothing for years and they had chewed each others feet almost all the way down the the bare foot. they both had no nails or toes almost. so that is prob what its from. Turtles eating Turtles lol. It wont effect its health tho as it seems healed already

[acf]

he and my other turtle are separated and when they ever are together i stand over them to watch them interact and i have seen no signs of aggression between them. could there be any other cause?

[SINI5T3R]

Maybe she got it ripped off when she got stuck in something or? You say you rescued her so she most likely got it bit off as a hatching from another turtle thinking it was food. its pretty common in turtles to be missing nails like that. iv seen loads with missing toes from being housed with like 60 other turtles.

[acf]

thank you for your advice and it sounds possible that maybe it was like that before i got her, she is still pretty new to me. also should i be worried of infection or is it healed and i just ignore it now? do turtles comonly bites at toes and why is that do you think? i wish i could read their minds sometimes, lol! thanks again, and should i keep an eye for things in my tankt hat could cause the claws to get caught or stuck?

[SINI5T3R]

Turtles love to look at stuff in the tank and like to squeez in to small spaces and sometimes they can get stuck. make sure there is no where they can squeez and get stuck and it looks healed already aswell so there is no concern for infection. Young turtles usually do this because they dont know that its not food yet and they are alwasy hungry so everything that moves is alwasy interesting to a juvy turtle. Its SUPER common in snapping turtles and usually instead of toes, its tails. if you look for snappers, you will see that alot of them have half tails from when they were first hatched and kept together and one snapped the tail right off the other. in RES, its usually pretty uncommon after they grow to a larger size unless they fight from being kept in small spaces like i said before. they are territorial turtles and like there own space. so if you have a good sized take (60gal +) then im sure you can keep your turtles together with no chances of fighting but its alwasy good to watch them for a few days to a week to make sure they dont fight.

[acf]

i have the two turtles in a 55 gal with a fish screen seperator type thing so they can interact without agression, i am hoping to eventually get to the point where i can remove the screen completely. im sure with a big enough basking platform they will get along great. as i said before they can interact on the same side of the screen, with my supervion, with no aggression at all.

the conditions the little guy lived in before i got him were poor and i suspect with the toe already been healed that it may have been pre-exisitng. will his nail grow back or is it gone forever?

i really apperciate all your help! thank you tons and tons!

[SINI5T3R]

ya you can most likely remove the seperator. I had two large turtles and 3 babys turtles in a 55 gal and they did great. make sure the tank has as much water as you can have without covering the basking platform and to where they cant escape. if you want a good basking platform, use brick. I would get a two pieced brick and break it in half and stack the two on top of eachother and that would work perfect for 5 turtles. they can climb great so even if the water is a little low they can get on the brick pretty easy. thats a cheap and effective way tho to have a nice sturdy good sized basking platform tho.

[acf]

i have my tank as full as i can without risk of escape, also i use brick and have for awhile, although post have mentioned the swim space it eats up, i found my first guy out grew his store bought platform and i was too cheap to buy another one for him to just out grow again. i find with bricks you can shape them and move them whichever way. i have a basking platform that is as wide as the tank, so there shouldnt be alot of problem. i think i will try it without the seperator, they seem pretty determined to be with eachother and find ways to get through, over, under it, lol! and like i said they have no issues with eachother when they do share space. are there any other precautions to take when having them together 24/7?

[SINI5T3R]

Just watch them and make sure they don't do too much fluttering at each other. Fluttering is when they take there two front legs and wave them in each others face. this is usually the start of a fight but rarely goes past the fluttering, one will usually give in and swim away letting the other be victorious and keeping that small space for a few minutes then they just forget and start swimming again lol. I kept 5 in a 55 gal for about 6 months and never really had any problems. I would spot the usual fluttering here and there but it was usually my small coin sized babys doing it to each other rather then my two big 5+ inch turtles doing it. I think they should be just fine considering they have been separated in the same tank with a separator so im sure they know each other already.