General Care Discussion :: Shell discoloring baby RES

[nismoasfuh]

hey guys so i have attached 2 images at the bottom of this post in hopes to get some input from you guys. my turtles shell has gotten a good amount of discoloring on the back edge of his shell mostly. Its almost like a metallic gold, which is a lot easier to see when he's in the water. He acts perfectly normally, and his shell is hard but i figured this much discoloration warranted a little bit of worriedness. Please guys let me know what this could be.

[steve]

A golden color is usually some shedding going on (air gets under the top scute layer). If its whitish, it's usually fungus. It's hard for me to positively tell from the pic, its a bit blurry.

[nismoasfuh]

hey! thanks for the response!
yea its definitely a gold almost metallic gold. is it not weird that its only happing on some parts of his shell?

[steve]

Their first few sheds don't always go smooth. I also noticed some jagginess and large growth seams, you might need to reevaluate his diet.

[nismoasfuh]

oh man thats not good to hear :/ the seams are the lines between the scutes? yea they seem dark and wide. and the jaggedness of his shell definitely is present. I feed him reptomin baby pellets and feed carrots/ leafy greens.

[steve]

Yes, the seams are between the pieces of scutes.

[nismoasfuh]

what are some of the things i should be changing to hopefully resolve his condition

[steve]

Less protein/pellets and more veggies. Use a good brand of pellets. Does he have a UVB light?

[nismoasfuh]

yup 13 watt exo terra 5.0 about 7-8 inches away from his basking spot, which has the basking light as well. ill calm down on the pellets even though i really give him 2 a day tops. he has a balance of romaine lettuce and carrots as well. thanks for the responses Steve!

[steve]

2 is not much, how many is he getting now? Any possibility people are sneaking him treats/food?

[nismoasfuh]

should i be upping his daily pellets then? I give him 2 a day, along with either a piece of romaine lettuce/carrot usually

[steve]

I don't think his shell would look like that if he were only getting 2 a day. How long has be been fed like that?

[nismoasfuh]

as long as i have had him; like 2.5 months. i am giving him a piece of carrot or lettuce everyday too though, maybe i should cut that to once or twice a week?

[steve]

Carrots once a week, lettuce everyday. Still a possibility people are sneaking him treats/food?

[nismoasfuh]

definitely not, thanks for the advice. 2 pellets and lettuce daily, piece of carrot once a week. lets see how it goes. appreciate it once again Steve.