Urgent Care :: pink plastron?

[yomama]

ok so first i dont have a picture and yes I do have clean water and he is eating food and the water is enough and he is very active and he basks regularly. So what im asking is the plastron is a little bit pink but ive heard that some people say that it could be harmless air bubbles? Im not sure, What do I do and what is it? Is it harmless? Or harmfull?

[yomama]

How big is your turtle? 1 inch? -1.5 inch.
How long have you had it? half a year

What is the water temperature? warm enough:]
Did you use a thermometer? nope
Are you using a water heater? uh i lay it in the sun so the water is warm
How much water is in there? its 3/4 full
Are you using a water conditioner? no
Are you using any filtration? um i clean it

What is the basking temperature? im not sure but its warm
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes, zoo med
What kind is it or what is it made out of? its those zoo med docks
Is there a UVB light? yes

What have you been trying to feed it? reptomin and turtle bites
When was the last time your turtle ate? just like a few momemnts ago

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? oh...hmm 5 gallons? im getting a fre e40 one next week

Is the tank near a window? no
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? um depends on what time of the day it is

Have you read the Basic Care section? i think so
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? nope.

[yomama]

since i couldnt get a picture i found a picture that jessica has and it looks exactly like that except the red parts / pink isnt that much

[SpotsMama]

Here are some threads with photos. Does your turtle's plastron look like any of these?

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... k+plastron

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... k+plastron

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... k+plastron

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... k+plastron

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... k+plastron

[yomama]

it just looks like number 1

[SpotsMama]

The color probably isn't serious. Is there anything in the tank that he could be scraping his plastron against and causing bruises? If so, replace the hard or rough things with something gentler on the plastron.

Sometimes the color is a symptom of rapid growth - though if your turtle is only an inch and a half long at 6 months old, that's unlikely in his case.

How long exactly have you had your turtle? If he's more than 6 months old and still only 1 1/2 inches long then he's growing pretty slowly. Why don't you fill us in on exactly what his diet is like? Reptomin is top-of-the-line turtle food so if that's the main part of his diet then that's good. How much does he get and what else does he get?

I'm concerned about temperatures. We've seen over and over that people think they can tell what the temperature is just by touch but they really can't. You can get an inexpensive thermometer at the pet store and use it to measure both the water and the basking temperature.

Then, one of the best investments you'll ever make is in a water heater. Again, you can get an inexpensive one for your little turtle and in the future, when he gets bigger, upgrade to a better one. It's extremely important that a steady temperature be maintained for a little turtle so he doesn't get ill. Keep the water temp at around 78 degrees until your turtle gets to be 4" long, when you can lower it a few degrees. Basking temp needs to be around 90 degrees.

[yomama]

Thank you for saying that! yay so its not THAT serious -whew!-
i have a zoomed dock small size, could that be the thing that is scraping the
turtle plastron? I think the turtle is growing pretty fast these few weeks since it expanded in size and its been shedding its skin. Ive had my turtle for about 6 months and then it could of been longer depending on where it was born since i got it at a chinatown. I feed it Reptomin those long stick ones, but I break them into tiny pieces and feed it to him in seperate times of the day and he eats them so fast, and yesterday i just got turtle bites and i fed him one of those today and he seemed to be interested. I tried feeding it carrots, but didnt work so well, cus it wasnt really interested.

Im not so sure about the temperate

[SpotsMama]

I don't think the zoomed dock is harming his plastron. Lots of us use it and the turtles do fine on it.

Keep an eye on his plastron and if the color changes or gets brighter, let us know. Since I haven't actually seen a picture of it, it's possible I'm misunderstanding the situation but it doesn't sound bad from what you've described.

How much does he bask? When he basks, does he dry out completely - top and bottom? What kind of UVB light do you use?

On his size, have you actually measured him? When you measure a turtle, you're supposed to measure the "straight shell length", in other words, the length of the shell from front to back without taking into account the curve in the shell. If you haven't actually measured him lately, why don't you do so in the next day or two and let us know what you get.

Have you seen this info on nuitrition? It's great - it tells exactly what to do.

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

On how many pellets to feed your turtle, it's supposed to be as many pellets as would fit in his head if his head were hollow. Here's a cute thread with photos on how to determine the right amount. I think the turtle in the photos is supposed to get 4 to 6 of the pellets every day. You don't want to overfeed your turtle, of course, but you don't want to underfeed either:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11368

[yomama]

Okay great because i spent money on that dock! lol

he basked yesterday and yes he does completely dry off and i have a incadescent clamp lamp and a exo terra lightbulb.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Since you said you are getting a free 40 gallon tank in the very near future, go out to like PetSmart and buy a water heater. The 200W one I bought was like 20 bucks, it's TopFin brand, it seems to do an awesome job so far (for the last two months) in keeping the temperatures regulated. Oh, I have a 40 gallon tank, btw, so the 200W is plenty efficient to keep it between 76-80.

[yomama]

yes the person whos giving me the tank is providing a lot of stuff such as a heater [which i dont have] a filter...a quiet one and a non 'suckable turtle' filer, and lighting and everything that i need except for the clamp lamp - which i have.

[marisa]

The pinkish areas look like they're more the result of growth than anything, especially since the dock he's using isn't abrasive.

[Justin...]

my turlte has some pink now too...it the cracks on the plastron...and some points where the skin meets the shell...its very worrysome

[SpotsMama]

Justin, if you're concerned, why don't you start a new thread and post some photos of your turtle's plastron when it's dry. Maybe we can help.