Urgent Care :: questions about UVB and UVA light for treating MBD turtle

[marisa]

I am not a vet, and like I said before, am not going to second guess yours. Is that one area soft? Has the vet seen it? If not, I'd have him seen again.

[RESCHIU]

Last time I checked with my vet she told me the area was becoming hard so she told me not to worry about it(but I still do), I think I'm going to try to bath him in Iodine solution sometimes to disinfect first and then apply antibiotic on him and see if it will improve(I read this under "shell rot" section from the turtle med website), but just to make sure, is it better to put him in diluted iodine solution? or non-diluted one? is it safe to do it everyday?

[marisa]

If the vet is feeling positive about the shell, I'd try not to worry and just keep following the vet's advice (I'm assuming you trust your vet).

I wouldn't bathe him in iodine. I would just clean the area that has the problem with betadine. You don't want him absorbing a lot of iodine.

[RESCHIU]

My vet do look at reptile, but not specialized on turtle(meaning that turtle is not only her concentration), however, she is very enthusiastic about my turtle when I first brought him in and she spent about whole hour and half examining and look through books, show me pictures and diagnostic symptons for my turtle. My boyfriend(who previously worked at a vet place) told me this is the vet that I should look for, who is very enthusiastic about animal and stuff. I do trust her, but ask for more opinion other than vet shouldn't hurt, which is why I'm here.

I thought betadine and Iodine are the same 0_0;; can I get betadine in regular store too? or only pet store?

[marisa]

Betadine is a form of iodine, I can get it a pharmacies or drug stores. I wouldn't bathe/soak him in either one, just treat the areas that need it.

[RESCHIU]

I see, so I can still treat him with Iodine right?(for example, just one drop of it over the infected area) or would it be better that I put it on cotton pad first?(one thing I don't like about using cotton pad is that it leaves cotton thread on turtle, which I'm afriad it may lead to more serious infection), what do you think?

By the way, I really do think my turtle is a female now , good thing that I don't have to change her name...again, thank you for being patient with me about me and my turtle in this topic.

[marisa]

I'm wondering why, if you're using antibiotic cream on the area already, and if your vet is positive about the shell's progress, you still want to treat it with iodine...iodine can be toxic to turtles...

[RESCHIU]

I actually read it from a turtle book at the petstore(before I took my turtle to the vet) that certain ingredients in iodine which I forgot the name) can serve as a good medication for treating external bacteria infection. This was what I thought my turtle had before I took my turtle to the vet, after I treat him couple of time, I didn't see any improvement, so I began to use sofa dip, and then I took my turtle to the vet and she gave me anti-biotic cream.

the reason why I re-visit the idea of iodine again was because I saw some shell rot pictures in "austin turtle" website(?) and one of the method they suggested was to soak him in diluted iodine water to make sure the cleanse of the turtle and then applied SSD(anti-biotic cream). So this is why, sorry but i didn't mean to confuse you, I'm now confused as well on what is good and bad for my turtle

[marisa]

Sorry to take so long to get back to you, RESCHIU. I went to http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medshell.htm and read it. Honestly, under SCUD/Shell Rot, I saw nothing that suggested soaking a turtle in diltued iodine. (If you can find where you read this, post the link, I'd like to read it, maybe I'm missing something.) It was said, however, that Silverdyne (Silver Sulfadiazine), an antibiotic cream, was a very effective treatment. Is this what the vet gave you for your turtle? If so, this is good!

The only reference I remember for iodine/betadine is further down, under white/brown patches on the skin. And the advice given is only to treat the affected areas, not bathe the turtle in the stuff.

I don't remember ever getting an answer to my question about the basking. Does your turtle have a basking area that allows the plastron to get fully dried off?

You said your turtle is eating well and active. You said you got a UVB light, your vet is happy with your turtle's progress and he seems to be improving. True? Sometimes more is not better. I would concentrate on diet, making sure your turtle is basking under that correct lighting (the UVB and a heat light/lightbulb, keeping in touch with your vet if you think there's a problem. I'd give your turtle some time and see if improvment continues. But do let us know how your turtle is doing. OK?

[RESCHIU]

Thanks marisa, really appreciated your help, you were right, I might have gotten it confused with another turtle book that I read, and not from the website(for some reason, when I see the word betadine, i keep relating it with iodine), however, I'm very positive that I read this turtle book before saying to work in affective area with "providine"(one of the ingredient in iodine, which I remembered the word when I found the bottle at home), but I won't soak him in it now as you adviced.

by the way, he does has a basking area and UVB and UVA, but I don't think my dock is good enough to hold him on there, his top shell gets dry, but not plastron(as you can read it from equipment review website that I had problem with my turtle dock), I don't know if it's because he's too heavy(he's about 80g on small size turtle dock) or that my dock is defective, I once put him in another seperate plastic container to bask so he can get completely dry, but it doesn't work very well, I'm going to try to exchange for a better basking dock soon and hope that can fix the problem, if not, do you have any idea on how to let the turtle bask to dry temperarily while I'm getting a better dock?

[marisa]

The fact that his plastron isn't getting fully dried off isn't helping matters any...

Why don't you just make a new basking platform? When my RES was small, I used a small plastic shelf that I drilled holes into so it wouldn't float, then I put a flat rock on top to weight it down, and I attached a ramp with nylon fasteners to make it easy for my RES to climb on to.

You have to be a little creative,--for the time being even putting a flat rock on an overturned flower pot might work, but what you use might also depend on the water level. Ideally, though, you want the basking platform easy to get on, safe (your turtle won't get trapped) and non-abrasive. I tend to like corkbark for these reasons, and that's what I use in all my set-ups.

[fishandcandy]

I am definitely in favor of doing what your vet says if you've got a good vet - and it sounds like you do.
Remember that it's going to take time for the shell to change.

[marisa]

One more thing about the basking area--having some texture to it will help the plastron dry off better. Another reason why I like the corkbark (it's bumpiness allows the plastron to be exposed to some air).