Urgent Care :: Shell trouble

[reptilegrrl]

Hey folks, I need some opunions about some shell trouble we are having.

A long time back I mentioned that Al was retaining keratin on his hsell. I had to peel a bunch of it off, it was heavily built up. Well, a few months later, it happened again. I was peeling off some excess on his plastron, and I came to a spot that had very bad buildup, that I had not been able to get off before. It felt likt it might come off this time, so I tugged at it- and a chunk of his shell broke off in my hand. The place it broke was apparently healthy shell. It just broke off.

Now, this was still on the edge of hs shell, not on his flesh or anything. It didn't smell, wasn't discolored, it did not feel soft, so I decided to keep an eye on it to see if anything went bad.

The place where it broke was near to a black spot on his shell. The black spot was not on the surface, but it was not symmetrical to his other shell marks. This is important, because in the days since the break, the black spot has been spreading onto the broken edge. It is still not soft and it does not smell.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Obviously, if it's something I need to worry about, he will go to the vet. Any advice, ideas?

thanks,

Priscilla

[cam722]

Is there any way to post a picture of what you're talking about? I know that their "spots" on the carapace change shapes and fade as they grow.. not sure if this is what's going on or not, that's why a pic would help.

[marisa]

A pic would really help--I don't quite understand when you say the break is near the edge and not on the flesh...

If it were me, since the black area is spreading, I'd take him to a vet. How many layers of scute came off? Could the black possibly be blood under the surface?

BTW, one reason for difficulty shedding scutes is a Vit E deficiency.