Urgent Care :: need help!!

[xplasticsoul13]

i received two turtles from a previous owner. the older male's shell is visisbly distorted. the outer sides of the shell are curved completely upwards. the shell is not soft and the turtle seems in completely good health otherwise. i am not sure of the history, but i know they were neglected. i am not sure of his age, but i think he may be growing at a slow pace as well. (he made a few mating gestures at the baby female which i understand occurs around 5yrs). his shell is only about 5in long.
please help.

also, is there any way to tell how old my turtles are?

[missibsu]

There is no good way to determine age, especially when they have been raised in such bad conditions. The abnormal growth, lack of nutrition, and neglect will all affect the growth of the turtle. Generally, babies will grow between 1-4 inches in the first year and a good rate of growth is considered around an inch a year after that. Like I mentioned, the poor conditions will make it hard to even estimate.

The shell deformities will not likely go away, although with good diet and habitat, they could lessen. It wouldn't hurt to have them checked out by a herp vet just to make sure there aren't any additional shell problems, or even internal issues.

What are the size difference between the two that you have? What kind of set up do you have them in currently? The mating gestures you are seeing could be aggression signs instead, especially if they were living in a small habitat.

[xplasticsoul13]

the smaller of the two is about 2in long. the larger is about 5in. i have them both in a 20 gallon tank with a lamp and two large bathing rocks.

i just recently received these turtles. i am aware that the previous owner neglected them. i am unaware of how long she has had them in her care. i don't know much about turtles, i am learning slowly. i started incorporating various vitamins into their diets which i beleived previously suffered a serious lack of them.

thankyou so much for your help. is their anything else i should be doing?

[marisa]

Welcome to the forum. If you're new to turtles, please do some reading on the basics of what they need (for starters, a bigger enclosure).

Have the two turtles always been together? The size difference (when you measured them, did you measure the carapace/top shell from behind the neck down the spine to above the tail and not include the curve of the shell?) you mentioned is rather large--beware of bullying and food hogging by the larger one.

Aside from living conditions, the distorted shell sounds like the result of a poor diet and lack of calcium.