General Care Discussion :: Some shell problems...

[purpleturtles]

Hi guys! New here and hoping you can help me.

My friend gave me her RES a couple months ago. He isn't my first RES, but I'm by no means an expert. She didn't know much about their care, so he didn't have a UVB light, and all she fed him was turtle pellets. He was in a 20 gallon tank. He's about 3" inches long but she said she's had him for 6 years, since he was a hatchling, so that seems very small to me - shouldn't he have grown more by now?

I moved him to a 55 gallon, with basking platform, UVB and heat lamps, filter, heater, and new food! He ate the greens surprisingly fast I've been feeding him mainly collard greens and kale, Reptomin pellets, feeder fish, blueberries once a week (read the vitamin E was good for them, can anyone verify?) and some shrimp every now and then as a treat. I dust the food with JerassiVite twice a week and feed him every other day. He has a cuttlebone in his tank too and he's been chomping away at it.

His shell is hard, not soft. It looks like it has some slight pyramiding, but nothing too bad. I don't have a camera right now, so I can't get pictures. One question, should I significantly cut back on the amount of protein he gets to keep it from getting worse, or should I just feed him a normal amount? He also has a small chip on the back of his shell, like a little triangle missing right in the center of it, but I'm not sure if that means anything or if he just banged into something. I've noticed he does have a tendency to throw himself off his basking platform when startled. The thing that concerns me most is that I can see when his shell is dry, that it looks like he has layers of scutes that never shed. They need UVB light to shed, correct? So it would make sense if he's never had it before.

He's been basking an awful lot, most of the day, even stays up there when people walk in the room His water is at 77-79 degrees so I'm thinking he just knows what he needs to do, and this isn't a problem? I can now see his skin starting to shed, but so far no scutes are coming off. How long does that usually take? Will the multiple layers that need to come off have any effect?

Other than the shell problems, he seems healthy and very active, and he's got such a personality! He's always begging for food, not scared of people at all, loves his shell rubbed and will follow me as I walk past his tank

Thanks for your help!

[steve]

His diet and environment probably stunted his growth. See if he'll take red leaf, green leaf or romaine lettuce since those are better greens for him. There are few things that can cause pyramiding, so we can't speculate now. Keep his diet steady and conservative (always better to feed less than too much) and keep track of any changes. Basking allows them to thermoregulate, so I think he knows what he's doing

Shedding is a tricky thing to figure out... the best way is plenty of basking and UVB. People report taking their turtles to bask in the sun as highly beneficial to basking. Pellets with wheat-germ (like Koi food) and blue berries are thought to help but not completely proven.

Welcome to the site!

[purpleturtles]

Steve - a very long overdue THANK YOU for the reply!

I started feeding him wheat germ pellets and made him some jello shots. Finally, today I was looking at his shell, and I think I'm starting to see some shedding! A few scutes are just beginning to lift up. Will all those retained scutes make it harder for him to shed? I managed to get a couple pictures of his shell, sorry they're not great, he's squirmy, but you can see all the layers:





He wouldn't let me turn him over to get his plastron, but it's just as bad.

I've started giving him red and green leaf lettuce, and I added some water plants (anacharis, duckweed, and water lettuce) to his tank, and he loves them. I've measured him a couple times, and so far no growth... is it possible for them to be permanently stunted, or will he start to grow with proper care? I mean, a smaller turtle will save me money if I never have to upgrade his tank but he's so little.

Thanks again.

[steve]

It looks more indicative of pyramiding, not retained scutes though both could be issues here. This could be a result of poor/irregular diet and/or a poor habitat. I'm sue he still has some growing to do, which will help smoothen out his shell. How old is he?

[purpleturtles]

It looks more indicative of pyramiding, not retained scutes though both could be issues here. This could be a result of poor/irregular diet and/or a poor habitat. I'm sue he still has some growing to do, which will help smoothen out his shell. How old is he?

He's about 6 years old. Yes, he does have some slight pyramiding too, but it's not terrible. Hopefully it evens out. You can see the retained scutes better in person, there's quite a few layers of them.

Thanks for the reply.