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I've had my RES for less than a month, and lately I noticed blackish stains around his scutes. From what I've read in the forums, shell rot should be white in color. I've tried scrubbing with a soft bristle toothbrush but it doesn't seem to remove the black "stains".

Can anyone advise me on what the growth is, and how to nurse it away? I've included some pictures below:

It looks normal to me. Turtles' shells darken over time, some starting earlier than others. Mine have dark/black blotches all over them, tho I can't remember how early that started. Still, wait for someone with more experience to chime in on this one just to be sure.

I was thinking the same as Jen, that it looked pretty normal. I noticed the bottom red circle in the top pic though... it looked like it has a little grey-ish white color in it. Not sure what's going on there, but the rest of the shell looks like he's growing.

thanks for the replies! i'll try to put him in a dry place for about 1-3 hours and see if the greyish part clears.

That looks like scutes lifting to me.

Jenaero, how old is the turtle in that pic? His shell is really horny-looking. Could something be wrong?

she's about a year old in that pic. They were both overfed for about the first 6 months. The ex was feeding them and not telling me. So they started to pyramid a bit. They have since improved and were both recently given a clean bill of health at the vet.

The scutes on top look ok to me. I'm wondering about that white area that's circled on the bottom right, though.