Urgent Care :: Need advice on Rescue RES Shell Issue

[tinkersumx]

I recently rescued a large female RES from my brother-in-law's grandparents property (after the grandfather passed away the land and all the animals were mostly forgotten about, only tended to infrequently by the gardeners) where it was living in the bottom of a dove aviary and only had access to a water dish. She had previously been living in their giant man made pond, which was also forgotten about. Her shell was coated in bird poop, she had giant actively bleeding open wounds in her skin, she was a mess.

I put her in our 150 gal rubbermaid stock tank (only filled half way) with a basking spot. I've been scrubbing her down daily at first now about 3 times weekly with betadine and giving her frequent water changes since i don't have a spare filtration system on hand- and not willing to buy one right now. I've had her since June 12th, her skin looks AWESOME, all her wounds have healed and she shed a bunch of skin. Her personality is coming out and she seems happy t be alive! Her shell on the other hand is looking bad...

She has new large SOFT white patches I can't identify in her carapace. The spots are growing in size quickly. I don't have the extra cash to bring her to the vet, and know that every time I bring an animal in it costs at least $300. Can someone help me figure out what this is and how to treat it? TIA
!

[steve]

I'm not sure, but it does look like a nasty infection. I'd dry dock as much as I can. Since this came up recently and you've been cleaning with betadine, this could be a difficult one to treat. Have you considered rescues? Not to surrender her, but have an experienced set of eyes examine her.

[tinkersumx]

She has been out of the "pond" for the last hour drying off after her scrub down. I checked the spots and they are WAY more firm (less soft) than they were. I even noticed a few tiny white spots on the top of her shell (that became hard once she dried) that flaked off when i rubbed my finger nail gently over them... I'm hoping lots of dry time will help it (in addition to the current treatment)and if I don't see improvement in the next couple days I'll have to figure out a new treatment plan or possible vet visit. She hadn't been basking at all, poor thing was so happy to be in water again she doesn't want to get out!

[steve]

I would dry dock for long periods of time, putting her in water long enough to drink and eat. What kind of basking area does she have? The plastron needs to dry just like the carapace.