Urgent Care :: Shedding or something serious?

[jakejh02]

I thought my little baby painter was beginning to shed by the looks of the raised edges of his shell, but it has been two months and nothing has peeled off yet. I have noticed some pieces peel off on the sides and a little on the bottom but nothing on the top where clearly there is something happening. One of the edges of the scutes is raise far enough to where I can get a finger nail under it, but it's still tightly attached to the shell.

Anyone know if he is shedding or does he look like he has something wrong going on here?
I know he has a little curling goin on, I'm trying to reverse that, or at best stop it. I just hope there nothing else wrong.

Thanks everyone!

History
He is 1.5 inches
40 gallon cube tank
13w UVB bulb 8" from basking mound (is there such a thing as Too much UVB output?)
50w heat bulb 8" from basking mound
Was on veggies now only eats reptomin pellets
He was also over fed and to me, he looks a little fat, so I cut back his diet.
He gets fed in a separate bowl while soaking in calcium power.

[cutepanda86]

Shedding takes a long time - my red eared slider Sheldon has been trying to shed for months.

Now, here's a question for you - have you checked out the rest of the forum?

Never too much UVB output - although I'd keep an eye on his eyes - they can get puffy if it's really hot. What about veggies? Why no veggies?

Would you mind posting pics of your tank setup?

[jakejh02]

Thanks for the quick response.
Here's a pic of my setup.
He use to eat veggies: tomatoes, collards, butter lettuce, but now he won't touch it.
I have looked briefly through the forum, but not too much.

[cutepanda86]

I like! What's filtering the water?

I would try green leaf or red leaf lettuce. Maybe some carrots - Sheldon hates carrots but they are good them. Wheat germ (for koi) helps with the shedding too.

[jakejh02]

I have a Top Fin 40 gallon filter behind the island. It's not the best but it works ok. I can try green or red leaf and carrots. I have some dried shrimp, but I stopped giving it to him when I noticed his shell curling. I was told to limit the protein and increase calcium.

I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong and making it worse.

What do you know about weight/over feeding? I was over feeding him and I though that might be contributing to his shell curling, so I cut back his pellets from 2 a day to 1 every 2 days. I don't want to starve him though.

[cutepanda86]

Green and red leaf have Vitamin A along with the carrots. You can buy cuttlebone for calcium. Yeah the filter will need to be swapped for something else when he gets a little bigger. I'd try a Fluval. I have a 406 which works amazingly.

I know how you feel. Do you have a vet?

A little extra fat is ok. I feed Sheldon every other day and she's a big ol' gal. I would keep to the every other day pellets and try to get some veggies in there too.

[jakejh02]

That's another thing. I've had him for 9 months and he has not gotten any bigger. His only change has been the shell.

[cutepanda86]

Well I can't help you there. When I bought Sheldon she was already over 4". I have no idea how tiny turtles grow - especially since Sheldon had a fungus when I got her. She got huge quickly after I got rid of it but it took 6 months to get rid of the fungus.

[steve]

The shedding looks good to me, you wanted to be thin and translucent. How is his appetite?

[jakejh02]

His appetite is great for reptomin, not so great for anything else. But I can see his skin pudging a little bit from his shell, so I though he might be over weight a bit. At first, I was over feeding him and I thought that might be contributing to his shell deformation, but I stopped that about 3 months ago and cut him back to two pellets every two days and recently its been 1 pellet every two days. But I don't want to starve the little guy. So please let me know if I'm doing this correctly.

[steve]

I'd probably switch away from Reptomin, or at least add a different pellet for some variety. Omega One is highly recommended. I also add some wheat germ (like Cutepanda suggested).

[jakejh02]

Okay I'll try that. Right now I can't get him to eat anything else. I put all different types of vegetables in his bowl. He used to eat them up real quick, but now he won't even look at them.

[steve]

Maybe its just the seasonal change? Has the water temperature changed?

[jakejh02]

There is no water heater, but the room temp doesn't change much so Im guessing the water temp does not change much.

[steve]

Can you try a veggie clip? What's your room temperature?