General Care Discussion :: Shell health acessment

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 12:23 pm   Shell health acessment

Hi,

I'm hoping to get an acessment of this RES's shell health.

Thanks
Attachments
Resized_20210527_180403.jpeg
Xycose
 
Posts: 2
Joined: May 28, 2021

Post Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 4:43 pm   Re: Shell health acessment

Mostly looks OK, though there are remnants of fungus. Was there an injury on the left side?
User avatar
steve
Site Admin
 
Posts: 31430
Joined: Apr 11, 2005
Location: New York, NY
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 4:49 pm   Re: Shell health acessment

Is there a recommended treatment for the fungus? We did brush it with a toothbrush because there seemed to be algae growing on it.

I'm not sure about the left side. Originally, it was adopted/rescued from someone who was keeping it in way too small of a container in a closet, and it already had that dent on the side. It's been many years since then. The person who rescued it isn't that knowledgeable on turtles either(but enough to know it was in too small of a container before), but I used to keep red ear sliders as a kid and the shell seemed very dark but I was reading mixed things online about that potentially being an issue or just being age related, so I thought I'd come here and ask some people who might know better. I'm on the look out for a larger tank for it as well, it's currently in a 50g (which was a huge upgrade from it's previous home), but looking to move to a 100g or so.

This turtle also seems to hate basking for some reason, and doesn't really leave its tank, so I suspect that's why it started to have an algae/fungus problem. It seems like it's scared to be out of the water to me, but I'm not sure. Any tips on getting a turtle to want to come out and bask more?
Xycose
 
Posts: 2
Joined: May 28, 2021

Post Posted: Fri May 28, 2021 5:14 pm   Re: Shell health acessment

Male RES become melanastic, and could be noticeably darker and the skin becomes greyish. Fungus is best treated with Silver Sulfadiazine Cream. Re-occurring infections might not be treatable. Have you measured the temperatures of the basking area? Any privacy measures so it's less skittish?
User avatar
steve
Site Admin
 
Posts: 31430
Joined: Apr 11, 2005
Location: New York, NY
Gender: Male


Return to General Care Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 29 guests