Hi,

I have two juvenile red eareds that have developed what looks like white marks on their shells. The shells are not soft and I give them 'vitamin turtles' every week. I think I have the proper setup with UVB lamp, water filter, floating platform and the terrapins are taken out of the tank for an hour every other day. I've witnessed one of them scratching its shell vigorously on a large bit of drift wood in the tank - would this be enough to cause the whitening of the shells? Or is it something I should be worried about?

thanks

Emma

Welcome to the forum!

Does it look like this?

If so see my post

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=42810

The turtle experts round here are "DonnaM" and "LivingArt", they will know what's wrong. I don't think that your set-up is to blame. However you didn't say you had a water heater, if you dont have one you need to get one and a plastic guard. Set it to 26/27'C .

Thanks! I will compare it to mine when I get home.

Yep, I have a water heater plus the guard.

I would defer to the nominated experts but would think you might be better to lower the temperature of the water, get a heat lamp over the basking area and make sure the tank is well ventilated to keep the humidity down.

not an expert just seen a lot of turtles

as alan said humidity in tank may be a problem if you have lids on it

a pic would be good

not an expert just seen a lot of turtles

as alan said humidity in tank may be a problem if you have lids on it

a pic would be good

As above

If the turts are healthy and over a year oldish... you can slowly drop temp to around 22. If a little older they dont really need a heater on these warm summer days. Just check the UVB can get thru directly onto the turts and there is no perspex on the light fitting as it will block out the UV. Also lights not sitting on glass or anything either. Adding an ordinary 40watt light bulb will make the basking area warmer and encourage them to stay there and dry off well. They have nerve endings in their shells like our teeth, so hes possibly just itching the irritated shell scutes under the log. Something they love to do.

This pic may give you an idea of the lights over the basking area...(NB this was in winter and the tanks arent usually this populated. Also the stones have been removed as stones are a significant killer of turtles due to impaction :-? ) Would be good to see a pic of your set-up and turtles

forget vitamin turtles, use calcium blocks if anything.

cuttle fish bones also good for a bit of calcium.....

basking lights as per Donna's pic. Can get a clip on desk lamp for around 10-25bux depending where you shop 60watt household bulb should be plenty.

pic would be helpful

p.s nice loking turtles Donna, a female reeves to by the looks

I have a theory that excessive calcium can cause this in young turtles.All of the previous things mentioned as well can be a cause too.

i agree on the excess calcium theory too repto

i have seen lion cubs fed too much calcium that developed nodules/spurs in their joints

Wow thanks for all the help!

Here's what our smaller turtle looks like;

and here's the tank - sorry its not a clear pic - i don't have a camera, only phone camera

the uvb light above the tank is sitting on glass - so sounds like i need to remove the glass? and maybe get some extra lights?

There are big stones, fake plants (occassionally real ones too), gravel (too big to eat at the moment), part of a cuttlefish, drift wood and a fake log also in the tank.

the terrapins bask a lot on the turtle dock but don't like doing so when people are in the room very much. i guess this is normal?

The enclosed lid will be stopping the UV from getting to the turtles and preventing the moisture from escaping so they can't dry their shells. Replace with mesh, add a heat lamp and make sure the UV lights are less than a year old and not blocked by glass or plastic. Then, given time, they should be happy little reptiles.

it may help to tell the experts here a bit about their diet too , just to see if some improvements could be made to speed their recovery

This is a disease I labled "white shell" a few years ago. Notice how it starts at the edge of the scute and progresses towards the middle. It occurs because the turtles do not dry out enough and the layers of keratin swell and then split along the edges and that allows bacteria (NOT fungi) to get in and start digesting the keratin. Eventually it will progress into the bones and kill the animal.

To prevent the disease always have a heat lamp (60-75 watt bulb will do) over the sunning area so the turtle can dry out completely most days of the week. Do NOT cover your tank so the humidity is low. The best treatment is natural sun outside but be careful not to cook your turtle. if your turtles frighten easily and flee into the water keep them somewhere during sunning time that they cannot see you or put a visual barrier around their tank.

I have found that the turtles will cure themselves in 1-2 years if fed well and given the opportunity to dry out.

Mark Feldman

If you'd like more details on white shell I can email you a copy of the paper I've just completed on the disease. Just send a note to [email protected].

Mark Feldman

thanks mark

i had always looked upon this as a bad shed caused by too high a humidity corrected as you have outlined

it is good to put a name to it

it is amazing what a little bit of basking heat does for them.

Alan-I tried to email you the requested papers but they bounced back. Do you have another email address?

Mark

you wrote another good paper on USD available here as well mark

http://www.reptiles.org.nz/uploads/PDF/ ... isease.pdf