There is possibility in the shell being the least of your concerns with regards to the shop's new acquisition. The shells of this species can appear to be somewhat eroded due to excessive drying during shipments. A turtle imported from the tropics to be distributed to a petshop does not receive any meaningful treatment for any overload of parasites the shipments may have induced. If the animal seems lacking in weight, body mass (muscle tone), or has sunken eyes, an excess of nematodes or protozoa could be one causative agent. A qualified vet (often hard to find for exotic turtles) could assess such a situation with a fecal exam, but this coming from a vet capable with exotic herps could mean no more profit margin for the animal (not popular with petshops). This species is semi-aquatic by nature. Although not big on swimming, they prefer to wade in water that almost or just covers the shell. The water and the air temperature should be warm - at least 75, to 82F, with a warmer basking area. This will facilitate more moisture and humidity than this poor species (that is now replacing the once-common box turtle as a petshop turtle staple) tends to get from petshops, which seem to favor bark and a shallow water dish as appropriate habitat.

The best plan would be to convince the petshop to not make such a shortsighted venture as an exotic imported turtle that it has already failed with once (and that literally hundreds of others have failed with as well). Other turtle species of legal sale size can be obtained as captive-bred animals. These will normally come in a far superior state of health. In the case that the above cannot be voiced, if you work for one of the big corporate petshop chains, recall that reptile orders are still store-specific. Some person that you work with is in charge of weekly/monthly reptile orders for your individual store, and it is up to that person whether to be concscienable or not with regards to chosing the species that are captive-bred (usually a few species of lizards and frogs) over species that are wild-caught (many species of lizards and virtually all available turtle species). Ornate wood turtles have a rather narrow band of distribution. They won't withstand the demand that American petshops are placing on them indefinitely.

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