Hi everyone. My baby RES, Crumpet, who I bought in Chinatown on Sept. 6, has these marks on two of the back scutes on his plastron which I'm curious about. They're sort of dark grey, blending into the green of the rest of the shell at the top, and they don't cover the whole of the scutes, just the upper portion. He's had them since I bought him, and about 2-3 weeks ago they seemed to be getting a little bigger and lighter, so I would take him out of his main tank, dry him off, put some Neosporin on them, and then let him chill in a Tupperware container (w/lights on him) for about an hour, hour and a half, tops. Then, once he had dried and I felt like the medicine had a chance to sit, I'd put him back in his tank. I wasn't able to do this every night (college schedule) but on average I've been doing this about 4 times a week for the past couple of weeks. The gray spots are shrinking now and I think his shell's looking better in general.

My question, then, essentially, is, what is this? I've done a bit of research and I don't think that these two spots are shell rot, or fungus. They're not white or cottony and they don't smell bad. His shell's not especially soft, either. He's on a good diet - Reptomin, Reptotreat, krill, apples, carrots, and the occasional beef. (I tried tomatoes the other night, but those didn't go over so well). He gets his vitamins, is in a new!!! 10 gallon tank which is kept at about 80 degrees and is cleaned by a Fluval submersible. He's got lights and rocks. He's generally active, a good swimmer and eater, and is my pride and joy. I just do wonder what these spots may be. They don't seem to hurt him, but I've never seen anything like them on other turtle sites or in books. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe his shell was damaged when he was a really little baby and maybe those spots are the result, but I really have no clue. At this point, honestly, I'm not deathly afraid because he seems fine in all other respects. I'd just love it if anyone knows what they may be. I appreciate any and all help,

~Amanda

P.S. Sorry, but I don't have pictures. The ones I do have are taken on a manual old camera for a photo class and I don't have a scanner. Anyway, they wouldn't be of any help, being mostly arty shots of him swimming.

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