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My little Yurtle is just under a year old (I'm guessing she/he was hatched around last Aug.) & has some odd patches on her shell. They seem a little different in texture than the rest of the shell, kind of flaky, maybe. She eats well & is growing fast. She is spending most days outside now that the weather is nice. She's still pretty much a carnivore, but is starting to take a bite of plant matter here & there when offered.

Two questions: 1) any idea what the shell spots are?
2) I was told she is an Eastern, but I'm really not seeing any color develop. When will she start to get the pretty colors?

Robin

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Robins Critters
1.0 Corn snake Jack Skellington
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake Jasmine
1.0 South American Boa Elvis
0.1 Western Hognose Addy the Adder
1.0 Tricolor Hognose Yoshi
1.3 Leopard Geckos Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.2 Crested Geckos Fox, Peek & Boo
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo
0.0.1 Eastern Box Turtle Yurtle
0.1 Pacman Frog Buffy the Cricket Slayer
0.0.1 Sulawesi Red Toad Mr. Toad
0.2 Tiger Salamanders Tiger & Sally
1.1.3 Firebelly Newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Olivia Newton John & Thandie Newton
1.1 Cats Gus & Mena

I can't really see in the pic, but 2 things come to mind, 1. new shell growth, or 2. shell rot.

as for color, it can take a few years for them to start to show, I believe easterns usually start to get shell color at about 2-3 yrs.
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My Site
1.2.1 Terrapene Carolina Triunguis
0.1 Nymphicus hollandicus
1.1 Melopsittacus undulatus
1.0 American Cocker Spaniels
1.0 American Short Hair? Cat
1.1 Rouen Ducks

Oh, OK. I'm betting new shell growth. She is growing like a weed, so it wouldn't surprise me at all. I certainly hope it's not shell rot. What would cause that? She spends a lot of her time underground.
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Robins Critters
1.0 Corn snake Jack Skellington
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake Jasmine
1.0 South American Boa Elvis
0.1 Western Hognose Addy the Adder
1.0 Tricolor Hognose Yoshi
1.3 Leopard Geckos Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.2 Crested Geckos Fox, Peek & Boo
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo
0.0.1 Eastern Box Turtle Yurtle
0.1 Pacman Frog Buffy the Cricket Slayer
0.0.1 Sulawesi Red Toad Mr. Toad
0.2 Tiger Salamanders Tiger & Sally
1.1.3 Firebelly Newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Olivia Newton John & Thandie Newton
1.1 Cats Gus & Mena

New growth would show BETWEEN the scutes, more like grayish colored lines.
I don't know what would cause the whitening like that: it almost appears to be dry rather than moist.

Oh, that's right, new growth wouldn't show like this, would it. Any idea what it is?
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Robins Critters
1.0 Corn snake Jack Skellington
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake Jasmine
1.0 South American Boa Elvis
0.1 Western Hognose Addy the Adder
1.0 Tricolor Hognose Yoshi
1.3 Leopard Geckos Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.2 Crested Geckos Fox, Peek & Boo
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo
0.0.1 Eastern Box Turtle Yurtle
0.1 Pacman Frog Buffy the Cricket Slayer
0.0.1 Sulawesi Red Toad Mr. Toad
0.2 Tiger Salamanders Tiger & Sally
1.1.3 Firebelly Newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Olivia Newton John & Thandie Newton
1.1 Cats Gus & Mena

How humid is her enclosure?
What type of substrate do you use?
It might be shell rot from keeping her too dry or in the wrong type of substrate.

Humidity is between 50-70% above the surface. The substrate is always moist. I use a biological substrate, a mix of cocoa bark, peat, jungle mix, some moss on the surface...
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Robins Critters
1.0 Corn snake Jack Skellington
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake Jasmine
1.0 South American Boa Elvis
0.1 Western Hognose Addy the Adder
1.0 Tricolor Hognose Yoshi
1.3 Leopard Geckos Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.2 Crested Geckos Fox, Peek & Boo
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo
0.0.1 Eastern Box Turtle Yurtle
0.1 Pacman Frog Buffy the Cricket Slayer
0.0.1 Sulawesi Red Toad Mr. Toad
0.2 Tiger Salamanders Tiger & Sally
1.1.3 Firebelly Newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Olivia Newton John & Thandie Newton
1.1 Cats Gus & Mena

Take a piece of hard plastic (credit card or plastic spoon) and see it the white stuff will gently scrap off on one of the scutes. Let me know.

I've done this before, although not recently, with my fingernail. Yes, it will. It's not white, if that matters, it's tan. I know it's hard to tell from the pic. It was the best one I'd gotten...

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Robins Critters
1.0 Corn snake Jack Skellington
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake Jasmine
1.0 South American Boa Elvis
0.1 Western Hognose Addy the Adder
1.0 Tricolor Hognose Yoshi
1.3 Leopard Geckos Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.2 Crested Geckos Fox, Peek & Boo
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo
0.0.1 Eastern Box Turtle Yurtle
0.1 Pacman Frog Buffy the Cricket Slayer
0.0.1 Sulawesi Red Toad Mr. Toad
0.2 Tiger Salamanders Tiger & Sally
1.1.3 Firebelly Newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Olivia Newton John & Thandie Newton
1.1 Cats Gus & Mena

Them it is most likely a form of shell rot. How wet is your substrate?
You'll have to do a complete change of substrate and clean the enclosure with somethinng that will kill bacteria and fungus. Let it dry. Rewash it again with an extra rinse. let it dry completely and then put in new substrate.

I wouldn't place the turtle back into the cleaned enclosure until you've gotten rid of the crud on the shell. Set up a hospital tank or rubbermaid container. Put dry newspaper in teh bottom. You can shred some for her to bury herself in. Put in a big water dish that she can go in and soak as needed to maintain her hydration.

For your turtle clean the area with a Chlorahexadine solution, scrub off the fungus (bacteria) with the tooth brush, reapply the solution let it dry. Wash the tooth brush in a bleach solution and run through your dishwasher to sanitize it. Repeat this daily. You might want to do this twice a day for the first week. You should see the fungus disappear quickly. She if you can get her out in some natural sunlight as well as that will speed the healing. Take the hospital tank outside with you while you do yard work. I'd wait a few weeks after it looks like it is gone before I put her back in the clean tank with the new substrate.

You need to look at how the bacteria or fungus got into the substrate. Was it kept too wet? Does it need to be changed more frequently? If you have any sand in with the substrate that can scratch the shell and let bacteria or fungus get in foot hold on growth in the shell. So make sure no sand is in your mix. If you can post a pickture of the setup I'm sure people can give you ideas for improving it to make your turtle happier and keep it healthy.

Let us know how she does. I dealt with a similar situation this winter with a Florida box that I got as a rescue. She is going fine now.

make sure you cover all of her shell in the chlorahexidine solution. You might want to dip her in a watered down solution to get iton the undersides of her shell. You don't want any microbes hiding anywhere to make an appearance later.