Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My baby western painted turtle's shell is curled up on the back. Its not a major deformation or anything, just the back lip curls up. Was wondering if anyone knew why. It has an outdoor pool where I put it when I'm home so it gets unfiltered sunlight, and it eats great, so I don't know what it is. It doesn't bother the turtle at all, and it seems healthy, I'm just curious. Any ideas?

Hi,

This can be a sign of overfeeding and thus the turt is
growing to quickly. What are you feeding him, how much
and how often? How old is it and what is the shell length
and weight if you know?

Linda

you are probably overfeeding him.
what have you been giving to him to eat?
the sunlight is good but a high calcium diet is important too. sometimes painteds get curled shells when they eat too much too often

I'm not sure what the weight is, but its a small turtle, a few inches maybe. Sounds like I'm probably overfeeding it. I've been using the floating reptile sticks (wardley I think). It also eats mosquito larvae in its outdoor pool. I'll cut back on the food and see if it helps. Thank you very much for the replies.

try crickets and wax worms and red wigglers and small nightcrawlers every other day
pellets every few days
this might hekp too
pellets are NOT the best food source.

n/p