Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I've had my slider for almost 6 years. She's had shell rot, off & on, since the day I got her. She will have relapses of it at times. It's just dry white areas that come and go on the shell, and cause her to shed constantly. She's been to the vet many times for various treatments, but I doubt my vet's advice with some things. And this has never fully cleared up so that just supports my feelings. Does anyone have an idea of what I could try to heal this once and for all?

Second thing, she's in a 100 gallon tank. In the tank is a piece of cork bark, and large polished rocks (got em' at Petco, they're sold for fish tanks). She is insistant on eating the rocks. I don't THINK any are small enough for her to swallow, but it does worry me. Why does she want them so badly? She also keeps breaking chunks off the cork bark and eating it. Again, why? Should I remove it?
The rocks are driving me nuts, because the reason I got the biggest rocks I could find is so that there was no chance of her ingesting them. But man, she's determined!

Last thing (for now ) I can hear her breathing. She doesn't have mucous coming from her nose or mouth. No discharge anywhere. She eats well, her water/basking area are heated, no lopsided swimming, no excessive basking.... But whenever she comes to the top, even if I'm across the room, I can hear her breathing in and out. Could this be normal? She doesn't sound gurgly. Just a bit whistly. (does that make any sense?)

I've had her Shelly a long time and just want to make sure that she lives the best, and longest life possible. I've got all the correct heating and lighting and everything. And she gets a varied diet. I sure hope that I'm just being overly worried and that she is actually just fine.

Thanks!

Regarding your turtle`s wanting to eat rocks, she could be trying to satisfy a craving for calcium. Have your tried cuttlebone (the stuff for birds)? If you haven`t, get some, take off the hard backing, break it into pieces and let some float in the tank. Many turtles like it--mine crunches on it like potato chips. If she`s really chewing up the corkbark, I`d take it out of there. But see if she`ll go for the cuttlebone.

What treatment has your vet been prescribing for shell rot? If it keeps recurring, I`d recheck my husbandry and possibly get a second opinion, especially if you have some doubts about your vet`s advice.

As for the whistling, how long has your turtle been doing it? She does it only when he head comes out of the water?

Thanks Mariza,
Yes, I do give Shelly pieces of cuttlebone. I'll try offering it more often (she does like it)... maybe that is why she's trying to eat the rocks. Good idea!

>>What treatment has your vet been prescribing for shell rot?

She gave me Betadine to wash the shell with twice a day. Then let her fully dry out, and apply a thick white cream. Then rinse that off, and return her to the tank. It never worked.
The reason I posted here before just returning to the vets is because I had asked a long time ago, and some of the people here had given me some helpful advice on how to take care of shell rot quickly. I don't know what it was they said to try.

>>As for the whistling, how long has your turtle been doing it? She does it only when he head comes out of the water?

Yes, only when her head is out. I'm not really sure how long it's been, since she was in a different setup before. Now she's in a tank with a screen lid in our living room, and I can clearly hear her breathing whenever she surfaces.
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...So many snakes, so little time...
Don't litter ~ Please spay and neuter your cats and dogs!

Crittercrazy,

Regarding the shell rot problem, Novalsan (chlorhexidine) might be better to use if the betadine isn`t working. If the shell rot isn`t really bad, take a look at http://www.turtlepuddle.org/health/shellrot.html for a home treatment you could try. Look at the disinfecting part, especially (3.) and see what it says about betadine and chlorhexidine. I`m assuming the cream you`ve been given is the silver sulfadizine (sp.). I bought some Novalsan from a vet to keep on hand just in case I have problems (so far, knock on wood, I haven`t had to use it for shell problems, but diluted is is a good cleaner as well).

Hopefully, unlike the previous responder, someone with some intelligence will be able to address the whistling issue.

HTH.

Make that the poster below, not the previous one.

Interesting...the post was deleted. Thank you, Mr./Ms. Moderator.

>>Interesting...the post was deleted. Thank you, Mr./Ms. Moderator.

Just some bored kid trolling the forums, I guess.

Thanks for the advice, Mariza. I will talk with my vet about the Novalsan.
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...So many snakes, so little time...
Don't litter ~ Please spay and neuter your cats and dogs!