Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A neighbor just found a young turtle (maybe 4 - 6 years old) with a deformed shell. Specifically, the back half of the shall is not rounded (like the front), but has indents that I suspect have come from malnutrition. Are there any nutritional supplements that can help this animal? Will it have this deformity its entire life, or can proper diet help it recover its normal shape?

I don't have a good answer for you, but there is a population of box turtles behind my work. I have found two different older adult individuals with pretty major "dents" on the back half of the shell. The cause I can not say, but they were living their lives just fine.

Could you post a picture or two?

Is this a wild turtle? There is a shell defect called ...hmm, I need to find the paper, but wild turtles can be born with a dent in the back part of the shell-cause is unknown but likely a deformity of the backbone which is of course part of the shell.

I found the word, but not the paper-look up kyphosis.

If that is what it is-no amount of spuppliments will help. Poor diet can cause lumpy shells, curled up shells and soft shell, but that tyope of dent. It usually starts about 1/2 or 2/3 of the way back half and not related to diet. If I find the paper I will write more.
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Tess Cook
www.boxturtlesite.info

One of my babies (hatched summer, 2006) came out of the shell with his deformity. At the time, I posted on this board and was reassured that many people have found healthy adults [in the wild] with similar deformities, that seem to have done fine. My (Charger) will always be a pet, so I don't have to worry about his survival, but some things that could endanger him would be if he couldn't get away from or hide from predators [ie-retract into his shell], or couldn't right himself if he flipped on his back. Except for this deformity, he is healthy and growing, and though his shell looks odd, it is growing in relation to his body. And he gets around just as well as his siblings.