Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all. Today at pet store I found a beautiful RES female. She is approximately 10 inches long and appears healthy with one exception. Her front feet are swollen and appear to have some sort of pink growth or legions on them. She is in a 20 gallon tank and the pet store owner claims he just took her in from another customer that was moving and needed to get rid of her. Any ideas as to what this growth may be and how easily it can be taken care of. I already have two males in a 120 gallon tank that I could easily put her in with. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

I can't help you with the foot problem, but here is a word of warning. Your two males may get along great now, but if you add a female, they will fight over her.
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It could be a combination of fungal and bacterial infestation the turtle may also have absesses causing the problem. Most likely occurred form previous bad husbandry practices. I have a redbellied cooter that is missing part of a front foot and part of a back one. It was kept with a snapper all it's life until the snapper SNAPPED it. Then the previous owner did not take it to the vet and it healed rather deformed and had lots of absesses on the injured feet that were very pink and redish.

You should get her to a vet to see if she a course of antibiotics. In the mean time you can give her Nolvasan soaks (10%) Or I believe they have a 10% betadine solution that can be used. You can also treat the affected area with silverdene cream and can dry dock the animal for several hours a day.

Please try and get her to the vet though. If is an infection and she becomes septic it will be a real problem to try and save her and a painful situation for her that could result in death.

Also check with the vet regarding the betadine soaking.

Good luck

Hey thanks for the posts. I will check with my vet and see what she thinks. Also, how much fighting can I expect from my males? Is it going to be a serious problem putting all three together? Can I add another female to release the tension? Thanks.

There is a strong possibility that they will fight once the female is added to the mix. At the very least the two of them will pursue and be a stressful nuisance to her.

Adding additional females may deflect the aggression and endless pursuit of the one female BUT ... as you add others you are also going to start getting into space issues. Even four adults sliders take up alot of space in an indoor situation. If you can why not have two separate environments and do one pair in each environment. Just a thought.