Reptile & Amphibian Forums

earlier today i just found out that my malaysian boxie has been in the wrong set-up since i got it, i did what the guy at the store told me, just give it feeder fish, pellets, and a litter water(like 32oz) in a kitty litter box and cork bark, would this cause flaking of the shell.

P.S two other things #1i've had my turtle for five years in august,and he has had the same set up all that time, #2 Just recently my turtle has started passing a white stringy material instead of his regular poop

Yes. Many turtles which are kept too dry for long periods develop excessive shell falking.
While this in and of itself may not be a problem, the possibility of detritus getting trapped between the layers of partially shed skin and shell seems to create a situtation that promotes a breeding ground for infectious pathogens. "Shell rot" of various kinds is sometimes associated with shells which ahvebeen allowed to become overly dried and are then exposed to less than ideally clean water.
I have seen pet store ambos with nasty shells being kept as one might keep an ornate box turtle (or worse, a sulcata). Its only conjectural that these conditions caused the shell problems (and it seems likely that transport to the store played a bigger role)but certainly they did not help.
Your ambo will likely spend 80 percent or more of its time in water if given the opportunity.
But now that you have changed the enclosure to reflect its hydrophillic proclivities, be sure to keep the water extra clean since you know there are already shell issues.

that kind of turtle is a water turtle from a tropical place. it needs to be warm and wet. being dry makes the shell flake and can lead to shel rot. i put in a link for you to read. it tells you about the care of this turtle and about the flakky shell thing too, so check it out. the white stringy stuff could be tapeworms. take some to the vet to find out. if its tapeworm, the vet SHOULD know how to treat it, but make sure he doesn't use ivermectin because that will kill turtles.
caresheet for malaysian box turtle

I think he had figured out that the turtle needed to be kpet as a semi terrestrial or semi aquatic and not like a north american box turtle.
he wanted to know if they way he had previously kept it could have contrinuted to the shell problems, i think.