Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a yellow belly cooter bout 2 inches . He is eating and moving around in his tank normally. He is in a 10 gallon tank with a rock to get out of the water and a daylight which is on maybe 4 hours a day. Yesterday I picked him up and his shell is soft all over top and belly.
can anyone help?? is this normal? Is there something wrong, and if so what? How do I fix him?

thank you for any and all help...

Why is his light only on for 4 hours a day? It should be on during daylight hours. Does he have a UVB light also?
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It is not normal for your turtle's shell to be soft. I don't think you have a proper basking spot. The rock that your turtle can get dry on should have a heat light on it for 10-12 hours a day. It should be about 90 degrees on the rock and the water should be in the low 70's. You also need a UVB light to help the shell form properly. I think you need to make these changes immediately, I don't know how long it will take for the shell to harden. You should also get some cuttle bone. It is available in the bird section of the pet store, just scrape off the hard backing and throw a piece in the water. He might not know what to do with it at first. Eventually, he will eat it and the calcium it provides will help with the shell.

Hopefully one of our more experienced keepers will chime in if there are any other remedies for the soft shell. You need to get a good basking spot NOW, even healthy turtles need that.
Good luck!

go buy some Reptomin floating food sticks. Most petshops will
have them.

You need a balanced diet, but without a basking spot and
a UVB source like the Reptosun 5.0 a good diet won't help

As the other poster said make these changes immediately
or your turtle will die.

Linda