Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My red-bellied slider (about 7 months old) has recently developed slightly raised scutes. He lives with 2 RESs and neither of them have shown any sign of this. I know this is natural for some species of turtles, but I do recall reading somewhere that it can also be a sign of diet problems. The raisind is not dramatic, but if it is a problem I want to catch it before it gets bad.
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2.1 Leucistic Texas Ratsnakes
0.1 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.1 Cornsnakes
1.0 Chinese Beauty
0.0.1 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Ball Python
1.1 Giant Black Millipedes
0.0.1 Giant Brown Millipede
0.0.2 Pink-Legged Millipedes
0.0.5 Fire-bellied Newts
0.0.1 Peacock Eel
0.4 Cats

What diet are you feeding? What setup? Temps, UV ect.

A complete assessment of your husbandry protocol (and photo's for reference) will help people give you a more significant opinion on if this is something to be concerned about.

ps, some people tend to say that husbandry is good, diet is ...
not specific, not helpfull.

Habitat: My turtles live in a 45 gallon tank with about 35 gallons of water. The water temperature is about 83F, the (completely dry) basking area about 95F. They have 12 hours of UV lighting per day. The attached pump claims to pump 200 gallons per hour and is for a 60-100 gallon tank, I empty and refill with water about once a month.

Diet: Twice daily turtle and shrimp pellets, mosquito larvae or bloodworms every 2-3 days, greens (lettuce, spinach) every other day, tomatoes, carrots, chicken, beef or eggs once or twice a week. Constant supply of live feeder fish (seldom eaten) and very small snails.

I cannot take a picture because my digital camera is broken.
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10 Snakes
3 Turtles
3 Cats
1 Dog
Numerous fish and millipedes

Sounds like you are feeding them too much animal protiens and turtle pellets. I have read that too much protien can cause a "humping/pyramid" look to the turtles and is bad for them. Adult RES eat less animal protiens and more vegetable protiens. Try to stay away from pellets.

You should definatly look at changing their diets. May be feeding too often as well.

Good luck holmes. Listen to these people here.....they know what they are talking about!
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Keith

1 Pembroke Welsh Corgi (Kaiya)
1 RES (King Koopa aka Bowser)
1 Betta (Garcia)
1 Fiance' (Lacy - Requires more work and attention then any animal. Not Recommended......j/k)

Unearthly Productions
http:www.unearthlyproductions.com
"Keeping the underground alive since....well since yesterday"

They should not be fed twice a day...turtle need a tiny amount of protein every 2 or 3 days, and greens daily. Lettuce and spinach are bad choices for greens. Try dandelion greens, mustard green, turnip greens, etc. Spinach prevents the absorbtion of calcium and lettuce is low in nutritional value. It sounds like you are giving a good variety with is good. I would cut out the eggs and chicken tho, way too much protien.
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A mans got to do what a mans got to do. A woman has to do what he can't.

Mom to:

1 little boy born 7/19/04
2 male RES, born 1999
1 ribbon snake, age unknown
3 FBT, ages unknown
1 female bearded dragon, born 5/2002
1 male lab mix, born 5/24/03
1 female calico cat, born 6/7/04
1 common musk turtle hatchling

How big are your turtles? You say you have a few of them, are they all in together? If so then this tank is way too small (unloess of course the turtles are very small). For each inch of shell you should have ten gallons of water for them to swim in, so unless each of your turtles is only 1-2inches you need a much bigger tank. Living in cramped conditions can effect health also.

I agree with everyone else that its probably from too much protien. Excessive protien causes pyrimiding or raised scutes along the top center of your turtles shell. Cut back protein to small amounts 1-2times weekly and add many more veggies.
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats