Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I scrub my turtle down every day. I pull out an old toothbrush and get some anti-bacterial soap on it and scrub the top of his shell and the bottom. Sometimes he has food on his beak and I try to scrub that off, and he often has bedding material or other foodstuffs between his claws and in his shell. I'll take my toothbrush or some q-tips and get these places clean.

Half the time he stays real still and lets me clean him. I find it helps if I keep the faucet water on a slow run so that the ferocity of the water doesn’t scare him. The rest of the time he is as fidgety as all get out, and I can’t do anything to keep him still. When I rinse the bottom of his shell he cranes his neck and looks sideways at me, so I have been trying to rinse it without tipping him over--a hard thing to do.

Should I be cleaning him every day like this? Or should I only clean him every now and again? After the scrubbing he is alert and frisky, and runs all over my apartment gnawing on my furniture.

He has long claws too. Should I trim them? If so, what should I use? I was thinking regular old finger nail clippers. When I bought him he was missing one claw, but it is starting to grow back. Should I snip his others before they snap off?

He lets me scrub the top of his head, if I am slow and gentle enough. Is this odd for a turtle or do most turtles let you scrub their heads?

It is taking me longer to get my pictures developed than I thought it would. I may not get them back until next week.

Are you serious?? Somehow I think you're trying to pull our leg.

Nope.

What if he/she is serious?
It happens when people are new to turtles, they don't always know exactly what to do and they need help.
Why not simply help them for the sake of the animal?

I do the same thing. I polish my turtle every night.

Good! Then I'm not the only one.

Actually scrubbing them down with soap isn't likely to be good for them. All reptiles do absorb things into their skin to one degree or another, soap could make them sick.
I "bathe" mine but that's not a bath with soap.
Instead I allow them to have a good soak by putting some tepid water in their tub and they drink it-soak in it until they're ready to come out. If they've walked in feces I may spray their plastron with a very dilute solution of chlorhexidine then rinse it off but otherwise, they get a water only bath.

As for nail trimming it should be done when it needs to be done. Just like any animal you can't clip too short or they'll bleed & that hurts them. If you can see the "quick" you can avoid cutting it, I generally do nail clipping outdoors in the sunlight so I can see really well. I never clip any pet nails around here without having a good styptic powder on hand.. just in case. If you can't see the quick don't clip them yourself the first time, have a vet show you how to do it if need be.
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PHRatz

Well I clipped his claws today. managed to get all of them. None of them bled except one, and that was only a very, very little. Basically all I saw was a little red and thats it. i kept him in a dry place anyhow just in case.

I didn't trim them much at all, though. They are still rather long, but not as long as before. Will the quick receed over time? He freaked out when he saw the nail clippers. he started biting them, over and over. I do not know whether he was scared and attacked or thought it was food. The second day when I did the front feet (did the back feet the day before) he squirmed and tried to get away, but he did not attack me or the clippers. After i got all his claws he sat on my belly and looked around curiously like usual. I let him run around my apartment and he didnt seem frantic or frenzied. Do turtles feel pain when they have their claws clipped? The only time he ever flinched was when I did the actual clipping.

Yes the quick will recede over time as long as you keep clipping on a regular basis. I don't clip them if they are able to wear them down themselves but Shell E who's lived inside for so long needs it done now & then.
No it doesn't hurt them if you don't clip too short so that they bleed. I think it does irritate them though. Heck it irritates my dog to clip his, most animals simply do not like having their feet held against their wills.
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PHRatz