Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ernie's spots up close.

They're all very pretty! It's nice to shiny healthy looking shells, I see way too many battered looking ones.
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PHRatz

Yes, those shells are shiny. Mine are all outside and even though they have a choice of depths of water and often I see them choose the depth that allows them to "wash off" they are dull. Do you do something special? and species of turtle? thanks/p

They are Eastern box turtles, and they are merely wet with plain old water after having dirt and mud rinsed off them.

Thanks. I went out and watched the female 3 toed climb out of the deeper "swimming" pool and yes, she was much shinier! For mosquito control I put guppies in that tub but do not notice that the turtles eat them.

does anyone use that vita shell stuff on thier boxies?
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

>>does anyone use that vita shell stuff on thier boxies?

IMO it's high priced waste of money. It's not really any different from a hoof cream for horses. Most people warn against it's use using the theory that it will clog up the shell so that it can't "breathe." The shell is living keratinized tissue kind of like a horses hoof or our fingernails.
If the turtles eat a healthy diet and are hydrated as they should be then they shouldn't have a dried out shell that needs anything put on it.
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PHRatz

I'm inclined to agree with Ratz. If your turtle is properly cared for, this sort of product is totally unecessary, and if your turtle does have skin or shell problems, this type of product certainly won't make them go away.
After having checked out the ingredient list, I don't think I'd waste money on the stuff.
A dermatologist once pointed something out to me, which is that you should read labels carefully, because many so-called 'moisturizers' contain alcohol (which dries the skin) in order to achieve the 'non-greasy' attributes they advertise.
Hmmm.

i havent had any of that stuff at home in a long time.. i just remembered it when patsy1 asked about making the shell shiny.. actually its funny that you mentioned using it to treat shell problems... we recently got two RES at the petstore i work at with really bad shell rot and one of the other girls i work with (who claims to know a lot about herps) was trying to treat it with that stuff...
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

>>. we recently got two RES at the petstore i work at with really bad shell rot and one of the other girls i work with (who claims to know a lot about herps) was trying to treat it with that stuff...
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Wow.. I wish I could type out in letters the sounds that this statement made me emit. holy cow!
Yeah when I get some sort of rot on my skin I always use a hand cream to fix it. (being sarcastic)

I'm sorry you have to deal with someone like that, I know how frustrating it can be. Good luck with those RES at the store.
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PHRatz

thank you.. yes, shes a pain.. in the past she has ordered desert horned lizards and let them starve, and tried to get me in trouble for feeding the uro's fresh greens because according to her they only need frozen veggies. . (and apparently thinks you sex fat tail geckos by whether or not they have a white line on thier back?).. *rolls eyes* unfortunatly we lost the smaller turtle .. he was doing very badly when he came in and i think he had spots where it had already eaten away into his shell and gone septic.. the larger one is doing slightly better.. ive been cleaning the bad spots on his shell with iodine and triple antibiotic.. hes started eating agian but im not sure if hes going to be ok yet.. ive been nagging my boss constantly to take him to a vet but i dont know if persistance is going to pay off or not..
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

I hope the boss will let you see a vet but I know how it goes in pet stores. I worked in a pet dept. of a store when I was about 19-20 years old & when I tried to help a dying parakeet I was told we can't do that, it's not cost effective. That was the end of my pet store career I couldn't stand to see something suffer & not be allowed to help it. Money first, who cares about the animals?
And I know a guy like this person you're talking about. He thinks he knows it all but what he knows if like the garbage I read in 30-40 year old books, he actually knows next to nothing. It's very frustrating to be around someone like that & my problem is I keep ending up around him when I least expect it.

Then...ok this is way off on another tangent but I need to vent about this...
Last Sat. I went into a new pet store here that advertised it's reptiles as if it's a great store when it opened 3-4 months ago.
Great reptiles yeah right.. I saw a dehydrated Tokay gecko, a tank full of green anoles, all male except for one dehydrated female, and they are selling 1 inch RES that were in a tank with 2-3 inch painted that looked sick.
Then Monday the teenaged boy who helps out in the kid's class we do every June emailed me to say that his parents bought him a hedgehog from that store for his birthday & she has mites. He wondered did the hedgie already have them when his parents bought her a month ago. Well yeah I think it's safe to say she did.
He took her to my vet who told me yesterday it was so bad that the quills were falling out.
I'm real impressed with this new store.
NOT

Thankfully I did not see any box turtles but if I do later I'll know it's because they picked them up off the streets around here. I saw a now out of business local pet store do that once, they had WC local boxies & tried to sell them for 30 bucks each.
pffffffft
Ok sorry I'm done venting now, I woke up on the wrong side of bed today I guess. lol
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PHRatz