Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my RES's has shell rot, and I have begun to treat her based on what I have learned here, in books and from the reptile lady at my local pet store:

Scraped away soft rotted area
Cleaned her up with an anti-bacterial
Applied extra-strength Lamisil as a fungicide
Repeat anti-bacterial and fungicide twice a day

I understand that I need to do this for at least a week, perhaps two. My questions are this:

1. I am told I need to keep her out of water all the time, except for an hour a day for feeding. I will return her to the pond for that time, unless I need to set up a more sterile environment in the bath tub. I should leave her "in dry dock" the other 23 hours of the day, including overnight---correct? Is it OK for her to not have any water most of the time?

2. Do I need to worry about limited access to a basking lamp during this time? She will have some access to sunny areas, but for the most part will be shaded. I am in So. Cal., so it's warm now---is this OK?

Thanks!

You might want to dip her a few more times, making sure too, that she doesn't get dehydrated.

Also, use a soft toothbrush to scrape away the infected areas.

Other than this, just make sure you're using a betadine solution, not pure iodine. Other medicines inquired of by a vet may prove even better.

Good luck.

The vet said tincture of iodine was OK. Why do you suggest betadine?

I spent a lot of time battling shell rot too. The things your vet told you to do are correct. The missing piece for me, that the vet also missed, is the UV light. Although I had a UVA/B bulb for my turles to bask under, I didn't have it close enough to them! By accident I came across an article on the net (I tried to find it for you but couldn't, sorry) that compared the watt of the bulb with how close it needed to be to the turtle. I was shocked that the bulb needed to be within 4 or 5 inches! I lowered the bulb and saw signficantly more basking, but more importantly, the shell rot finally went away!
-----
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

Interesting. The directions always say keep the bulb about 8 - 12 inches away from the basking platform.

It depends on the wattage of the bulb. The higher the watts, the farther it can be from the turtle. Of course you will want to be sure it's far enough away so the turtle can't touch it and get burned! But get it as close as it can safely be.

I have 2 boxies and 2 water turtles. After I discovered this, I lowered all of their lamps. It really made a big difference! The boxies were healthy, but now their colors are much brighter!

Natural sunlight is best though. If you can get your turtle an outside pond, where he could bask or swim whenever he wanted, that would probably help too.
-----
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband