Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How normal is it for the underside of a large painted turtle (6"to become mottled red and flaky?

Should I change her diet? She eats commercial pellets.

We've had her for just a few weeks so are turtle novices.

Thanks!

She has some natural shedding going on but the redness can be diet,substrate irritation, or infection. What type of substrate do you keep her on? What is the brand of pellets? Also some painteds have some red tinge to them on the plastron(underside).

There are some pebbles, some larger rocks and one big piece of smooth plastic and we do not see any scratches so we don't think its that.

But her diet is wardley reptile sticks. I would also like to know how much you feed a turtle of her size.

Thanks!

That is some major, major bruising going on. How deep is her water? Was she kept dry for several hours before you got her? I usually see this on very heavy females that are kept in a dry enclosure with no padding during transport. They bang around so much that they bruise up the plastron.

It would be a good idea to let a qualified vet look at her, if there's one in your area. That bruising could lead to shell rot if not watched carefully.

Katrina
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1.2 Eastern Muds - Fred, Ethel, Edith
0.1 Iguana - Tiffel
Foster turtles: More than I'd like the husband to know about.

She was wild - we found her marching across our lawn, which is very far from the nearest pond. She was not a pet because she had a leech on her shell (on top, not bottom shell or in her flesh). My guess is that some kid brought her home from somewhere and Mom said no, so she was just turned loose in suburbia. We've got her in a nice aquarium now with plenty of water, gravel on the floor, a few big rocks and a basking spot.

She's incredibly active and attentive and loves to eat.

It sounds like you think we should bring her to the vet. What could they do for her?

We want her healthy.

Thanks for your input!